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Strange wreckage, a flying-disc announcement, then a weather balloon: how does the Air Force explain Roswell?
In July 1947, rancher William Brazel finds scattered material near Roswell, New Mexico. A small army air base announces a recovered flying disc, then changes its account within a day. In The Roswell Report: Case Closed, Captain James McAndrew presents the Air Force’s official answer to a story that fuels decades of argument.
Published in 1997, this follow-up to the Air Force’s 1995 study moves beyond the debris linked to Project Mogul, a secret balloon program. McAndrew examines later accounts of alien bodies, a hidden crash site and a cover-up. He seeks real events that could explain the stories, laying out the report’s sources and reasoning.
What you’ll discover
- The first conflicting accounts Follow the shift from a flying-disc announcement to a weather-balloon explanation.
- A secret balloon project See how the earlier Air Force study connects the wreckage to Project Mogul.
- Bodies and crash test dummies Explore the report’s treatment of witnesses who describe small figures at a crash site.
- Hospitals and injured airmen Examine accounts of burned bodies, hospital visits and military crews working at night.
- The official case examined Weigh the Air Force’s confident conclusion alongside its sources and chosen questions.
Who will love it
This book suits readers who enjoy mysteries solved with evidence, fans of Cold War history and early space flight, and anyone curious how a famous legend forms.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- The bodies remain an open question
- Later memories change the story
- Witness descriptions point toward test dummies
- Balloon tests bring dummies near Roswell
- Recovery crews explain the military presence
- Hospital records test the mortician's account
- A tanker crash offers another source
- A balloon accident supplies further details
- Separate the events by their dates
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The Roswell Report: Case Closed
by James McAndrew · 1997
Air Force researchers trace the Roswell alien bodies to test dummies, a funeral home and a balloon crash in 1959.
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In short
What did people really see in the New Mexico desert, and who were the small gray figures they described? The Roswell story says the Army recovered a crashed saucer and its alien crew in July 1947.
The Roswell Report: Case Closed at a glance
- Reading time
- About 4 h 20 min3 h 25 min fast, 5 h 10 min slow
- Length
- 61,600 words
- Library level
- Medium longer sentences, everyday words
- First published
- 1997by James McAndrew
Reading time at 238 words a minute (fast 300, slow 200). How long the classics take to read · Updated
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
The 1994 report left one question open
In July 1994 the Air Force finished a search of its records. Congressman Steven Schiff had asked whether any agency held proof of a crashed alien craft near Roswell. The answer was no. The debris gathered in 1947 came from Project Mogul, a balloon effort meant to detect Soviet nuclear blasts by sound.
Mogul used a train of weather balloons more than six hundred feet long, with radar targets of aluminized paper on balsa frames. A rancher found the wreckage and took it to the sheriff. No document from 1947 mentions a body.
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- 15-minute summary
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Details
- First published
- 1997
- Language
- English
- Level
- Medium level
Cite this edition
McAndrew, James. The Roswell Report: Case Closed. Library of Alexandria, 2026, libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-roswell-report-case-closed.
McAndrew, J. (2026). The Roswell report: Case closed. Library of Alexandria. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-roswell-report-case-closed (Original work published 1997)
McAndrew, James. The Roswell Report: Case Closed. Library of Alexandria, 2026. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-roswell-report-case-closed.
@book{mcandrew2026roswell,
author = {McAndrew, James},
title = {The Roswell Report: Case Closed},
publisher = {Library of Alexandria},
year = {2026},
url = {https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-roswell-report-case-closed},
note = {First published 1997}
}
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What is The Roswell Report: Case Closed about?
It is the Air Force's 1997 follow-up to its first Roswell study. It examines claims of alien bodies and compares them with documented projects, such as balloon dummy drops, a 1956 tanker crash and a 1959 balloon mishap.
What were the Roswell aliens said to be in this report?
The report says the beings at the two desert sites were most likely anthropomorphic test dummies, which are human-shaped research figures. They were dropped from high altitude balloons for parachute research in Projects High Dive and Excelsior.
What was Project Mogul?
Mogul was a secret Army Air Forces project that used long trains of balloons carrying acoustic sensors and radar targets. It aimed to detect Soviet nuclear tests, and its debris is what a rancher found near Roswell in 1947.
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