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This was the longest and probably the most widely reported AP final version of the Roswell events. The story below represents a composite of various stories found in the listed newspapers. Parts not common to all stories are in italics.
A reference to the comments of skeptical Army weather people in Washington -- see end of story
Again expressing the opinion of the weather people. However the story put out by military intelligence immediately after this was that the 'saucers' were fully explained by the weather balloons and radar targets.
Notice the Fort Worth dateline. This is the revision of the original story that emerged out of Ramey's office after the Roswell press release.
Ramey was a Brig. General at the time. There was some confusion about his rank. There was also confusion about his middle initial, which was "M." But he was Roger B. Ramey in UP stories.
There was also confusion about Newton's home town, variously reported as Medford, Mis. and Stetsonville, Wis.
A very widely quoted statement attributed to Newton.Yet today Newton doubts that were this many stations using radar targets. So why did he say this back then?
Newton told me this is also incorrect. A larger balloon would have been used. Why all the mistakes?
Newton told me he "lied" about this for a better story. He didn't do the actual balloon launchings, but was a forecaster who used the data. He was familiar with the radar targets, however.
Witnesses and other stories place the flight in the afternoon about the same time as the press release. E.g., see other AP stories that the flight occurred about the same time that the story broke.
This was yet another statement, this time from Gen. Ramey, that the radar kites were very frequently and widely used.
The balloons yes. But the radar targets being described by Ramey and shown in the photos were only 4 feet across. Ramey at one point was quoted as saying the object was 25 feet in diameter! (See Washington Post story)
Technically they were known as "rawin", not "ray wind" devices. The term "ray wind", however, was almost universally used in all stories.
A change of story from what Reuter's news agency was told by one of Ramey's intelligence officers: "none of the army men at this base recognize it as an army type balloon."
**Not according to the FBI telegram from the Dallas FBI office. Even the present-day Air Force admits debris was flown on to Wright Field. See also ABC News radio story at 10 pm EDT quoting spokesperson at Wright Field that they were still waiting for the shipment. Both Newton and Col. Dubose, Ramey's chief of staff, recall Ramey saying the flight was cancelled. Major Marcel and Robert Porter, on Marcel's flight, both said the debris was transferred to another plane, and the flight continued.
More spinning of the story by Ramey's minions. Makes sense though. Why would the simple weather balloon shown by Ramey need further ID?
Like Roswell base, Fort Worth AAF was also apparently inundated with press phone calls. The San Francisco Examiner claimed to be the first to get through to Ramey. United Press, Dallas office, probably got through to him too. Ramey gave them both a weather balloon/radar target story well before Newton ever made the ID official.
Which is exactly what happened at Roswell. Ramey is both debunking Roswell, yet still encouraging the public to come forward.
Ramey talks out of both sides of his mouth. He says he's not claiming the radar targets explain the "discs," at the same time saying the targets could be mistaken for almost anything.
This is the story of when the debris was found being changed in Fort Worth. Originally, according to the Roswell base press release, the debris was found "sometime last week." Other AP stories continued to report the find as "last week" or "several days ago."
** How could the tiny weather balloon/radar target be scattered over a "square mile." This is a big clue that something is seriously wrong with Ramey's balloon story. The statement of huge debris field size probably came from Major Marcel, who repeated it 30+ years later, and who is also apparently recounting the otherwise mundane story of Brazel's discovery immediately below.
Makes no sense, does it? How and why would Brazel wander over a "square mile" bundling the stuff up? Notice how the story is attributed to Marcel. both Marcel and Dubose said everyone spoke under Ramey's orders.
Marcel said the same thing 30+ years later.
So after he "hurried" home to "dig up" the debris, he didn't bother to take it to Roswell to show to the authorities. What sense does that make? The date when Brazel went to Roswell is also conflicting in different stories. E.g., UP originally reported Sheriff Wilcox saying Brazel came "the day before yesterday", or Sunday. (See UP telexes)
This section generally did not appear in most main AP stories.
Again the statement about Ramey instantly knowing what it was. Not surprising since the weather balloon was brought in as a shill for the real stuff.
