Government / Military

Project Mogul

1947-06-04what this date marks is not recorded

Classified 1947 USAAF balloon program (concept by Dr. Maurice Ewing of Columbia University) using high-altitude acoustic balloon trains to detect Soviet nuclear tests. The Air Force's stated explanation for the Roswell debris, identified as Mogul Flight No. 4, launched June 4, 1947 from Alamogordo AAF - a train of neoprene balloons with balsa-and-foil radar reflectors, not an ordinary weather balloon.

In the UAP recordRuled into the unidentified-phenomena thread on 2 September 2026 from this entity's own name and role text, which contain: "roswell". An editorial classification of what thread this entity belongs to; it rests on no page and does not claim to. Neighbours were not used - see apply-subjects-2026-09-02.mjs for why.

11 of 12 connections resolve to a document you can open. 1 was tested against a document we hold and deliberately not bound.

Documents1 behind a connection

Documents behind a connection

Report of Air Force Research Regarding the "Roswell Incident" 1994-07-27

Also named in documents we hold

This entity's name appears in the 1 document below. That is the entire claim. Nothing here is evidence for anything on this map, no connection rests on it, and it says nothing about what the document is about. It is a place to look next.

Report of Air Force Research Regarding the "Roswell Incident"already cited above

named on a page we have read · p. 9

…signed to attempt to monitor Soviet nuclear tests, known as Project MOGUL. ... Comparison of all information developed or obtained in…

12 connections

ColourIncidentsScientistsGovernmentOrganizations

← Sheridan Cavitt

Report of Air Force Research Regarding the "Roswell Incident"

This map says

his 1994 sworn account of foil-and-balsa debris is the primary witness basis claimed for the Mogul explanation

The document says

This possibility was supported by the observations of Lt Col Cavitt (Atchs 17-18), the only living eyewitness to the actual debris field and the material found. Lt Col Cavitt described a small area of debris which appeared, "to resemble bamboo type square sticks one quarter to one half inch square, that were very light, as well as some sort of metallic reflecting material that was also very light. . . . I remember recognizing this material as being consistent with a weather balloon."

Report of Air Force Research Regarding the "Roswell Incident", 1994
printed p. 27 · read off the page footer
rendered and read by eye — the grade this project quotes from

Caveat CAVITT SAID BAMBOO, NOT BALSA. Balsa is what the report says the RADAR TARGETS were made of, at printed 26; it is not the word the witness used. The relation was reworded to "foil-and-sticks" so it stops putting a material in his mouth.
→ Roswell Incident

same document as the row above

This map says

the USAF-stated source of the Roswell debris (Mogul Flight No. 4, launched June 4, 1947)

The document says

It is very probable that this Top Secret project balloon train (Flight 4), made up of unclassified components, came to rest some miles northwest of Roswell, NM, became shredded in the surface winds, and was ultimately found by the rancher, Brazel, ten days later. ... a copy of a professional journal maintained at the time by A.P. Crary ... showed that Flight 4 was launched on June 4, 1947, but was not recovered by the NYU group.

Report of Air Force Research Regarding the "Roswell Incident", 1994
printed p. 27 · read off the page footer
rendered and read by eye — the grade this project quotes from

Caveat The relation is right to say "USAF-stated". The report states this as probability, not finding - "It is very probable" - and the reader should have that word.
← Charles B. Moore

same document as the row above

This map says

NYU project engineer who ran its balloon flight operations

The document says

These persons included the NYU constant altitude balloon Director of Research, Dr. Athelstan F. Spilhaus; the Project Engineer, Professor Charles B. Moore; and the military Project Officer, Colonel Albert C. Trakowski.

Report of Air Force Research Regarding the "Roswell Incident", 1994
printed p. 25 · read off the page footer
rendered and read by eye — the grade this project quotes from
← USAF Roswell Report (1994-97)

same document as the row above

This map says

concluded the debris was a Project Mogul balloon train

The document says

The Air Force research did not locate or develop any information that the "Roswell Incident" was a UFO event. All available official materials, although they do not directly address Roswell per se, indicate that the most likely source of the wreckage recovered from the Brazel Ranch was from one of the Project MOGUL balloon trains.

