Roswell crash, New Mexico
July 1947 · Roswell, New Mexico
Summary
An FBI Dallas teletype dated 7-8-47 recorded that Major Curtan of Eighth Air Force headquarters had telephoned to say an object purporting to be a flying disc had been recovered near Roswell, New Mexico. The message described it as hexagonal and suspended from a balloon about twenty feet in diameter. Curtan said it resembled a high altitude weather balloon with a radar reflector, but that a call with Wright Field had not borne out that belief. The FBI noted that no further investigation was being conducted.
A 2002 affidavit by the Roswell base Public Information Officer, appended to a BAASS plan, gave a different account. He said that at a 7:30 a.m. staff meeting on July 8 wreckage samples were passed around and no one could identify them. He said he later saw an object about 12 to 15 feet in length in a guarded hangar, and what looked like bodies under a tarpaulin. He also said an officer found a weather balloon and radar kite substituted for the wreckage after returning from Fort Worth. The affidavit's author stated he was convinced the craft and crew came from outer space.
The COMETA report, a private French study sent to NASA, summarised the sequence in an appendix. It said that on July 8 the base told local radio that a flying disk had crashed on a ranch, and that General Ramey then announced the debris came from a weather balloon. It said the Air Force's September 1994 report concluded the debris was probably from a series of balloons from the secret Mogul project. It also recorded that the July 1995 GAO report said the base's administrative documents for March 1945 to December 1949 were destroyed.
COMETA stated that the crash seems to have occurred on July 4 at around 2330 hours. It said the hypothesis of an extraterrestrial vessel cannot be dismissed. A November 2010 BAASS paper said only that a flying saucer allegedly crashed outside of Roswell in early July 1947.
Where the files disagree
Two documents give different accounts of the same detail. Both are quoted as written; we don't say which is right.
Where the recovered object was found
What the files say
“They are probably debris from a series of balloons from the secret Mogul project.”
Page 72 →“All of the base's administrative documents for the March 1945-December 1949 period were destroyed, and all radio messages sent by the base from October 1946 to February 1949 were destroyed.”
Page 73 →“THE DISC IS HEXAGONAL IN SHAPE AND WAS SUSPENDED FROM A BALLON BY CABLE, WHICH BALLOON WAS APPROXIMATELY TWENTY FEET IN DIAMETER.”
Page 70 →“NO FURTHER INVESTIGATION BEING CONDUCTED.”
Page 70 →“No one was able to identify the crash debris.”
Page 45 →“It was approx. 12 to 15 feet in length, not quite as wide, about 6 feet high, and more of an egg shape.”
Page 46 →
Also discussed in
Explanations in the record
What the documents themselves say the event was, as recorded. Not our assessment.
- Major Curtan of Eighth Air Force said the object resembled a high altitude weather balloon with a radar reflector, though a call with Wright Field had not borne this out. — FBI UFO case file section 1: flying disc records (1947-1968), page 70
- General Ramey told journalists on July 8 that the debris came from a weather balloon. — French COMETA report on UFOs and defense, English translation (1999), page 72
- The September 1994 Air Force report said the debris was probably from balloons of the secret Mogul project, and that Ramey let the weather balloon story stand to protect the secret. — French COMETA report on UFOs and defense, English translation (1999), page 72