Part B1 : Roswell and Hoover on access to discs recovered (1947)

The teletype dated 8 July 1947 shown below expressly relates to the Roswell incident. (It can also be found in Part 2 of 16 at page 5 of 79 and at the link mentioned in Part C4 below).


This document indicates that “the object found resembles a high altitude weather balloon with a radar reflector”, which would appear to be consistent with the subsequent Air Force attempts to debunk the Roswell UFO crash stories. However, the document continues with the intriguing (and frustratingly vague…) comment that “but that telephonic conversation between their office and Wright Field had not xxxxxxxxxx borne out this belief”.




The name redacted in the above copy of the memo appears on some websites as Major Curtan, indicating that the FBI released an unredacted copy of this memo at some point. See, for example, a post by Don Allen from 1992 at:

From: dona@bilver.uucp (Don Allen)
Newsgroups: alt.alien.visitors,alt.conspiracy,sci.skeptic
Subject: FILE: Roswell - FBI Memo
Date: 15 Sep 92 04:06:43 GMT
…


FBI DALLAS 7-8-47 6-17 PM

DIRECTOR AND SAC, CINCINNATI URGENT

FLYING DISC, INFORMATION CONCERNING. MAJOR CURTAN, HEADQUARTERS

EIGHTH AIR FORCE, TELEPHONICALLY ADVISED THIS OFFICE THAT AN OBJECT

PURPORTING TO BE A FLYING DISC WAS RE COVERED NEAR ROSWELL, NEW

MEXICO, THIS DATE. THE DISC IS HEXAGONAL IN SHAPE AND WAS SUSPENDED

FROM A BALLON BY A CABLE, WHICH BALLON WAS APPROXIMATELY TWENTY

FEET IN DIAMETER. MAJOR CURTAN FURTHER ADVISED THAT THE OBJECT
FOUND RESEMBLES A HIGH ALTITUDE WEATHER BALLOON WITH A RADAR

REFLECTOR, BUT THAT TELEPHONIC CONVERSATION BETWEEN THEIR OFFICE AND

WRIGHT FIELD HAD NOT xxxxxxxxxx BORNE OUT THIS BELIEF. DISC AND

BALLOON BEING TRANSPORTED TO WRIGHT FIELD BY SPECIAL PLANE FOR EXAMIN

INFORMATION PROVIDED THIS OFFICE BECAUSE OF NATIONAL INTEREST IN CASE

xxxx AND FACT THAT NATIONAL BROADCASTING COMPANY, ASSOCIATED PRESS, A

OTHERS ATTEMPTING TO BREAK STORY OF LOCATION OF DISC TODAY. MAJOR

CURTAN ADVISED WOULD REQUEST WRIGHT FIELD TO ADVISE CINCINNATI

OFFICE RESULTS OF EXAMINATION. NO FURTHER INVESTIGATION BEING

CONDUCTED.

what was originally reported to have been recovered was a balloon of some sort, usually described as a "weather balloon," although the majority of the wreckage that was ultimately displayed by General Ramey and Major Marcel in the famous photos (Atch 16) in Fort Worth was that of a radar target normally suspended from balloons. This radar target, discussed in more detail later, was certainly consistent with the description of July 9 newspaper article which discussed "tinfoil, paper, tape, and sticks." Additionally, the description of the "flying disc" was consistent with a document routinely used by most pro-UFO writers to indicate a conspiracy in progress-the telegram from the Dallas FBI office of July 8, 1947. This document quoted in part states: " ... The disc is hexagonal in shape and was suspended from a balloon by a cable, which balloon was approximately twenty feet in diameter .... the object found resembles a high altitude weather balloon with a radar reflector .... disc and balloon being transported .... "

“A saucer, whirling through the air, shooting smoke and fire, landed in a downtown street. This one was seemingly solved without recourse to either the FBI or Air Force Intelligence. The Shreveport police said it was the work of a prankster, who had launched the homemade disk from the top of an office building. The saucer had a fluorescent light starter and two electric fan condensers. It couldn't fly either.”

