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The Roswell Report: Case Closed

Chapter 42: Notes - Section One
By James McAndrew
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About This Book

A government investigation compiles archival records, witness statements, technical analyses, and interviews to determine the origin of alleged flying saucer debris and reports of bodies in rural New Mexico. The report examines purported crash sites, hospital accounts, and Air Force high-altitude projects, comparing witness testimony to documented balloon tests and dummy-drop operations such as Mogul, High Dive, and Excelsior. It concludes that recovered material and related accounts are consistent with military balloon operations and routine aircraft incidents rather than extraterrestrial vehicles, and it includes appendices presenting launch and landing tables, signed statements, interview transcripts, and a selected bibliography.

Notes - Section One

1. Headquarters United States Air Force, The Roswell Report: Fact vs. Fiction in the New Mexico Desert (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1995), 20–22.
2. ibid.
3. Don Berliner and Stanton T. Friedman, Crash at Corona (New York: Paragon House, 1992), 14.
4. Headquarters United States Air Force, The Roswell Report: Fact vs. Fiction in the New Mexico Desert (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1995), 20–22.
5. Ted Bloecher, Report of the UFO Wave of 1947 (Washington D.C.: author, 1967), I-13-14.
6. Combined History, 509th Bomb Group and Roswell Army Airfield, 1 July-31 July 1947, 39, Air Force Historical Research Agency, Maxwell AFB, AL.
7. Roswell Daily Record, July 9, 1947, 1.
8. Socorro (N.M.) Defensor Chieftain, November 4, 1992.
9. Don Berliner, A Rebuttal of the Air Force Project Mogul Explanation for the 1947 Roswell, New Mexico, UFO Crash (Mount Ranier, Md.: The Fund for UFO Research, 1995), 2.
10. Headquarters United States Air Force, The Roswell Report: Fact vs. Fiction in the New Mexico Desert (Washington D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1995), Attachment 32, Synopsis of Balloon Research Findings, by 1st Lt. James McAndrew, 9.
11. Don Berliner and Stanton T. Friedman, Crash at Corona (New York: Paragon House, 1992), 14.
12. Video, Recollections of Roswell, Part II, Gerald Anderson interview (Washington, D.C.: Fund for UFO Research, 1993) (hereafter Recollections of Roswell, Part II).
13. James Ragsdale, transcript of interview with Donald R. Schmitt, January 26, 1994.
14. Frank J. Kaufman, interview with Kevin Randle and Donald Schmitt, January 27, 1990.
15. Recollections of Roswell, Part II, Maltais interview.
16. ibid., Anderson interview.
17. ibid.
18. ibid., Maltais interview.
19. Recollections of Roswell, Part II, Anderson interview.
20. Charles Berlitz and William L. Moore, The Roswell Incident (New York: Berkley, 1980), 61.
21. ibid.
22. Recollections of Roswell, Part II, Alice Knight interview.
23. Ragsdale and Recollections of Roswell, Part II, Anderson interview.
24. ibid.
25. Recollections of Roswell, Part II, Anderson interview.
26. Ragsdale.
27. James M. Grimwood, Project Mercury: A Chronology, Report No. SP4001 (Wash. D.C.: NASA, 1963) 2–3, and Lloyd Mallan, Men, Rockets and Space Rats, (New York: Julian Messier Inc., 1955) 84–98.
28. Research Division, College of Engineering, New York University, Technical Report No. 93.02, Constant Level Balloons, Section 3, Summary of Flights, July 15, 1949.
29. Capt. Vincent Mazza and Capt. Richard V. Wheeler, High altitude Bailouts, MCREXD-695-66M (Wright-Patterson AFB, OH: USAF Air Materiel Command, September 18, 1950), 10–11.
30. A. M. Jacobs, “The Flier’s SOS,” St. Nicholas Magazine, Vol. LII, No. 10 (August 1925), 1034–1039.
31. ibid.
32. Memo, Major H.H. Arnold, Chief Field Service Section, to Commanding Officer, San Antonio Air Depot, subj: Drop Testing of Parachutes, November 2, 1929. National Air and Space Museum Archives, Paul E. Garber Facility, Silver Hill, Md., file no. 452.031, Parachutes-(Dummies) 1927–1929.
