Roswell Reflections: The DuBose Affidavit
In the last few days, those on the UFO Up Dates list have been talking about the affidavit made by Colonel (later brigadier general) Thomas DuBose, who had been the Chief of Staff of the Eighth Air Force in 1947. DuBose, along with Brigadier General (later lieutenant general) Roger Ramey were photographed with a balloon remains in Ramey’s office that was supposedly what was found at Roswell.
On September 9, 1991, when DuBose was 90, he provided an affidavit for the Fund for UFO Research. Since many have asked about it, I decided to publish it here.
It says:
- (1) My Name is Thomas Jefferson DuBose.
- (2) My address is redacted.
- (3) I retired from the U.S. Air Force in 1959 with the rank of Brigadier General.
- (4) In July 1947, I was stationed at Fort Worth Army Air Field [later Carswell Air Force Base] in Fort Worth, Texas. I served as Chief of Staff to Major General (sic) Roger Ramey, Commander, Eighth Air Force. I had the rank of Colonel.
- (5) In early July, I received a phone call from Gen. Clements McMullen, Deputy Commander, Strategic Air Command. He asked what we knew about the object which had been recovered outside Roswell, New Mexico, as reported by the press. I called Col. William Blanchard, Commander of the Roswell Army Air Field and directed him to send the material in a sealed container to me at Fort Worth. I so informed Gen. McMullen.
- (6) After the plane from Roswell arrived with the material, I asked the Base Commander, Col. Al Clark to take possession of the material and to personally transport it in a B-26 to Gen. McMullen in Washington, D.C. I notified Gen. McMullen, and he told me he would send the material by personal courier to Benjamin Chidlaw, Commanding General of the Air Material Command at Wright Field [later Wright-Patterson AFB]. The entire operation was conducted under the strictest secrecy.
- (7) The material shown in the photographs taken in Gen. Ramey’s office was a weather balloon. The weather balloon explanation for the material was a cover story to divert the attention of the press.
- (8) I have not been paid anything of value to make this statement, which is the truth to the best of my recollection.
It was signed and dated by DuBose. His signature was witnessed by three people, including a notary public which made this a sworn affidavit. The important points here are that DuBose, in the affidavit, said that the debris in Ramey’s office was a balloon and part of a cover story and that he ordered the material sent on to Washington, D.C. for examination, rather than to Wright Field.
In other interviews, DuBose said all this took place on a Sunday, with Ramey off station. In other words, some of the debris headed to Washington before the story broke nationally on Tuesday.
While this is eyewitness testimony and there are no documents to back it up, it is important given the time frame and the use of a balloon as a cover story (seen here, in chair). Here was a man who was in the office, he was photographed in the office, and he is saying that the balloon on the floor was part of a cover story. He has just taken Project Mogul out of the explanations, but the skeptics seem unable to understand that.