Читать книгу The Roswell Report: Case Closed - James McAndrew - Страница 13

Table of Contents

From 1953 to 1959, anthropomorphic dummies were used by the U.S. Air Force Aero Medical Laboratory as part of the high altitude aircraft escape projects High Dive and Excelsior.[42] The object of these studies was to devise a method to return a pilot or astronaut to earth by parachute, if forced to escape at extreme altitudes.[43]

Fig. 23. Project High Dive anthropomorphic dummy launch, White Sands Proving Ground, N.M., June 11, 1957. (U.S. Air Force photo)

Anthropomorphic dummies were transported to altitudes up to 98,000 feet by high altitude balloons. The dummies were then released for a period of free-fall while body movements and escape equipment performance were recorded by a variety of instruments. Forty-three high altitude balloon flights carrying 67 anthropomorphic dummies were launched and recovered throughout New Mexico between June 1954 and February 1959.[44] Due to prevailing wind conditions, operational factors and ruggedness of the terrain, the majority of dummies impacted outside the confines of military reservations in eastern New Mexico, near Roswell, and in areas surrounding the Tularosa Valley in south central New Mexico.[45] Additionally, 30 dummies were dropped by aircraft over White Sands Proving Ground, N.M. in 1953. In 1959, 150 dummies were dropped by aircraft over Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio (possibly accounting for alleged alien “sightings” at that location).[46]

Anthropomorphic Dummy Launch and Landing Locations

Source: Test records of U.S. Air Force aeromedical project no. 7218,

task 71719 (High Dive) and project no. 7222, task 71748 (Excelsior).

A number of these launch and recovery locations were in the areas where the “crashed saucer” and “space aliens” were allegedly observed.

Following the series of dummy tests, a human subject, test pilot Capt. Joseph W. Kittinger, Jr., now a retired Colonel, made three parachute jumps from high altitude balloons. Since free-fall tests from these unprecedented altitudes were extremely hazardous, they could not be accomplished by a human until a rigorous testing program using anthropomorphic dummies was completed.

Fig. 25. “Lord, take care of me now,” were Capt. Joseph W. Kittinger, Jr.’s words as he exited the Excelsior III balloon gondola at 102,800 feet on August 16, 1960, over White Sands Proving Ground, N.M. Kittinger’s courageous scientific achievement remains, to this day, the highest parachute jump ever accomplished. (U.S. Air Force photo)

A Cover-Up?

Countering claims of a cover-up, Air Force projects that used anthropomorphic dummies and human subjects were unclassified and widely publicized in numerous newspaper and magazine stories, books, and television reports. These included a book written by test pilot Kittinger, The Long, Lonely Leap, another book, Man High, by Man High Project Scientist, Lt. Col. David G. Simons (MC), a feature article in National Geographic, and cover stories in Life, Collier’s, Popular Mechanics, and Time.[47] A characterization of Kittinger’s record parachute jump even appeared in the adolescent magazine, MAD.[48] The intense public interest in High Dive, Excelsior and other aero medical projects conducted at Holloman AFB also resulted in a 1956 Twentieth Century Fox full-length motion picture, On the Threshold of Space (see page 38).

Fig. 26. This photo of Capt. Joseph W. Kittinger, Jr. taken by a remotely operated camera on the Excelsior III gondola, was featured in the December 1960 National Geographic.

Go to transcription of text

Fig. 27. Contemporary magazines that featured experiments at Holloman AFB, N.M. Clockwise from top left, Time, September 12, 1955; Life, August 29, 1960; Popular Mechanics Magazine, (center) January 1951; Collier’s, June 25, 1954; and Life, September 2, 1957.