Report of Air Force Research Regarding the "Roswell Incident", 1994
printed p. 30 · read off the page footer
rendered and read by eye — the grade this project quotes from

Caveat THIS LINK PREVIOUSLY CITED "The Roswell Report: Case Closed (1997)" - which is the wrong volume, and this project's own record for Case Closed says so in terms: "Nothing in this record may be cited for the Mogul explanation of the debris." The Mogul finding is here, in the 1994 report, and now cites it. Note also the conclusion's own hedge in the same sentence: the official materials "do not directly address Roswell per se".
← Maurice Ewing

same document as the row above

This map says

conceived the acoustic constant-level-balloon concept behind Mogul (fall 1945) and pitched it to Gen. Carl Spaatz

The document says

Long range, balloon-borne, low frequency acoustic detection was posed to General Spaatz in 1945 by Dr. Maurice Ewing of Columbia University as a potential solution (atmospheric ducting of low frequency pressure waves had been studied as early as 1900).

Report of Air Force Research Regarding the "Roswell Incident", 1994
printed p. 25 · read off the page footer
rendered and read by eye — the grade this project quotes from

Caveat THE SEASON IS NOT IN THE DOCUMENT - it says "in 1945". "fall 1945" was removed.
← Albert P. Crary

same document as the row above

This map says

Field Operations Director; his summer-1947 journal is a primary record of the balloon flights

The document says

Additionally, a copy of a professional journal maintained at the time by A.P. Crary, provided to the Air Force by his widow, showed that Flight 4 was launched on June 4, 1947, but was not recovered by the NYU group.

Report of Air Force Research Regarding the "Roswell Incident", 1994
printed p. 27 · read off the page footer
rendered and read by eye — the grade this project quotes from

Caveat THE TITLE IS NOT IN THIS DOCUMENT. Printed 26 says "An advance ground team, led by Albert P. Crary"; McAndrew's introduction at printed 2 calls him "a civilian Air Force scientist". Neither says "Field Operations Director". The relation was reworded to the role the pages actually give him, and the journal - which is the load-bearing half - is stated precisely.
← Albert Trakowski

same document as the row above

This map says

Army Air Forces project officer for Mogul, Jan 1947 to May 1949

The document says

the military Project Officer, Colonel Albert C. Trakowski

Report of Air Force Research Regarding the "Roswell Incident", 1994
printed p. 25 · read off the page footer
rendered and read by eye — the grade this project quotes from

Caveat THE DATES ARE NOT IN THIS DOCUMENT. It gives the role and, at printed 2 and printed 28, the succession from Duffy; it never dates his tenure. The span was removed rather than left looking sourced. Note also the rank: printed 25 says Colonel, McAndrew at printed 2 says Captain - the report gives his later rank, the introduction his rank at the time.
← NYU Balloon Project

same document as the row above

This map says

NYU balloon group built and launched the constant-level balloon trains Mogul flew (AMC contract W28-099-ac-241)

The document says

These "service flights" were not logged nor fully accounted for in the published Technical Reports generated as a result of the contract between NYU and Watson Labs. ... Upon their arrival, Professor Moore and his team experimented with various configurations of neoprene balloons; development of balloon "trains" ...

Report of Air Force Research Regarding the "Roswell Incident", 1994
printed p. 26 · read off the page footer
rendered and read by eye — the grade this project quotes from

Caveat THE CONTRACT NUMBER IS NOT IN THIS DOCUMENT. It records that a contract existed between NYU and Watson Labs and nothing more. W28-099-ac-241 came from elsewhere and is left in the relation unsourced rather than silently dropped - it is a claim this document does not cover.
→ Alamogordo AAF

same document as the row above

This map says

launched its balloon trains from Alamogordo AAF in summer 1947

The document says

the AAZD research team found references to balloon tests taking place at Alamogordo Army Air Field (now Holloman AFB) and White Sands during June and July 1947, testing "constant level balloons"