33. J. Allen Neal, History: Development of Methods for Escape from High Speed Aircraft, Vol. 1, (Wright-Patterson AFB, OH: Air Research and Development Command, 1958), U.S. Air Force Museum Archives, Wright-Patterson AFB, OH.
34. Memo, Ted Smith, to W.A. Daler, subj: Bid for Purchase Request No. 301200, September 17, 1954, National Archives and Records Administration, Accession No. 342-67E-2954, box 5/15, file 28.
35. H.T.E. Hertzberg, Anthropology of Anthropomorphic Dummies, Air Force Medical Research Laboratory, AMRL-TR-69-61, February 1970, 3.
36. Maj. John P. Stapp, Human Tolerance to Linear Deceleration, Part I. Preliminary Survey of the Aft Facing Seated Position, Air Force Technical Report 5915, (Wright Patterson AFB, OH: Wright Air Development Center, 1949) and Maj. John P. Stapp, Part II. The Aft Facing Position and the Development of a Crash Harness, Air Force Technical Report 5915 (Wright Patterson AFB, OH: Wright Air Development Center, 1951).
37. H.T.E. Hertzberg, Anthropology of Anthropomorphic Dummies, Air Force Medical Research Laboratory, AMRL-TR-69-61, February 1970, 3.
38. ibid.
39. ltr., H.L. Daulton, Vice President and Secretary-Treasurer, Sierra Engineering Company, to W.A. Daler, Headquarters Air Materiel Command, subject: Proposal, Purchase Request No. 301200, September 16, 1954, National Archives and Records Administration, Accession No. 342-67E-2954, box 5/15, file 28.
40. Joseph Smreka, Senior Design Engineer, First Technology Safety Systems, “Dummies—Past and Present,” 2 (unpublished manuscript).
41. Sierra Engineering Co., “Sierra Sam,” 1955, National Archives and Records Administration, Accession No. 342-67E-2954, box 5/15, file 28.
42. 1st Lt. Raymond A. Madson, High Altitude Balloon Dummy Drops, Part I. The Unstabilized Dummy Drops, WADC Technical Report 57-477, (Wright Patterson AFB, OH: Wright Air Development Center, Oct 1957) (hereafter High Altitude Balloon Dummy Drops Part I), 27, and 1st Lt. Raymond A. Madson, High Altitude Balloon Dummy Drops, II. The Stabilized Dummy Drops, WADC Technical Report 57-477 (II) (Wright Patterson AFB, OH: Aeronautical Systems Division, Air Force Systems Command, August 1961) (hereafter High Altitude Balloon Dummy Drops Part II), 18.
43. High Altitude Balloon Dummy Drops Part I, 1.
44. High Altitude Balloon Dummy Drops Part I, and High altitude Balloon Dummy Drops Part II, and Holloman Air Development Center, Weekly Test Status Reports, Project MX-1450B (Manned Balloon), National Archives and Records Administration, National Personnel Records Center, St. Louis, MO, Accession No. 342-62A-A-641, box 115/248, folder; R-695-61D, “High Altitude Escape Studies, Gen B-1, Manned Balloon Flights.”
45. ibid.
46. High Altitude Balloon Dummy Drops Part I, 1, and High altitude Balloon Dummy Drops Part II, 18.
47. Capt. Joseph W. Kittinger, Jr., The Long, Lonely Leap, (New York: E.P. Dutton & Co., Inc., 1961), and Lt. Col. David G. Simons, Man High, (New York: Doubleday & Company, Inc., 1960), and Capt. Joseph W. Kittinger, Jr., “The Long, Lonely Leap,” National Geographic 118, no. 6 (December 1960): 854-873, “Fantastic Catch in the Sky, Record Leap towards Earth,” Life 49, no. 9 (August 29, 1960): 20–25, Popular Mechanics Magazine, January 1951: 118, Collier’s, June 25, 1954, Time, September 12, 1955, “The Fastest Man on Earth”.
48. Don Reilly, “MAD Salutes an Unsung Hero,” MAD, no. 61, (March 1961), 46.
49. High Altitude Balloon Dummy Drops Part I, and High altitude Balloon Dummy Drops Part II.
50. High Altitude Balloon Dummy Drops Part II, 11–12.
51. Signed, sworn statement of Raymond A. Madson, Lt. Col., USAF (Ret) and High Altitude Balloon Dummy Drops, Part I, 16.
