Anonymous Witness #01 |
Please, before asking any question or sending any comment or criticism, read this.
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"I was at Roswell in 1947 to early 1950. I was as at the time a gunner in the 393rd Bomb Squadron, 509th Bomb Group and a member of Captain Frederick Ewing's B-29 combat crew with tail number 44-7301 (Straight Flush) .. On Wednesday, July 9, 1947, our crew transported a crate to Carswell Army Air Force Base, Fort Worth, Texas in 1:55 minutes. The mission and cargo was classified. The crate was hauled in the front bomb bay and armed guards rode in that bomb bay with the crate. When I removed the down lock, I saw a Major and a Technical Sergeant in the bomb bay and some others in there. They rode the whole trip in the bomb bay and did not return with us. We flew unpressurized at about 8,000 feet. Our bombardier made a safety check of the shackles which held the platform secure. Those shackles were rigged so that the cargo could not be jettisoned. The corporal tail gunner and I saw the crate when we removed the down locks from the from the bomb doors. The crate was covered with a tarp when unloaded and taken away on a trailer at Carswell. I would guess the crate was about 12 x 6 x 6 feet. The engineer and I talked about weight and balance. They evidently had not given him a firm figure on the weight. He said with a laugh, "As long as it isn't more than five thousand pounds our center of gravity should be okay." We knew that Ft. Worth was to be our landing point, and we might get to see the new B-36 bomber. Someone made a remark about carrying "The General's Furniture". There had also been rumors for a couple of days about a spaceship crash, but we were only told it was classified cargo and to stay back." "On the way home, I went forward to chat with Warrant Officer Landry about minor problem with a prop. We had the Curtiss Electric's and there was concern that one of them was hunting a bit. Major Jessie Marcel rode back to Roswell with us and I talked briefly with him. He was always interested in the enlisted men on flight crews. He wanted gunners to be good observers when on long missions. I don't think his questions that day were probing. We were useful mostly as scanners because we had only tail guns. He asked if I was anxious to get into B-36's? We were told repeatedly not to talk of this incident, not even to our wives. I held that inside until 1988 when books began to appear. To this day I am in touch with one other member of our crew. Most of the others are no longer alive. Major Ewing was killed in a B-47 crash in Florida in 1952." "Sometime afterwards, about three to six months later, the wives began talking among themselves about the cleanup detail. This originated from the wives of men on that duty. One such was a neighbor of ours in July 1947. They moved across town, but I would sometimes see him and I ask him what he had seen out there. He was upset and told me, "You don't want to know." I think he was a baker because he would leave for work in the early morning, like 0130 hours. A time or two when I'd come in from a late flight he would be standing on the corner waiting for a ride. They did not own a car. Based on the wives gossip we heard that he had seen a body." "Later, I became a pilot and while in SAC and was an instructor in the Aero-clubs and moonlighting as a crop duster. Aviation has been my life. While in SAC KC-97's at March AFB our crew had two weird experiences, with something that officially wasn't there. You may put the story in your Filer's Files." |
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