The article below was published in the newspaper Galveston Daily News, Galveston, Texas, USA, pages 1,4, on July 9, 1947.
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Fort Worth. July 8. AP -- An object found near Roswell, N. M., which created a storm of speculation today, that it might be one of the mysterious "flying disks" or "saucers" was a weather balloon and its kite, the Eight Air Force announced tonight.
The announcement was made by Brig. Gen. Roger M. Ramey, commander of the Eighth Air force with headquarters at Fort Worth.
The object was flown from Roswell to Fort Worth by the air force where it was identified by Warrant Officer Irving Newton of Medford, Wis., of the base weather station.
Gen. Ramey said that several of the balloons were released daily according to changes in the weather.
A similar objects was identified last night at Adrian, Mo., by the Kansas City weather bureau.
Grant Cook, of Adrian, found the tin-foil covered object on his farm and notified authorities. Investigation by meteorologists revealed it as a reflector for radar signals.
(Printed on the reflector was the notation: "W.X.X. -- Feb. 21 -- M. P.").
Suspended from the balloons are kites or six-sided stars, covered
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with a shiny material such as tinfoil. These objects are traced by radar and computations from the radar reveals air currents.
The object found in New Mexico was badly damaged.
The balloons measure 50 inches across but expanded greatly as they ascend, air force officers reported. They sometimes reach 60.000 feet. The kites and stars generally are more than five feet in diameter.
The balloon and the object it carries are technically known as ry wind [sic, "Rawin"] high altitude sounding device, popularly known as "weather radar target."
Gen. Ramey said the object found in New Mexico definitely was a United States army device.
Plans to fly the object to Wright Field for further investigation were canceled.
A public relations officer said it was in his office, "and it'll probably stay right there."
Gen. Ramey spoke over a local radio station (WBAP) tonight after the Eighth Air Force headquarters was flooded with queries concerning the object.
In his broadcast, he said that anyone who found an object he believed to be a "flying disk" should contact the nearest army office or sheriff's office.
Later, he said that the weather device could be mistaken for almost anything when see[n] in the air.
"I don't say these devices are what people have called disks," he said. "There is no such gadget (as the disk) known to the army - at least this far down the line."
Warrant Officer Newton said there were some 80 weather stations in the United States using this type of balloon.
"We use them because they can go so much higher than the eye can see," Newton explained. A radar set is employed to follow the balloon and through a process of triangulation the winds aloft are charted, he added.
When rigged up, Newton stated, the object looks like a six-pointed star, is silvery in appearance, and rises in the air like a kite, mounted on a 100-gram balloon.
Newton said he had sent up identical balloons to this one during the ivasion of Okinawa to determine ballistics information for heavy guns.
