Chapter I: Front Matter

The Cover

A solarized image taken from a U.S. Air Force motion picture of experiments conducted for Project HIGH DIVE. This image, unsolarized, appears on page 34 (Figure 37).

The Roswell Report
CASE CLOSED

Headquarters United States Air Force

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

McAndrew, James, 1963—
The Roswell report: case closed/James McAndrew
p. cm.
Includes index.
1. Unidentified flying objects—Sightings and encounters—New
Mexico—Roswell. I. Title
TL789.5.N6M33 1997
001.942’09789’43—dc21 97-11361
CIP

For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office
Washington, D.C. 20402

For sale by the U.S. Government Printing Office
Superintendent of Documents, Mail Stop: SSOP, Washington, DC 20402-9328
ISBN 0-16-049018-9

Foreword

The “Roswell Incident” has assumed a central place in American folklore since the events of the 1940s in a remote area of New Mexico. Because the Air Force was a major player in those events, we have played a key role in executing the General Accounting Office’s tasking to uncover all records regarding that incident.

Our objective throughout this inquiry has been simple and consistent: to find all the facts and bring them to light. If documents were classified, declassify them; where they were dispersed, bring them into a single source for public review.

In July 1994, we completed the first step in that effort and later published _The Roswell Report: Fact vs. Fiction in the New Mexico Desert_. This volume represents the necessary follow-on to that first publication and contains additional material and analysis. I think that with this publication we have reached our goal of a complete and open explanation of the events that occurred in the Southwest many years ago.

Beyond that achievement, this inquiry has shed fascinating light into the Air Force of that era and revitalized our appreciation for the dedication and accomplishments of the men and women of that time. As we celebrate the Air Force’s 50th Anniversary, it is appropriate to once again reflect on the sacrifices made by so many to make ours the finest air and space force in history.

SHEILA E. WIDNALL
Secretary of the Air Force

Guide For Readers

This publication contains the complete report as submitted to the Secretary of the Air Force. The exceptions are the statements found in Appendix B. Due to Privacy Act restrictions and by request, the addresses of the individuals making these statements have been deleted.

This volume is divided into two sections, eight subsections, eleven sidebar discussions, and three appendices. Section One examines alleged events at two locations in rural New Mexico. Section Two examines the alleged activities at the Roswell Army Airfield Hospital.

Appendix A is a table listing the launch and landing locations of test equipment for U.S. Air Force scientific research projects HIGH DIVE and EXCELSIOR. Appendix B is a collection of signed sworn statements based on in-person interviews conducted for this report by U.S. Air Force researchers. The exception is the statement of Lt. Col. William C. Kaufman, which was not sworn due to equipment failures at the time of interview.

Appendix C contains transcripts of interviews of alleged witnesses presented by UFO theorists. The interviews of Gerald Anderson, Alice Knight, and Vern Maltais were excerpted in their entirety from unedited interviews used to prepare the video, _Recollections of Roswell, Part II_ (1993), and appear courtesy of the Fund for UFO Research. The interview of Mr. W. Glenn Dennis was provided by the interviewer, Karl T. Pflock. The transcript of the interview of Mr. James Ragsdale was provided by Kevin Randle, the coauthor of the _Truth About the UFO Crash at Roswell_ (Avon Books, 1994), in which direct quotes from this transcript appear.

A selected bibliography of technical reports and how to obtain them are found on page 221. For additional information on this subject, see 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).

The Author

Captain James McAndrew serves as an Intelligence Applications Officer assigned to the Secretary of the Air Force Declassification and Review Team, The Pentagon, Washington, D.C.. Captain McAndrew was the coauthor, with Col. Richard L. Weaver, of _The Roswell Report: Fact vs. Fiction in the New Mexico Desert_ (1995), the first Air Force work on the alleged “Roswell Incident.” He participated in the declassification of the _Gulf War Air Power Survey_ (1993) and has served special tours of duty with the Drug Enforcement Administration and High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area (HIDTA) Task Force. He holds a BS degree with honors, from Metropolitan State College, Denver, Colo. and is a native of Washington, D.C.

Contents

_Page_

=Foreword= iii

=Guide for Readers= v

=Introduction= 1

SECTION ONE
=Flying Saucer Crashes
and Alien Bodies= 5

1.1 The “Crash Sites,” Scenarios, and Research Methods 11

1.2 High Altitude Balloon Dummy Drops 23

1.3 High Altitude Balloon Operations 37

1.4 Comparison of Witnesses Accounts to U.S. Air Force Activities 55

SECTION TWO
=Reports of Bodies at Roswell
Army Air Field Hospital= 75

2.1 The “Missing” Nurse and the Pediatrician 81

2.2 Aircraft Accidents 93

2.3 High Altitude Research Projects 101

2.4 Comparison of the Hospital Account to the Balloon Mishap 109

=Conclusion= 123

Notes

Section One 127

Section Two 139

APPENDIX A
=Anthropomorphic Dummy Launch
and Landing Locations= 155

APPENDIX B
=Witness Statements=

Charles E. Clouthier 160

Charles A. Coltman, Jr., Col., USAF, MC (Ret) 162

Dan D. Fulgham, Col., USAF (Ret) 164

Bernard D. Gildenberg, GS-14 (Ret) 166

Ole Jorgeson, MSgt., USAF (Ret) 169

William C. Kaufman, Lt. Col., USAF (Ret) 171

Joseph W. Kittinger, Jr., Col., USAF (Ret) 174

Roland H. Lutz, CMSgt., USAF (Ret) 178

Raymond A. Madson, Lt. Col. USAF (Ret) 180

Frank B. Nordstrom, M.D. 182