Roswell Incident -- July 1947: The Events Day by Day

Roswell Incident -- July 1947: The Events Day by Day

The Setting

The events of July 1947 occurred in the high desert of southeastern New Mexico, centered on the town of Roswell and the Foster Ranch approximately 75 miles north-northwest near Corona. Roswell was home to the 509th Bomb Group at Roswell Army Air Field -- the only nuclear-capable bomber unit in the world, the unit that had dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki less than two years earlier. The coincidence of an extraordinary aerial event occurring in the immediate vicinity of America's only nuclear strike force has been a consistent element of the Roswell argument.

Day-by-Day Timeline

Date	Events
Late June / July 1	Several local residents in the Roswell area report seeing unusual lights or objects in the sky. Dan Wilmot and his wife observe an oval-shaped object at approximately 9:50 PM on the evening of July 2 from their home on South Penn Street, Roswell -- moving northwest at high speed
July 2-3, 1947	During a violent thunderstorm, Mac Brazel and others hear what sounds like an explosion. The next morning, Brazel rides out to check on his sheep on the Foster Ranch and discovers an extensive debris field -- metallic fragments, rubber-like strips, beams bearing strange symbols -- spread over an area roughly three-quarters of a mile long
July 4, 1947	Brazel returns to the debris field, this time accompanied by neighbors. He collects samples of the material and brings them home. He stores a larger circular piece in a shed
July 5, 1947	Brazel travels to the town of Corona, where he hears about the $3,000 reward being offered for debris from a "flying disc." He begins to wonder if what he found qualifies
July 6, 1947	Brazel drives into Roswell with samples and reports to County Sheriff George Wilcox at the Chaves County Courthouse. Wilcox telephones the Roswell Army Air Field. Major Jesse Marcel, the intelligence officer, responds. Marcel comes to the sheriff's office, inspects the debris, and reports to his commanding officer Col. William Blanchard. Blanchard orders Marcel to take a CIC (Counter Intelligence Corps) officer and proceed to the ranch with Brazel to retrieve the debris
July 7, 1947	Marcel, accompanied by CIC agent Lt. Col. Sheridan Cavitt and Sgt. Lewis Rickett, drives to the Foster Ranch with Brazel. They examine the debris field and begin collecting material. Marcel loads his car with debris. In the early morning hours of July 8, he shows his wife and son (Jesse Marcel Jr., then a young boy) the strange materials -- an event that Jesse Marcel Jr. would later corroborate with his own description of the materials
July 8, 1947 (morning)	Col. Blanchard orders the debris to be recovered and packaged. Blanchard issues orders to Lt. Walter Haut, the public information officer, to prepare a press release. At approximately 4:26 PM, the Associated Press distributes the now-famous press release over the wire: "The many rumors regarding the flying disc became a reality yesterday when the intelligence office of the 509th Bomb group of the Eighth Air Force, Roswell Army Air Field, was fortunate enough to gain possession of a disc through the cooperation of one of the local ranchers and the sheriff's office of Chaves County." This is the only official confirmation in U.S. government history that a flying disc was recovered
July 8, 1947 (afternoon)	Marcel is ordered to fly the debris to Eighth Air Force Headquarters at Fort Worth, Texas, to present it to Brig. Gen. Roger Ramey. Marcel later stated that before the press conference, the actual debris was removed and substituted with weather balloon material. Ramey poses for photographs with the balloon debris
July 9, 1947	General Ramey holds a press conference and announces that the "flying disc" was actually the remains of a weather balloon and its radar reflector. Brazel is reportedly detained by the military and taken to give a new, revised statement to the Roswell Daily Record, recanting his earlier descriptions of unusual debris. The retraction press release is distributed. The story essentially disappears from the public record for the next 31 years

The Press Release: Exact Text

The July 8, 1947 press release issued by Lt. Walter Haut under orders from Col. Blanchard is one of the most important documents in UFO research history. Its key passage:

"The many rumors regarding the flying disc became a reality yesterday when the intelligence office of the 509th Bomb group of the Eighth Air Force, Roswell Army Air Field, was fortunate enough to gain possession of a disc through the cooperation of one of the local ranchers and the sheriff's office of Chaves County. 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 Marcel to higher headquarters."

This press release was issued by an active-duty U.S. Army Air Forces officer, at an operating military base, under the authority of the base commanding officer. It has never been retracted by the Air Force; the July 9 follow-up release described the object as a weather balloon, but the original press release remains in the historical record.