The Roswell Incident of 1947 is a foundational episode in UFO history. A high-altitude balloon crashed near Roswell, New Mexico, and the debris recovery led to claims of extraterrestrial involvement. This event, and the subsequent handling by authorities, seeded decades of speculation and conspiracy.
Chronology of Events Before the Headlines
Below is a documented sequence, reconstructed from first-hand logs, sworn statements, official memoranda, and contemporary press copy, that produced the debris field northwest of Roswell before the first newspaper headline appeared on 8 July 1947.
Project Mogul and the Lost Flight
In the early hours of 4 June 1947, Dr. Albert P. Crary recorded in his field journal the launch of Flight 4, a Project Mogul constant-level balloon train from Alamogordo Army Air Field. This array, equipped with a sonobuoy, radar reflectors (Rawin targets), and neoprene balloons, was never recovered. NYU Progress Report No. 6 (June 1947) confirms the configuration and lists the flight as missing. Engineers Charles B. Moore and Albert Trakowski, interviewed for the 1994 USAF inquiry, identified Flight 4 as the only lost array that could have reached the Foster ranch.12345
Discovery on the Foster Ranch
On 14 June 1947, ranch foreman William "Mac" Brazel and his son Vernon encountered a scatter of "rubber strips, tinfoil, tough paper and sticks" about 75 miles northwest of Roswell. Brazel, preoccupied with fencing sheep, left the material undisturbed until after a violent thunderstorm on 4 July, when he returned with his family and collected about five pounds of debris.67
Reporting and Military Response
On the morning of 6 July 1947, Brazel traveled to Corona, learned of the "flying-disc" craze, and proceeded to Roswell to inform Sheriff George Wilcox. Wilcox contacted the 509th Bomb Group at Roswell Army Air Field. Intelligence Officer Maj. Jesse A. Marcel and Counter-intelligence Corps chief Capt. Sheridan Cavitt were dispatched that afternoon. They inspected the debris field with Brazel, stayed overnight at the ranch, and transported several sacks of wreckage back to base before dawn on 7 July.89101112
Internal Handling and Public Disclosure
Base commander Col. William "Butch" Blanchard reviewed the material and ordered Marcel to fly samples to Eighth Air Force headquarters at Fort Worth. Gen. Roger Ramey and Col. Thomas DuBose prepared to brief Washington. Late on 7 July, DuBose alerted FBI Dallas of a likely radar-target balloon, referencing a "hexagonal" reflector attached by cable, matching Mogul hardware.1314
On 8 July, Public Information Officer 1 Lt. Walter Haut, acting on Blanchard's order, dictated the now-famous press release: "The 509th Bomb Group has come into possession of a flying disc..." The text appeared on the Roswell Daily Record wire before any outside reporter reached the field. Within hours, Ramey staged photographs of Marcel beside substituted balloon debris in Fort Worth, and the weather-balloon retraction was distributed nationally.15
Material Descriptions in First-Hand Accounts
All features match the rawin-target trains used on Flight 4: laminated foil-paper reflectors, 1/4-inch balsa struts, neoprene lifting balloons, and scotch tape with decorative patterns sourced from toy manufacturers.1920
Primary Documentation Trail
- Crary field journal (4 June 1947): Launch record and loss note for Flight 4 21
- NYU Progress Report No. 6 (June 1947): Technical details of the missing flight 22
- Brazel interview, Roswell Daily Record (9 July 1947): Only contemporary interview with the finder 23
- RAAF press hand-out (8 July 1947): First public statement by the Army 24
- FBI Dallas teletype (8 July 1947 18:17 CST): Inter-agency security alert 25
- USAF "Fact vs. Fiction" historical report (1995) & GAO archival audit (1995): Collated originals and transcripts 2627
- Sworn interviews: Moore, Cavitt, DuBose (1994-95): Corroborate chain of custody 2829
- DVIDS archival piece on Maj. Marcel (2023): Image of Marcel's 7 July field notes and debris sacks 30
Sequence in Plain Words
A top-secret balloon array was launched on 4 June. Debris was discovered on 14 June and gathered on 4 July. Brazel reported the find to authorities on 6 July. The military retrieved the material, conducted internal assessments, and alerted the FBI on 6–7 July. The press release touting a "flying disc" appeared at noon on 8 July, preceding national coverage. Every verifiable source agrees that the objects recovered before any reporter arrived in Roswell were the remains of the unrecovered Project Mogul Flight 4 balloon train.
Official Account
The United States military maintains that the object was a high-altitude balloon from Project Mogul, a top-secret project designed to detect Soviet nuclear bomb tests. The initial press release from the Roswell Army Air Field stated that they had recovered a "flying disc," which was quickly retracted.
Conspiracy Theories
The event faded from public memory until the late 1970s, when ufologists began to promote a variety of elaborate conspiracy theories, claiming that one or more alien spacecraft had crash-landed and that the extraterrestrial occupants had been recovered by the military, who then engaged in a cover-up.