The Day the U.S. Army Said It Had a "Flying Disc" (Roswell, 1947)

On July 8, 1947, the public information officer at Roswell Army Air Field in New Mexico, Lt. Walter Haut, issued a press release. It began: "The many rumors regarding the flying disc became a reality yesterday." The base said it had gained possession of a disc through the cooperation of a local rancher and the sheriff's office of Chaves County. Within hours the story was on the news wires and in newspapers across America. That evening, in Fort Worth, the Army said the debris was a weather balloon, but the next morning the flying disc story was on the front page of the Irish Times. This is the day the Army announced it had a flying disc, told from the record: Mac Brazel's find on the Foster ranch, the press release and the reversal, the Fort Worth photos, thirty years of silence, the witnesses who came forward decades later, the Air Force's 1994 Project Mogul report and 1997 "Case Closed" report, the 1995 G.A.O. audit of missing base records, and the "Alien Autopsy" film that was admitted to be a reconstruction. It opens with the real press release text, the Sacramento Bee and Irish Times pages of July 8-9, 1947, and the real photos. CHAPTERS 0:00 The day the Army said "flying disc" 0:58 The story in 30 seconds 1:28 File 01: The summer of 1947 2:21 File 02: The ranch (June-July 1947) 3:18 File 03: The announcement and the reversal 4:36 File 04: The long silence (1947-1978) 5:33 File 05: The witnesses 6:50 File 06: Project Mogul (1994) 8:16 File 07: The missing records (1995) 8:59 File 08: "Case Closed" and the test dummies (1997) 10:12 File 09: The "alien autopsy" film 10:51 File 10: What is on file 11:37 File 11: The verdict KEY FACTS The RAAF press release of July 8, 1947 said the base had gained "possession of a disc." The Associated Press carried it the same day, under headlines such as "Army Reveals It Has Flying Disc Found On Ranch In New Mexico." The same day, Brig. Gen. Roger Ramey in Fort Worth said the material was a weather balloon. The photos taken there show foil, sticks and tape. In 1994 the Air Force said the debris most likely came from Project Mogul, a secret balloon program. In 1995 the G.A.O. found that some Roswell base records had been destroyed. No physical evidence of a craft from another world has ever been produced. AN HONEST NOTE Nothing here claims aliens are proven or disproven. We separate what is documented, what is disputed, and what is still unanswered. Witness accounts given decades later are labeled as such, and we show no "Alien Autopsy" footage. The press release card is our own transcription of the published text and is labeled on screen. If you're enjoying the channel, a like and subscribe really helps, and we appreciate it very much. What do you think really came down on that ranch? Tell us in the comments. CREDITS (images cropped and color-graded) Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons unless noted: Roswell Army Air Field sign and staff portraits (U.S. Army Air Forces); Roswell Daily Record, July 8, 1947; Sacramento Bee, July 8, 1947 (AP); Fort Worth Star-Telegram / J. Bond Johnson photos of Gen. Ramey, Maj. Marcel and Col. DuBose (July 8, 1947); U.S. Air Force Mogul, Roswell Report and "Case Closed" figures; NARA aerial photos of Roswell (1943, 1946); FBI Dallas teletype (FBI Vault); Kenneth Arnold's 1947 letter; Chicago Sun, June 26, 1947. CC0: The Irish Times, July 9, 1947; Patrick Alexander; SteveStrummer; Sheridan W. Cavitt statement. CC BY 2.0: "Roswell, New Mexico, June 1941" (father of Don O'Brien). Narration: synthetic voice. Music: original. No AI images in the video or the thumbnails. SOURCES USAF, The Roswell Report: Fact vs. Fiction in the New Mexico Desert (1995) USAF, The Roswell Report: Case Closed (1997) U.S. G.A.O., NSIAD-95-187 (July 28, 1995) FBI Vault, Roswell UFO file AP, "Flying Disc Found; in Army Possession," July 8, 1947 BBC and The Guardian (April 2006), on the "Alien Autopsy" film #Roswell #History #1947