July 1947 through the 1950s. These records came from
numerous organizations in New Mexico and elsewhere throughout DoD as well as
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the Central Intelligence Agency
(CIA), and the National Security Council. The full scope and methodology of
our work are detalled at the end of This report.
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RESULTS IN BRIEF
iN 1947, regulations required that air accident reports be maintained air
accidents reported by the Army Air Forces in New Mexico during July 1947.
All of The accidents involved military aircraft and occurred after July
8,1947 -- the date the RAAF public information office first reported the
crash and recovery of a "flying disc" near Roswell. The Navy reported no air
accidents in New Mexico during July 1947. Air Force officials told us that
according to record-keeping requirements in effect during July 1947, there
wasno requirement to prepare a report on the crash of a weather balloon.
In our search for records concerning the Roswell crash, we learned that some
government records covering RAAF activities had been destroyed and others
had not. For example, RAAF administrative records (from Mar. 1945 through
Dec. 1949) and RAAF outgoing messages (from Oct. 1946 through Dec. 1949)
were destroyed. The document disposition form does not indicate what
organization or person destroyed the records and when or under what
authority the records were destroyed.
Our search for government records concerning the Roswell crash yielded two
records originating in 1947 -- a July 1947 history report by the combined
509th Bomb Group and RAAF and an FBI teletype message dated July 8, 1947.
The 5O9th-RAAF report noted the recovery of a "flying disc" that was later
determined by military officials