52. High Altitude Balloon Dummy Drops, Part I, 5.
53. High Altitude Balloon Dummy Drops, Part I, 17.
54. ibid., and Memorandum, subj: Balloon Tracking and Recovery Equipment, n.d., National Archives and Records Administration, Accession No. 342-67B-2133, box 65/249, file 2, “Biophysics Branch-Escape Section, High Altitude Escape Studies, 7218-71719,” and Robert Blankenship, retired Balloon Branch Recovery Supervisor, telephone interview with 1st Lt. James McAndrew, July 14, 1995.
55. Signed, sworn statement of Raymond A. Madson, Lt. Col., USAF (Ret).
56. Blankenship, and Balloon Tracking and Recovery Equipment, n.d., and Bernard D. Gildenberg, Meteorological Aspects of Constant-Level Balloon Operations in the Southwestern United States (hereafter Meteorological Aspects of Constant-Level Balloon Operations in the Southwestern United States), AFCRL-66-706 (L.G. Hanscom Field, Bedford, MA: Air Force Cambridge Research Laboratories, October 1966), 27.
57. Historical Branch, Office of Information Services, Air Force Missile Development Center, Contributions of Balloon Operations to Research and Development at the Air Force Missile Development Center Holloman AFB, N. Mex. 1947–1958 (Holloman AFB, NM: Air Research and Development Command, 1958) (hereafter Contributions of Balloon Operations to Research and Development at the Air Force Missile Development Center, 1947–1958), 90.
58. High Altitude Balloon Dummy Drops, Part I, 16.
59. ibid., 17.
60. High Altitude Balloon Dummy Drops, Part I, 17.
61. Maj. John P. Stapp, Human Tolerance to Linear Deceleration, Part I. Preliminary Survey of the Aft Facing Seated Position, Air Force Technical Report 5915, (Wright Patterson AFB, OH: Wright Air Development Center, 1949) and Maj. John P. Stapp, Part II. The Aft Facing Position and the Development of a Crash Harness, Air Force Technical Report 5915 (Wright Patterson AFB, OH: Wright Air Development Center, 1951).
62. High Altitude Balloon Dummy Drops, Part II, 6.
63. Signed, sworn statement of Joseph W. Kittinger, Jr., Col., USAF (Ret).
64. ibid.
65. Alderson Research Laboratories, Inc., “Instructions for Operation and Maintenance, Model F-95 Anthropomorphic Test Dummies,” May 3, 1956, 1, and Glenn Richards, retired Balloon Branch Instrumentation Specialist, telephone interview with Capt. James McAndrew, September 5, 1995.
66. Alderson Research Laboratories, Inc., “Instructions for Operation and Maintenance, Model F-95 Anthropomorphic Test Dummies,” May 3, 1956, 1, and Ronald G. Hansen, Lt. Col. USAR, (Ret), Balloon Recovery Helicopter Pilot, telephone interview with 1st Lt. James McAndrew, May 1, 1995.
67. High Altitude Balloon Dummy Drops, Part I, 7–8.
68. Blankenship.
69. ibid.
70. The Beverly Hills Citizen, March 12, 1956, 7.
71. Research Division, College of Engineering, New York University, Special Report No. 1, Constant Level Balloon, May 1947, 20–22.
72. Research Division, College of Engineering, New York University, Technical Report No. 93.03, Constant Level Balloons, Operations, March 1, 1951, 105.
73. U.S. Air Force Phillips Laboratory, “Phillips Laboratory Space Experiments Directorate, Balloon, Rocket, and Satellite Capabilities,” n.d., 33.
74. Bernard D. Gildenberg, Balloon Branch Meteorologist and Engineer, interviewed by 1st Lt. James McAndrew, May 28, 1995, and Contributions of Balloon Operations 1947–1958, 73.
75. ibid.
76. ibid.
77. Contributions of Balloon Operations 1947–1958, 73.
78. “Flight Summary, Non-Extensible Balloon Operations, 6580th Test Squadron (Special), June 1950 to October 1954,” 22–24.
79. Contributions of Balloon Operations 1947–1958, 73–74.
80. Lt. Col. David G. Simons (MC), Stratosphere Balloon Techniques for Exposing Living Specimens to Primary Cosmic Ray Particles, Holloman Air Development Center TR 54-16, November 1954, 10–11.
