OPINION: Are UAPs nuclear sentinels? Part 2: Roswell revisited

Roswell Army Air Base was located 150 air miles from Sandia Base, south of Albuquerque, the lab where nuclear weapons were being developed and assembled. In July 1947, as the two key nuclear installations conducted joint operations, a startling event occurred halfway between them.

Near the village of Corona, a rancher reported wreckage from a strange crashed aircraft. An intelligence team from Roswell assessed the site and collected debris, reporting back to base Commander Col. William Blanchard. On July 8, 1947, with his consent, the press officer issued a news release:

“The many rumors regarding the flying discs became a reality yesterday when the intelligence office of the 509th (atomic) Bomb Group of the 8th Air Force, Roswell Army Air Field, was fortunate enough to gain possession of a disc through the cooperation of one of the ranchers and the sheriff's office of Chaves County. The flying object landed on a ranch near Roswell sometime last week. Not having phone facilities, the rancher stored the disc until such time as he was able to contact the sheriff's office, who in turn notified Jesse A Marcel of the 509th Bomb Group Intelligence Office. Action was immediately taken and the disc was picked up at the rancher's home. It was inspected at the Roswell Army Air Field and subsequently loaned by Major Jesse Marcel to higher headquarters.”

The Roswell Daily Record published the spectacular headline: “RAAF Captures Flying Saucer On Ranch In Roswell Region.” The coverage was picked up by the national and international press.

Brig. Gen. Roger M. Ramey, commander of the Eighth Army Air Force, 300 miles away in Fort Worth, Texas, quickly contradicted Blanchard's original assessment. Within 24 hours, the public had been assured the disc was a weather balloon.

Blanchard's silence after this reversal was never challenged. No one asked the commander of the only nuclear bomber fleet in the world — who would soon become the Strategic Air Command's director of operations — how the intelligence team of a nuclear base could mistake a crashed weather balloon for an unearthly disc.

In 1978, Marcel, the officer who collected the debris, broke his silence. He said that Ramey in Fort Worth had instructed him to support the weather balloon cover story, adding: “Of course, we both knew differently.” In subsequent interviews, Marcel described the metal debris as unbendable and unbreakable.

The ramifications of finding unique material from a strange, crashed disc in proximity to the country's nuclear arsenal appeared beyond consideration. Instead, Roswell has become synonymous with the epitome of UFO conspiracy theories and an ongoing subject of derision.

In 1997, 50 years after the Roswell incident, the Air Force offered a second explanation for the mysterious crash, claiming the disc was a component of a secret high-tech military balloon. Researchers have found inconsistencies with this account, including that it fails to clarify why Blanchard and Marcel — officers at a secure nuclear installation — were not briefed about classified tests in their operational area. The Air Force failed to quell the growing evidence that the initial press release was accurate.

Had the displays ended, Roswell might have remained an isolated incident. However, UFOs were seen elsewhere. Whatever arrived in 1947 near the 509th marked the beginning of decades of observations and interventions.

After the Roswell incident, reports from nuclear sites confirmed the phenomenon had only begun. Green and red orbs with hypersonic velocity paced radiation clouds from nuclear testing. Discs were seen over rural and urban America. Experienced pilots reported flying saucers with unprecedented speed and aerial dynamics.

In April 1952, Life Magazine — then reaching a quarter of the U.S. population — published “Have We Visitors From Space?” — a detailed article about increasing activity near military bases. The story quoted a radar officer at an atomic installation who described a 1949 incident: "I was startled to detect five apparently metallic objects flying south at tremendous speed and great height. They crossed the 300-mile scope in less than four minutes."

After consulting with physicists, astronomers and guided missile experts, the Life authors concluded that the objects “cannot be explained by present science as natural phenomena, but solely as artificial devices, created and operated by a high intelligence.”

The Air Force needed to address the surge in UFO reports. The public face of investigations was Project Blue Book, headquartered at Wright Field in Ohio. Capt. Edward J. Ruppelt was the first director from 1952 through 1953. Documents released decades later confirm Blue Book lacked access to many classified incidents.

By the summer of 1952, the so-called UFO flap reached its crescendo. At the end of July, a cluster of discs over the White House was reported by newspapers across the country. Coverage headlined, “SAUCERS SWARM OVER CAPITAL,” describing pilots observing discs and air traffic controllers tracking impossible speeds of strange objects on radar over Washington, D.C. Despite multiple trained observers and radar confirmation, the Air Force attributed the incidents to weather anomalies and misidentification.

Secret files from that era show Air Force intelligence, the CIA and government officials at the highest level were deeply concerned and had considerably more information than they released about increasing incidents.

And questions remained about Roswell. Why would Blanchard, an officer who would rise to become vice chief of staff of the Air Force, allow his professional assessment to be contradicted and buried? What did he really know about the incident?

Evidence and testimony since the 1947 Roswell crash indicate knowledge was shared only within a very small circle. Kevin D. Randle, retired Air Force officer and UFO researcher, interviewed Brig. Gen. Arthur E. Exon in 1990, who had been a lieutenant colonel in 1947 at Wright Field, where the debris had been taken. Exon had surveyed the Roswell crash site and confirmed a 500-foot gash. He described aspects of the debris and claimed knowledge of recovered alien bodies.

Robert Hastings, author of “UFOs and Nukes,” has compiled one of the most comprehensive analyses of the Air Force's ongoing knowledge of UFOs. One of his most important sources, further illuminating Roswell, was Chet Lytle, a senior engineer for the Manhattan Project who developed key components for the atomic bomb.

In an interview with Hastings in 1998, Lytle described numerous sightings of UFOs over nuclear facilities. Unexpectedly, he also recounted a conversation with his good friend William Blanchard, who, as commander of the Roswell base in 1947, had more access to direct evidence of the crash than anyone.

Six years after the incident, in 1953, Lytle and Blanchard were flying together from Alaska to Illinois. Both held positions in nuclear weapons oversight with the highest security clearances — Blanchard as a SAC commander and Lytle supervising the transfer of thermonuclear weapons for the Atomic Energy Commission.

Over the long flight, the discussion turned to a recent UFO sighting outside Anchorage. Blanchard then stunned Lytle, turning the conversation to what he knew about the Roswell crash, telling him an alien spacecraft had been recovered with four extraterrestrial bodies. This critical account about the Roswell commander's experience has been glossed over — perhaps because of its implications. When Hastings attempted to interview Lytle again in 2001, he admitted that he had been coerced into silence and refused to say anything else.

Blanchard died of a heart attack at the Pentagon in 1966 while serving as a four-star general and vice chief of staff of the United States Air Force. Whatever other details he knew about the Roswell incident and other UFO activity, he took to his grave.

However, Blanchard's revelation gives focus to the UAP challenge today: Acknowledging spacecraft means acknowledging operators. Operators have intent. Understanding that intent becomes essential.

The government has limited that understanding over decades.

Next week: Are UAPs nuclear sentinels? Part 3: Veil of deception

David Marks is a veteran investigative journalist and documentary producer whose work has appeared on the BBC and PBS, including “Nazi Gold,” which exposed Switzerland's role in World War II.