Because in 1947, the 509th Bomb Group was the only military unit in the world that possessed nuclear weapons, it would be understandable for one to question whether the Roswell Incident might have been somehow associated with nuclear weapon-related tests. Extensive reviews of available records-even those still classified Top Secret gave no indication that this was the case. Also, any records pertaining to nuclear incidents eventually fell under the auspices of the Department of Energy, which would have subsequently made those records public as part of its declassification and public information activities.
This was the question that was on everyone's mind, and it was the reason the report had been generated in the first place. The report contends that what crashed was not an extraterrestrial craft, despite the fact that my father's and my testimony does not support such a contention, and that evidence evaluated by a number of credible sources serves to refute such a conclusion. Unfortunately, the government chose to edit out any evidence that did not support its desired conclusion, and acknowledges only evidence and statements that fit within the report's intended premise.
The biggest question in my mind, after all these years, is this: Why did the government feel the need to perpetuate a cover-up that was foolish at its inception, and only grew more ludicrous in the successive decades? Why was the government willing to allow the reputation of my father, a man who had served with devotion and honor, to be attacked-and even destroyed-rather than acknowledge a 60-year-old lie?
This, for me, is the bitter part of the Roswell legacy. But there is so much more to the story. Before we go any further, however, I think it is only appropriate to take a closer look at those Mogul balloons. After all, where the Roswell Incident is concerned, Mogul balloons are the government's story, and it's sticking to it. Let's poke a few more holes in that story.
Chapter 4
What Was a Mogul Balloon?
The Japanese formally surrendered on September 2, 1945, and the United States was entering a period in which surveillance of our enemies had become an imperative in the effort to establish and maintain world peace. As is typical during wartime, the technology of battle and intelligence-gathering had advanced at breakneck speed. In the late 1930s, Dr. Maurice Ewing of Columbia University had experimented with the theory of a "sound channel" that exists underwater, where sound vibrations or waves could be transferred distances of thousands of miles without enough degradation to disrupt the signal. His theory was later applied to sound channels high in the stratosphere. It was from these experiments that Project Mogul was born in 1945, at the onset of the Cold War.
The project's premise was quite simple: to suspend a microphone high up in the stratosphere using a string of neoprene weather balloons. The microphone would be capable of detecting long-range sound transmissions created by the Soviet Union. If the Soviets tested a nuclear bomb or set off a missile, the sound waves created could be detected and deciphered though the Mogul program.
The Project Mogul device consisted of three components: (1) An expendable microphone for sound wave detection, (2) A transmitter used to send the information picked up by the microphones to the receiver on the ground or in the air, and (3) A balloon train and ballast to lift the devices. Rawin radar targets were also used to track the device.
Under the direction of Dr. Charles Moore, the balloon transport system for the Mogul device was designed and constructed for the military by the New York University (NYU) "balloon group," in charge of testing the constant-level balloon system, and Columbia University, responsible for the acoustical equipment. In keeping with the Army's protocol for highly classified projects, each group was aware of only that portion of the project that was directly affected by their respective area of expertise, and remained in the dark as to the nature of the project as a whole. Between September 30, 1946, and December 31, 1950, the Research Division of the College of Engineering of NYU conducted research on controllable ascent balloon transport systems under contract for the Army, unaware of the final application intended. As a matter of fact, Dr. Moore did not learn the details-or even the existence-of Project Mogul until UFO researcher Robert Todd told him about it in 1992.
The detection/transmitter package was carried aloft by spherically shaped balloons, much like the early example in the included picture. The balloons were made of a film of natural or synthetic rubber (neoprene), at a standardized weight of 350 grams. Before launch, a neoprene balloon was inflated with lighter-than-air gas, typically helium, to a diameter of approximately 6 feet (2 meters). This size provided sufficient lift to carry a radiosonde payload of several pounds. The thickness of the balloon's skin ranged from 2/1000 to 4/1000 of an inch at the time of inflation, but as the balloon ascended to an altitude of approximately 25 miles, it stretched to a mere 1/10,000 of an inch thick, its diameter swelling from its initial 6 feet to a diameter of between 24 and 32 feet-whereupon the neoprene ruptured and the balloon burst.
An integral part of the detection equipment was a radiosonde (Rawin sonde or radio wind sonde) package with an attached radar reflector that would determine wind direction and speed at various altitudes during the ascent of the package. The reflector was utilized to track the Mogul device and sonobuoy. In several of the flights, corner reflectors called Rawin targets were used in place of the radiosonde (see description on the following page). The components of the radiosonde device were contained in a robust, lightweight, white cardboard (or plastic) instrument package, approximately the size of a large shoe box.
The sonobuoy was a large cylindrical object, nearly 3 feet long and 4 3/4 inches wide and weighing 17 1/2 pounds. If a radiosonde was being used, a system of bellows expanded and contracted depending upon the altitude of the balloon chain, and would release ballast at predetermined altitudes. If there was no radiosonde, the ballast would simply dribble off fluid as time passed. Connected to the radiosonde box were a series of parachutes that would return the instrument packages safely to Earth.
Corner reflectors or Rawin targets were used in place of the radiosonde to track the balloon trains from either the air or ground. The Rawin targets were composed of a paper-backed tinfoil, and resembled a box kite constructed of balsa wood sticks and metalized paper, similar to a candy bar wrapper, taped to hold the foil to the sticks. Several of these were attached in the theory that radar detection would be easier if there were several targets, rather than just one.
As noted earlier, Army Air Force records indicate that there were a total of 11 balloon flights attempted by researchers from New York University in all of 1947. If you recall, when explaining the Roswell Incident, the government's story focused mainly upon Flight #4, which was launched June 3. Yet Flight # 10 was the only one whose actual path came even remotely close to the site, and that flight was later seen still aloft, far to the north over Colorado.
According to the New York University balloon group records, Flight #4 contained the following items:
— 28 neoprene balloons
— Sonobuoy microphone, dry cell batteries, and an FM transmitter