The following section on the meteorologists was treated as a separate AP story by the L.A. Examiner. Other newspapers, however, sometimes rolled parts of it into the main story above.
This radar target probably came from the Army weather station in Kansas City, which demonstrated one for the press as part of the military debunking campaign. (See Kansas City demonstration)
The weather experts were giving their honest opinion. Military intelligence was telling the public something else -- the radar targets were the flying discs.
Yates would not be aware of radar targets frequently used by artillery units. E.g., several radar targets of unknown origin crashed in California at the same time. (See radar target crash section). Notice how the statement of Yates that they were rarely used conflicts sharply with the story out of Fort Worth from Ramey and Newton.
To try to explain part of Gen. Dubose's testimony that debris was also flown to Washington on a highly secret flight, A.F. counterintelligence people in 1995 tried to claim that the story came from "crashed disk advocates", and if there were such a flight, it would have been for Gen. Yates and people to identify the debris. How mysterious could simple weather balloon debris be? After Ramey supposedly cancels the flight, now it has to be flown to both Wright Field and Washington for further ID?
Another skeptical remark, this time by the civilian weather chief. Most weather experts quoted at that time didn't buy the military's story that weather balloons accounted for all the various saucer reports. The balloons usually couldn't be seen and moved too slowly.
Los Angeles Examiner, 7/9/47, page 1
New Mexico 'Disc' Declared
Weather Balloon and Kite
Identified by 8th Air Force
San Angelo (TX) Standard-Times, 7/9, morning headline story
'Disc' Reported Found in N.M.
Identified As Weather Balloon
'Wild' Reports Continue
to Pour In Over Nation
El Paso Times, 7/9, page 1, main story
Army Says N. M. 'Disc' is Kite, Weather Balloon
Los Angeles Times, 7/9, page 1
Grounded Flying Saucer
Only a Weather Balloon
Debris on Isolated New Mexican Ranch
Identified as Military Device to Chart Winds
Portland Oregonian, 7/9, page 1, headline story
Disc Found in New Mexico Declared Weather Balloon
Airmen End Excitement Over Object
Shiny Kite-Stars in Regular Use On Radar Tests
San Diego Union, 7/9, morning, page 1
'Saucer' Near Roswell, N. M., Weather Balloon
Army Men Doubt Device Can Be Base of 'Disc' Stories
Santa Rosa (CA) Press-Democrat, 7/9, page 1
'Disc' Reported Found by Army Proves False Alarm; No Aid in Solving Mystery
Only Weather Balloon; Couldn't Be Taken For 'Saucers'
Seattle Post-Intelligencer, 7/9, p. 1, Headline Story
Captured 'Disk' Merely Weather Kite
Foil-Covered Star Causes Military Flurry in N. M.
Second Similar Device Found in Missouri
FORT WORTH, Tex., July 8--(AP)--An object found near Roswell, N.M., which created a storm of speculation today [or "Tuesday"] that it might be one of the mysterious flying "discs" or saucers" was a weather balloon and its kite, the Eighth Air Force announced tonight [or "Tuesday night"].
The announcement was made by Brig. General [also "Major General"] Roger M. Ramey, commander of the Eighth Air Force with headquarters at Fort Worth.
The object was flown from Roswell to Fort Worth by the Air Force, where it was identified by Warrant Officer Irving Newton of Medford, Wis., of the base weather station.
Warrant Officer Newton said there were some 80 weather stations in the United States using this type of balloon, with stations releasing balloons according to changes in the weather.
"We use the balloons because they can go so much higher than the eye can see," Newton explained. A radar set is employed to follow the balloon and through a process of triangulation the winds aloft are charted, he added.
When rigged up, Newton stated, the object looks like a six-pointed star, is silvery in appearance, and rises in the air like a kite, mounted to a 100-gram balloon.
Newton said he had sent up identical balloons to this one during the invasion of Okinawa to determine the ballistics information for heavy guns.
The weather device was flown to Fort Worth Army air field by a B-29 from Roswell Army air field at 10 a.m., Tuesday at the command of Brigadier General Ramey.
General Ramey said that several of the balloons were released daily according to changes in the weather.
