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Drawing made for USAAF Intelligence by Kenneth Arnold, showing one of the UFOs he claimed to have sighted in 1947. The shape produced for this official report is rounder and somewhat different to the early crescent image portrayed by the popular media. via Bill Rose Drawing made for USAAF Intelligence by Kenneth Arnold, showing one of the UFOs he claimed to i ly lhe wey have sighted in 1947, The shape produced for this official report is rounder and somewhat different — to the early crescent image portrayed by the popular media. via Bill Rose Front page of the Roswell Daily Record newspaper 6th July 1947, announcing ‘RAAF Captures Flying Saucer’. The Roswell Daily Record - used with their written permission They seemed longer than wide, their thickness was about V20th of their width The USAF reluctantly acknowledged that a cover-up had taken place, but stuck with the original story, simply modifying the details to suggest that the object recovered was a top- secret balloon belonging to an operation Mirror Bright called Project Mogul. Apparently, the Mogul balloon carried classified acoustic equipment designed to listen for Soviet nuclear explo- traveling as I have made drawing. sions. Unfortunately, there are many flaws in = this story and not surprisingly, the belief that - , an alien spacecraft crashed has persisted. ~, o ~ RECORD PHONES. What happened near Roswell in 1947 rt {[ ri | hy rr D Benines Office 2238, remains a mystery to everyone outside the 4 DSUIe. 4 at 4 eror. ‘oa higher levels of Pentagon staff, who still seem unwilling to lose face over the issue. Con- They did not appear to me to whirl or spin but seemed in fixed position, a erencorr. Cains Amy [RAAF Captures Flying Saucer ceivably it was the crash landing of a black E Is Stacking project aircraft, an early Broken Arrow ® Courfs Martial nuclear weapon accident or some kind of ee Betere Petterson psychological warfare operation, but the debate continues. Six months later, on 7th January 1948, four Kentucky Air National Guard P-51D Mustang fighters set out from Marietta AFB in Georgia. Their destination was Standiford AFB, Ken- tucky and the purpose of the journey was to deliver the aircraft to new USAF users. Cap- tain Thomas ‘Tommy’ Francis Mantell led the flight in aircraft KY-869. About halfway through the journey he was contacted by the controller at Godman AFB, who asked him to investigate a large, bright, unidentified object Cavut of Romania and Mine Dare Lapency & 3 Anerua toured or Cuda and Yaron | c 1. A member of Carais hommbell 1 has de which had been observed by dozens of peo- _ aircraft fell from the sky and slammed into the One further incident would establish the ple at the Kentucky towns of Madisonville, Irv- ground on Joe Phillips’ farm, about 3 miles _ flying saucer’s status with the UFO commu- ington and Owensboro. For reasons involving _ (4.8km) southwest of Franklin, Kentucky. nity as a clear-cut visitor from another world. fuel and/or oxygen, the rest of Mantell’s flight Within weeks of the fatal crash a string of | Oregon farmer Paul Trent and his wife Evelyn soon abandoned the interception and contin- _ sensational stories appeared in the tabloids. | claimed to have observed a flying disc cross- ued on their journey, leaving Captain Mantell These suggested that Mantell had been shot _ ing their property near McMinnville during the to climb towards the unknown object. down by a huge alien flying saucer equipped early evening of 11th May 1950. Paul Trent Like his colleagues, Mantell had not been with a death ray, and his body was missing — secured two photographs with his Roamer supplied with oxygen because he was under- from the aircraft wreckage or strangely disfig- __roll-film camera and, like Kenneth Arnold, the taking a short-distance ferry flight, but as an ured. In reality, he had almost certainly Trents suggested they had observed some- experienced World War Two combat veteran chased a Skyhook balloon launched from _ thing secret belonging to the US military. The he should have fully understood the hazards —_ Camp Ripley, Minnesota on 6th January 1948, | photographs were then passed to the McMin- of high-altitude operations. With the objectin which was carried across Kentucky by the _ nville, Oregon Telephone Register newspa- sight, Mantell radioed Godman Tower to wind at very high altitude. Mantell probably _ per, which gave them front-page coverage on report that, ‘It appears to be a metallic object lost consciousness due to anoxia (oxygen 8th June 1950. or possibly reflection of Sun from a metallic starvation) at an altitude of around 25,000ft One week later, the national press picked object, and it is of tremendous size’. The Mus- _ (7,620m), and then the P-51D briefly levelled __up the story and this generated considerable tang soon passed 22,000ft (6,705m) and Man- _ off at about 30,000ft (9.144m) before plunging __ publicity for the Trents, with many reports sug- tell continued to climb. Minutes later, his into a steep dive. gesting that the flying disc was an alien space- Front page of the Roswell Daily Record newspaper 6th July 1947, announcing ‘RAAF Captures Flying Saucer’. The Roswell Daily Record - used with their written permission They seemed longer than wide, their thickness was about V20th of their width Mirror Bright aircraft fell from the sky and slammed into the One further incident would establish the ground on Joe Phillips’ farm, about 3 miles _ flying saucer’s status with the UFO commu- (4.8km) southwest of Franklin, Kentucky. nity as a clear-cut visitor from another world. Within weeks of the fatal crash a string of | Oregon farmer Paul Trent and his wife Evelyn sensational stories appeared in the tabloids. | claimed to have observed a flying disc cross- These suggested that Mantell had been shot _ ing their property near McMinnville during the down by a huge alien flying saucer equipped early evening of 11th May 1950. Paul Trent with a death ray, and his body was missing secured two photographs with his Roamer from the aircraft wreckage or strangely disfig- __roll-film camera and, like Kenneth Arnold, the ured. In reality, he had almost certainly Trents suggested they had observed some- chased a Skyhook balloon launched from _ thing secret belonging to the US military. The Camp Ripley, Minnesota on 6th January 1948, | photographs were then passed to the McMin- which was carried across Kentucky by the _ nville, Oregon Telephone Register newspa- wind at very high altitude. Mantell probably _ per, which gave them front-page coverage on lost consciousness due to anoxia (oxygen 8th June 1950. starvation) at an altitude of around 25,000ft One week later, the national press picked (7,620m), and then the P-51D briefly levelled up the story and this generated considerable off at about 30,000ft (9.144m) before plunging __ publicity for the Trents, with many reports sug- into a steep dive. gesting that the flying disc was an alien space- They did not appear to me to whirl or spin but seemed in fixed position, Secret Projects: Flying Saucer Aircraft