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some as the crash of an alien spacecraft near Roswell, New Mexico in 1947. A USAF investi- gation team headed by Colonel Richard Weaver started their enquiry by analysing all the best-known literature on the Roswell Inci- dent. They eventually came up with the the- ory that an early Project Mogul service flight (Number Four launched on 4th June 1947) might have been responsible. It was sug- gested that the Mogul balloon train had been caught by unusual winds and subsequently carried to the Foster Ranch where it came to rest and was discovered by Mac Brazel. This met with ridicule from the UFO com- munity and after further lengthy delibera- tions, the USAF released a second report on 24th June 1997 called ‘The Roswell Report: Case Closed’, which reaffirmed the Project Mogul balloon theory. Many aspects of the story remain shrouded in mystery and the USAF were unable to explain why the recov- ery of a balloon carrying primitive acoustic | Unmanned high-altitude US balloons undertaking sensor equipment would need to be hidden photo-reconnaissance missions above the Soviet behind a wall ofimpenetrable secrecy forhalf Union were initially beyond the reach of Russian air defence measures. Bill Rose acentury. The debate continues and the Pen- tagon only has itself to blame for allowing whatever happened to build into a legend. recovered. Of these, several malfunctioned atlrann anccudladd & wenn able 1 One possibility they discussed was a top- secret experimental balloon programme that was given the codename Project Mogul. Little documentation has survived but Project Mogul is still described by the USAF as a highly compartmentalised part of the NYU (New York University) balloon programme, which was based on research carried out by Dr Maurice Ewing at Columbia University, NY, during 1945. Project Mogul balloons were intended to carry Top Secret low-frequency acoustic detection equipment to high alti- tudes and listen for possible Soviet nuclear test explosions. During World War Two Dr Ewing had become interested in the idea of underwater sound channels and had already managed to detect distant underwater explosions using submerged microphones. He theorised that there might be a similar sound channel in the upper atmosphere that could be utilised by equipment carried under a balloon. Spon- sored by Air Material Command (AMC), con- tracts were secretly issued to Columbia University for the development of electronic hardware (AMC contract W28499-ac-82) and to New York University (NYU) to devise a suit- able constant-level balloon (AMC contract W28-099-ac-241). Atypical Project Mogul balloon system was formed from twenty-eight neoprene meteo- rological balloons linked by a 600ft (183m) nylon cord. This balloon train, and its auto- matic ballast system, was developed by Pro- fessor Charles B Moore, who acted as the project's engineer. The Mogul train carried an assortment of electronic equipment that included a sonobouy microphone, amplifier, radio transmitter and a power pack. There were also ballast containers and three ML-307B Rawin radar targets attached to assist with tracking. Rawin is short for radar wind. Small neoprene balloons carried these radar reflectors for the purpose of measuring wind speed. Project Mogul test flights were undertaken at Alamogordo AAF (Holloman AFB) in New Mexico during June and July 1947. However, Project Mogul never progressed beyond this phase and the first Soviet nuclear test was confirmed by the Americans and British dur- ing September 1949, when airborne radioac- tive particles were gathered by aircraft using techniques developed by Tracelab in 1948. During 1994 public concerns about the mysterious Roswell Incident were taken up by Congressman Steven Schiff. He approached the USAF and met with consid- erable resistance, so Schiff used the General Accounting Office (GAO) to force them to explain the event, which was perceived by Unmanned high-altitude US balloons undertaking photo-reconnaissance missions above the Soviet Union were initially beyond the reach of Russian air defence measures. Bill Rose recovered. Of these, several malfunctioned while others recorded images of no intelli- gence interest, which left about thirty-four useful payloads. Another highly classified US balloon pro- gramme was started in 1957 with the designa- tion WS-461L Melting Pot. This operated from much higher altitudes, carried a more sophis- ticated camera package and had the potential to circle the globe in one month, maintaining a height of 100,000ft (30,500m). Melting Pot’s main payload was the Itek HYAC-1 large for- mat roll-film panoramic camera, developed under the direction of Itek’s Chief Engineer Frank Madden. This newly designed state-of- the-art unit with its f/5 305mm lens provided a 120° field of view and was capable of captur- ing very high resolution images (in excess of 108 lines per millimetre). After a series of trials seven WS-461L bal- loons were launched from the US aircraft car- rier Windham Bay during July 1958. To enhance the secrecy of this operation, the first four carried simple meteorological pay- loads and these were followed by three reconnaissance versions (S-430, 431, 432) lift- ing their Itek camera packages. However, a series of problems arose and these balloons’ gondolas were released over Poland, hand- ing the Soviets a major political coup. At a stroke the Americans had given the Russians their most sophisticated intelligence-gather- ing hardware on a plate, while generating a serious international incident. This brought the unmanned reconnaissance balloon pro- Genetrix On 27th December 1955 President Eisen- hower authorised a top secret CIA project called Genetrix that would involve the launching of camera-carrying balloons that would drift across the Soviet Union taking pic- tures from an altitude of 72,000ft (21,946m). Under good daylight (or moonlight) condi- tions they would be highly visible from the ground, but the balloons would be hard to track with radar and almost impossible to intercept by any prevailing means. The launch sites were in Scotland, Norway, West Germany and Turkey. Those balloons that made it across Russia were recovered in mid- air above the Pacific by a specialised C-119F aircraft operating from Japan or Alaska. An encrypted radio signal from the aircraft released the camera package, which would descend by parachute allowing capture by the aircraft. This was potentially quite a dan- gerous undertaking! During the programme, a totally unex- plained and seemingly irrational decision was taken by Pentagon officials to lower the operational ceiling of these balloons to 55,000ft (16,764m) and this made it much easier for the Soviets to take action against them. Some 516 Genetrix balloons were released before diplomatic pressure from the Kremlin forced the Americans to stop. The technical value of this operation remains questionable as only forty-six capsules were 115 Lighter-Than-Air Vehicles and the UFO Connection