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Person

William H. Blanchard

Commander of the 509th Bomb Group at Roswell in 1947

1947 · Historical figures (1933–2007) · Official

Commander of the 509th Bomb Group at the Roswell air base, on July 8, 1947 he released the official press release stating that the base's intelligence office had recovered a “flying disc”; according to Walter Haut, it was Blanchard who asked him to write it. The press release is documented; the debris was presented at Fort Worth as the remains of a weather balloon and in 1994–95 the USAF traced it to a Project Mogul balloon, an explanation disputed by proponents of the extraterrestrial hypothesis.

Key claims
  • The press release from his base (July 8, 1947) announced that it had come into possession of a disc thanks to a local rancher and the Chaves County sheriff's office.

Documented authority

It measures how documented and verifiable what the person claims is, not their honesty. Each criterion is scored from 0 to 2.

Credentials 2/2
Commander of the 509th Bomb Group at Roswell: documented role.
Direct access not applicable
The sources collected report no personal statements by him beyond the 1947 press release.
Evidence provided not applicable
Not applicable: no personal claims beyond the press release.
Claims track record not applicable
Not applicable: the press release is an official act, later traced by the USAF to a Project Mogul balloon.
Conflicts of interest not applicable
Not applicable: press release issued in an official capacity.

Sources

  1. William H. Blanchard, English Wikipedia (other)
  2. Roswell incident, English Wikipedia (other)
  3. Goldberg, Enemies Within, Yale University Press, 2001 (book, skeptical)
  4. Pflock, Roswell: Inconvenient Facts and the Will to Believe, Prometheus Books, 2001 (book, skeptical)

On this site

Cases 1

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