“What is known is that the modern two-letter abbreviated codes for the states within the US were originated by the US Post Office in 1963, over 15 years after the date of this document. If the USG did not officially use ‘La’ or ‘La.’ to signify Louisiana, would Hoover?”

Until 1963 the Post Office Department preferred that state and territorial names be written out in full to avoid confusion, but accepted the popular public practice of abbreviation.

The Department published lists of preferred state abbreviations in the 1831 Table of Post Offices in the United States and in the United States Official Postal Guide, first published in 1874. Most of the preferred abbreviations in 1874 remained the same for nearly the next 90 years.

…

“Preferred Abbreviations for States/Territories”
…
Louisiana :
1831 : La.
1874 : La.
1943 : La.
6/1963 : LA
10/1963 : LA”

Determining the relevant facts on this issue requires an examination of both the FBI files and the Air Force files relevant to this incident.

Let’s start with the FBI files.

The FBI files include the document below dated 7 July 1947 in relation to the Shreveport Louisiana hoaxed disc (at page 4 of 79 in Part 2 of the 16 UFO files):


Notably, this memo dated 7 July 1947 indicates that the Shreveport disc was picked up by the Army (G-2) “immediately and they took disc before SA arrived”, which could have been read by Hoover as indicating that it was (in the words of Hoover’s controversial annotation about access to discs recovered) “grabbed” by the Army (although a comment later in this memo does indicate that the Army indicated that the disc could later be turned over to FBI “subject to superior instructions”).

Thus, the FBI files suggest that (rightly or wrongly) Hoover may have thought that the Army “grabbed” the hoaxed Shreveport (Louisiana) disc.

Christopher D Allan has commented that this July 7 memo “gives further evidence of the lack of FBI access to the prank disc. The Army took sole charge” (in Christopher D Allan’s article entitled “Roswell Crash” by in IUR, May/June 1994 at page 13 – i.e. at page 61 of 144 of PDF version of volume 19).

It is notable that Kevin Randle (one of the most prominent researchers that – as indicated above - previously questioned the identification of Hoover’s annotation as referring to the Shreveport, Louisiana hoax) appears to have accepted that Allan and other sceptics were correct. In

“I am of the opinion that Hoover wrote “La” and this refers to a case from Shreveport, ouisiana. …According to the documentation available, the FBI was alerted to the Shreveport case and FBI agents did interview one of the sources. The FBI memo on the case also said that the Army had taken the disc into their possession. This case seems to fit facts and it is an ‘La.’”

An expert machinist, the late Murff Swor, cobbled together some castoff electrical parts and an aluminum disc, hid on top of a building on then-thriving

Texas Avenue, and sent it sailing into rush-hour traffic when the light was fading right and the public appetite for the bizarre was growing.

"My father was a fantastic sheet-metal worker and had a sense of humor," sighed Jerry Swor, his then-17-year-old son, now 77 and living near Arlington, Texas. "It was during all the UFO sightings. He made this disc, it was round and about four inches thick in the middle, and tapered out. He welded a condenser on the top of it and two fluorescent lamp starters on each side and took an acetylene torch and streaked smoke trails behind each of the starters, so it would look like it was spinning."

If he wanted to start a panic, he came close.

“The following information was furnished to SA …… by …, …. … . …

An investigator for the Air Forces stated that three so-called flying saucers had been recovered in New Mexico. They were described as being circular in shape with raised centers, approximately 50 feet in diameter. Each one was occupied by three bodies of human shape but only 3 feet tall, dressed in metallic cloth of a very fine texture. Each body was bandaged in a manner similar to the blackout suits used by speed flying and test pilots.

According to Mr … informant, the saucers were found in New Mexico due to the fact that the Government has a very high-powered radar set-up in that area and it is believed the radar interferes with the controlling mechanism of the saucers.

No further evaluation was attempted by SA … concerning the above”.