81. “Flight Summary Non-Extensible Balloon Operations 6580th Test Squadron (Special), June 1950 to October 1954,” 1–31, and Contributions of Balloon Operations 1947–1958, 24.
82. “Flight Summary Non-Extensible Balloon Operations 6580th Test Squadron (Special), June 1950 to October 1954,” 4.
83. Research Division, College of Engineering, New York University, Technical Report No. 93.02, Constant Level Balloons, Section 3, Summary of Flights, July 15, 1949, 32, in Headquarters United States Air Force, The Roswell Report: Fact vs. Fiction in the New Mexico Desert (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1995), Appendix 12.
84. Holloman Air Development Center, “Test Report on Radar Target Balloons”, October 31, 1955, Air Force Historical Research Agency, Maxwell, AFB, AL, Reel # 31811, Frame 1139, and Contributions of Balloon Operations 1947–1958, 40–45.
85. Kevin C. Ruffner, ed., Corona: America’s First Satellite Program (Washington, D.C.: Center for the Study of Intelligence, Central Intelligence Agency, 1995), 22.
86. ibid., 21–22.
87. Air Force Missile Development Center, “Chronology of Events,” Sept. 1, 1957-Aug 10, 1962, Air Force Historical Research Agency, Maxwell, AFB, AL, Reel # 31731, Frame 561, and Flight Records of Bernard D. Gildenberg, Meteorologist, Holloman AFB Balloon Branch, October 12, 1956-March 14, 1961.
88. Flight Summary, Discoverer Balloon Flights, March 31, 1960-April 22, 1960, Air Force Historical Research Agency, Maxwell, AFB, AL, Reel# 31811, frame 569.
89. ibid.
90. ibid.
91. Kevin C. Ruffner, ed., Corona: America’s First Satellite Program (Washington, D.C.: Center for the Study of Intelligence, Central Intelligence Agency, 1995), 21–22.
92. ibid.
93. ibid.
94. Martin Marietta Corporation, “Viking ’75, Balloon Launched Decelerator Test Program Post Flight Report, BLDT Vehicle AV-3,” TR 3720293, 1972, IV-I and Edward J. Kirschner, Aerospace Balloons; From Montgolfiere to Space (Blue Ridge Summit, Pa.: Aero Publishers, 1985), 64–66.
95. Martin Marietta Corporation, “Viking ’75, Balloon Launched Decelerator Test Program Post Flight Report, BLDT Vehicle AV-3,” TR 3720293, 1972, IV-I.
96. Kevin D. Randle and Donald R. Schmitt, The Truth About the UFO Crash at Roswell (New York: Avon Books, 1994), photograph section.
97. Air Force Cambridge Research Laboratories, “Report on Research, for the Period July 1965-June 1967”, AFCRL TR-68-0039, November 1967, 150–151.
98. Gildenberg.
99. Database of high altitude balloon operations on file at SAF/AAZD compiled from the following sources: Research Division, College of Engineering, New York University, Technical Report No. 93.02, Constant Level Balloons, Section 3, Summary of Flights, July 15, 1949; “Flight Summary Non-Extensible Balloon Operations 6580th Test Squadron (Special), June 1950 to October 1954,” National Archives and Records Administration, National Personnel Records Center, St. Louis, Mo., Accession No. 342-62A-181, box 14/18; Flight Records of Bernard D. Gildenberg, Meteorologist, Holloman AFB Balloon Branch, October 12, 1956-March 14, 1961; “Summary of Balloon Flights Launched from Holloman AFB, N.M., 1962 thru 1987”, Space and Missile Command, Test and Evaluation Unit (SMC/TE, OL-AC) files, Holloman AFB, N.M. Additional flight data on file (microfilm), U.S. Air Force Phillips Laboratory, Geophysics Directorate, Hanscom AFB, Mass.
100. Bernard D. Gildenberg, Meteorological Aspects of Constant-Level Balloon Operations in the Southwestern United States, AFCRL-66-706 (L.G. Hanscom Field, Bedford, MA: Air Force Cambridge Research Laboratories, October 1966), and Bernard D. Gildenberg, General Philosophy and Techniques of Balloon Control, in Lewis A. Grass, ed., Proceedings, Sixth AFCRL Scientific Balloon Symposium, AFCRL-70-0543, (L.G. Hanscom Field, Bedford, Mass.: Air Force Cambridge Research Laboratories, October 1970).