Report of Air Force Research Regarding the "Roswell Incident", 1994
printed p. 25 · read off the page footer
rendered and read by eye — the grade this project quotes from
← Athelstan Spilhaus

led the NYU balloon work and, per the USAF report, knew the project's actual purpose but not its classified nickname

same document as the row above
printed p. 26 · PDF p. 20 checked against the page
← Marcellus Duffy

same document as the row above

This map says

Mogul project officer Aug 1946 to Jan 1947, before Trakowski

The document says

Col. Marcellus Duffy, a respected Air Force pilot and scientific administrator, led the project. Capt. Albert C. Trakowski, a young Massachusetts Institute of Technology graduate, followed Duffy in the leadership role.

Report of Air Force Research Regarding the "Roswell Incident", 1994
printed p. 2 · read off the page footer
rendered and read by eye — the grade this project quotes from

Caveat THE DATES ARE NOT IN THIS DOCUMENT. The ordering is; the months are not. Removed.
← Watson Laboratories not bound, on purpose

tested against Report of Air Force Research Regarding the "Roswell Incident"

The claim we tested

Air Materiel Command lab (Red Bank NJ) that ran Project Mogul

What the document actually says

a New York University (NYU)/Watson Labs effort that used ". . . meteorological devices . . . suspected for detecting shock waves generated by Soviet nuclear explosions"

Report of Air Force Research Regarding the "Roswell Incident", 1994
printed p. 25 · read off the page footer

Why we refused it. THE DOCUMENT PLACES WATSON LABS IN MOGUL AS A CONTRACTING PARTY AND NOTHING MORE. It never says Watson Labs ran the project, and it never gives the lab a location. Two of the three things this relation asserts are absent from the page. Not bound.

5 corrections to this record

Generated from the record, not written by hand. Every change keeps what the map used to say, because a correction nobody can see is indistinguishable from never having been wrong.

Project Mogul → Sheridan Cavitt

his 1994 sworn account of foil-and-balsa debris is the primary witness basis claimed for the Mogul explanation

his 1994 sworn account of foil-and-sticks debris is the primary witness basis claimed for the Mogul explanation

CAVITT SAID BAMBOO, NOT BALSA. Balsa is what the report says the RADAR TARGETS were made of, at printed 26; it is not the word the witness used. The relation was reworded to "foil-and-sticks" so it stops putting a material in his mouth.

Project Mogul → Maurice Ewing

conceived the acoustic constant-level-balloon concept behind Mogul (fall 1945) and pitched it to Gen. Carl Spaatz

conceived the acoustic constant-level-balloon concept behind Mogul and put it to Gen. Carl Spaatz in 1945

THE SEASON IS NOT IN THE DOCUMENT - it says "in 1945". "fall 1945" was removed.

Project Mogul → Albert P. Crary

Field Operations Director; his summer-1947 journal is a primary record of the balloon flights

led the advance ground team at Alamogordo; his summer-1947 journal is the record that dates Mogul Flight 4 to June 4, 1947

THE TITLE IS NOT IN THIS DOCUMENT. Printed 26 says "An advance ground team, led by Albert P. Crary"; McAndrew's introduction at printed 2 calls him "a civilian Air Force scientist". Neither says "Field Operations Director". The relation was reworded to the role the pages actually give him, and the journal - which is the load-bearing half - is stated precisely.

Project Mogul → Albert Trakowski

Army Air Forces project officer for Mogul, Jan 1947 to May 1949

Army Air Forces project officer for Mogul, following Duffy

THE DATES ARE NOT IN THIS DOCUMENT. It gives the role and, at printed 2 and printed 28, the succession from Duffy; it never dates his tenure. The span was removed rather than left looking sourced. Note also the rank: printed 25 says Colonel, McAndrew at printed 2 says Captain - the report gives his later rank, the introduction his rank at the time.

Project Mogul → Marcellus Duffy

Mogul project officer Aug 1946 to Jan 1947, before Trakowski

led Project Mogul before Trakowski

THE DATES ARE NOT IN THIS DOCUMENT. The ordering is; the months are not. Removed.