Suspended from the balloons are kites or six-sided stars, covered with a shiny material such as tinfoil. These objects are traced by radar and computations from the radar reveal air currents.
The object found in New Mexico was badly damaged.
The balloons measure 50 inches across, but expand greatly as they ascend, Air Force officers reported. They sometimes reach 60,000 feet. The kites and stars generally are more than five feet in diameter.
The balloon and the object it carries are technically known as "ray wind [sic] high altitude sounding device," popularly known as "weather radar target."
General Ramey said the object found in New Mexico definitely was a United States Army device.
Plans to fly the object to Wright Field for further investigation were cancelled.
A public relations officer said it was in his office, "and it'll probably stay right there."
General Ramey spoke over a local radio station (WBAP) Tuesday night after the Eighth Air Force headquarters was flooded with queries concerning the object.
In his broadcast, he said that anyone who found an object he believed to be a "flying disc" should contact the nearest Army office or Sheriff's office.
Later, he said that the weather device could be mistaken for almost anything when seen in the air.
"I don't say these devices are what people have called disc," he said. "There is no such gadget (as the disc/disk) known to the Army--at least this far down the line."
It had been found three weeks previously by a New Mexico rancher, W. W. Brazell [sic], on his property about 85 miles northwest of Roswell.
Brazell, whose ranch is 30 miles from the nearest telephone and has no radio, knew nothing about flying discs when he found the broken remains of the weather device scattered over a square mile of his land.
He bundled the tinfoil and broken wooden beams of the kite and the torn synthetic rubber remains on the balloon together and rolled it under some brush, according to Maj. Jesse A. Marcel, Houma, La., 509th Bomb Group Intelligent [sic] Officer at Roswell, who brought the device to Fort Worth.
On a trip to town at Corona, N.M., Saturday night, Brazell heard the first reference to the "silver" flying disks, Maj. Marcel related.
Brazell hurried home, dug up the remnants of the kite balloon on Sunday, and Monday headed for Roswell to report his find to the Sheriff's office.
This resulted in a call to Roswell Army Air Field and to Maj. Marcel's being assigned to the case. Marcel and Brazell journeyed back to the ranch, where Marcel took the object into custody of the Army.
After Col. William H. Blanchard, 509th Commanding Officer, reported the incident to Gen. Ramey, he was ordered to dispatch the object to Fort Worth Army Air Field immediately.
About that time word broke from Roswell that a flying disc finally had been found.
After his first look, Ramey declared all it was was a weather balloon. The weather officer verified his view.
(A similar object was identified last night at Adrian, Mo., by the Kansas City Weather Bureau.
Grant Cook found the tinfoil-covered object on his farm and notified authorities. Investigation by meteorologists revealed it as a reflector for radar signals. Printed on the reflector was the notation: "W.X.X.--Feb. 21--M.P.")
Army weather experts in Washington, however, discounted any idea that such weather targets might be the basis for the scores of reports of "flying discs."
Brigadier General Donald N. Yates, chief of the AAF weather service, said only a very few of them are used daily, at points where some specific project requires highly accurate wind information from extreme altitudes. Without field reports he would not hazard a guess on a precise number, he said.
For ordinary purposes, General Yates told a reporter, the AAF uses balloon-borne radiosondes much on the order employed by the weather bureau, tracking them with radio direction finders. Those instruments consist of a milky-white balloon five or six feet in diameter with the automatic radio transmitting apparatus suspended below in a package about cigar box size.
During the war, General Yates said, the radar target method of wind checking was standard practice because of the high degree of accuracy needed.
The U. S. weather bureau said it uses none of the radar target balloons at land stations. Some are used from coast guard vessels in the Atlantic, bureau officials said, but they normally blow eastward toward Europe.
Between the Army and the weather bureau, hundreds of weather balloons without the metallic target are released daily from points all over the country.
Ivan R. Tannehill, weather bureau chief forecaster, pointer out, however, that such balloons have been in use for many years. He said they were unlikely to have been mistaken "all over the country and all in one week" for mysterious objects speeding through the sky at supersonic speeds.