101. Blankenship.
102. ibid.
103. ibid.
104. ibid.
105. ibid.
106. Joseph Longshore, Balloon Branch Supervisor, telephone interview with Capt. James McAndrew, August 16, 1995.
107. Signed sworn statement of James Ragsdale in Ragsdale Productions Inc., The Jim Ragsdale Story: A Closer Look at the Roswell Incident (Hall Poorbough Press, Inc., 1996), 10–11, and signed sworn statement of James Ragsdale in Karl T. Pflock, Roswell in Perspective (Washington, D.C.: Fund for UFO Research, 1994), 167.
108. James Ragsdale, interview with Donald R. Schmitt, January 26, 1993.
109. High Altitude Balloon Dummy Drops, Part II, 17.
110. High Altitude Balloon Dummy Drops Part I, 27–30 and High Altitude Balloon Dummy Drops, Part II, 6, 10–12, 17.
111. Joseph W. Kittinger, Jr., Col., USAF (Ret), interview with 1st Lt. James McAndrew, June 23, 1995.
112. Contributions of Balloon Operations to Research and Development at the Air Force Missile Development Center, 1947–1958, 90, and Meteorological Aspects of Constant-Level Balloon Operations in the Southwestern United States, 1.
113. High Altitude Balloon Dummy Drops Part I, 24.
114. Blankenship and Kittinger.
115. ibid.
116. Memorandum, subj: Balloon Tracking and Recovery Equipment, n.d., National Archives and Records Administration, National Personnel Records Center, St. Louis, Mo., Accession No. 342-67B-2133, box 65/249, file 2, “Biophysics Branch-Escape Section, High Altitude Escape Studies, 7218-71719.”
117. ibid., and Blankenship.
118. Charles Berlitz and William L. Moore, The Roswell Incident (New York: Berkley, 1980), 64, and Don Berliner and Stanton Friedman, Crash at Corona (New York: Paragon House, 1992), 88.
119. Recollections of Roswell, Part II, Knight interview.
120. Recollections of Roswell, Part II, Maltais interview.
121. Charles Berlitz and William L. Moore, The Roswell Incident (New York: Berkley, 1980), 64, and Don Berliner and Stanton Friedman, Crash at Corona (New York: Paragon House, 1992), 88.
122. Berliner and Friedman, 89.
123. Mark Rodeghier and Fred Whiting, The Plains of San Agustin Controversy, July, 1947: Gerald Anderson, Barney Barnett, and the Archaeologists, Introduction (Chicago, IL, Washington, D.C.: J. Allen Hynek Center for UFO Studies and The Fund for UFO Research, June 1992), 2.
124. ibid.
125. Kevin D. Randle, Donald R. Schmitt, and Thomas J. Carey, Gerald Anderson and the Plains of San Agustin, in The Plains of San Agustin Controversy, July, 1947: Gerald Anderson, Barney Barnett, and the Archaeologists (Chicago, IL, Washington, D.C.: J. Allen Hynek Center for UFO Studies, and The Fund for UFO Research, June 1992), 19.
126. Recollections of Roswell, Part II, Anderson interview.
127. Berliner and Friedman, 90.
128. ibid., 91.
129. Gerald F. Anderson, interview with Kevin D. Randle, February 4, 1990, in The Plains of San Agustin Controversy, July, 1947: Gerald Anderson, Barney Barnett, and the Archaeologists (Chicago, IL, Washington, D.C.: J. Allen Hynek Center for UFO Studies and The Fund for UFO Research, June 1992), 59.
130. Recollections of Roswell, Part II, Anderson interview.
131. ibid.
132. ibid.
133. ibid.
134. ibid.
135. Blankenship and Kittinger.
136. Recollections of Roswell, Part II, Anderson interview.
137. “Sierra Sam: Scientific Whipping Boy,” Machine Design, December 22, 1960 and “Dummy Takes a Beating for Science’s Sake,” Aviation Week, January 12, 1953.
138. Ragsdale.
139. Recollections of Roswell, Part II, Anderson interview.
140. Alderson Research Laboratories Inc., “Modular Series Anthropomorphic Test Dummies,” Alderson Research Laboratories Inc., June 1955), 5.
141. Recollections of Roswell, Part II, Anderson interview.