About a year ago, Billy Cox, writing in the Herald Tribune in Florida, told of an aging pilot, Ben Games, who said that he had served with Lieutenant General Laurence C. Craigie. Games, who was giving a talk to a UFO group, said that in the summer of 1947 he had flown Craigie, to Roswell, New Mexico to investigate what had been reported as the crash of a flying saucer.
In that talk, Games only suggested they had remained overnight in Roswell and that Craigie had then returned to Bolling Army Air Field (near Washington, D.C.) to meet with President Harry Truman.
Cox also noted that Games had a copies of various DD-214s, which is the standard military discharge papers, showing a strange 44 year military career. He also had his personal flight records back to 1942, but raising a red flag is the missing documents that would cover the critical July 1947 period. He has no explanation for that.
Tony Bragalia talked to Games recently, and I verified much of what transpired in that telephone interview. Games said, again, that they made an unscheduled flight into Roswell from Wright Field in Dayton, Ohio, and that Craigie remained there for several hours. They then flew on to Washington, D.C. so that Craigie could meet with the president.
Games seemed to believe that Craigie was a close friend of General Curtis LeMay, who, in 1947 was in char
ge of Research and Development for the Army Air Force. Craigie worked for LeMay, and that would mean, of course, that Le May knew about Roswell because he would have sent Craigie to New Mexico, and, more importantly, would tend to corroborate the tale told by the late senator and Air Force Reserve major general, Barry Goldwater.
Remember, Goldwater once asked LeMay to show him the special room where it was alleged that debris and possibly bodies from the crash were housed. Goldwater told many that LeMay’s answer was "Not only no, but hell no, and if you ask me again I’ll see that you’re court martialed." Confirmation of this attitude came from Goldwater himself and I have a copy of a letter sent to former Roswell researcher Kent Jeffrey that tells us as much (seen here).
Games, who is 84, according to what he has said, is a retired major who holds a PhD, flew in World War II, Korea and Vietnam and has some 737 recorded combat hours. Craigie, for those interested was the first American military pilot to fly a jet. Craigie (seen here) would later establish Project Sign
.
What this does is provide us with some information about who was involved in the crash retrieval, gives some corroboration that President Truman was kept informed (which, had there been a crash, is not that difficult to believe), and hints, once again at the importance of what fell. Games made it clear that had it been a weather balloon, or even a balloon array, those in Roswell, as well as those coming in to investigate including Craigie, would have recognized it as a balloon. While those in Roswell wouldn’t have been able to follow it all the way to Mogul, if that was the answer, Craigie certainly could have. Games made it clear that neither he nor Craigie saw a balloon.
Games said that he had been living out of the country, working for, or heading up, several airlines and hadn’t realized how big Roswell had become. He said that he had not been sworn to secrecy. When he learned about the discussions of Roswell, he realized how he fit into the overall picture.
If there is a flaw in this story, it’s those missing flight records. Some military pilots keep them religiously and others rely on the documentation supplied by Operations. He has other records to cover many other periods, but the critical ones, that would show a trip into Roswell are missing. How many times have we heard that? "I have everything but what I need to prove a point."
I’m not saying anything other than those missing records bother me. It would have been nice for Games to be able to corroborate that flight into Roswell. That certainly would have silenced the critics but because the records are missing, they will have a field day. Games’ information could be important, but we just don’t know. Just once I wish we could get our hands on the documentation because no matter how good a cover-up might be, it just can’t be this good.
In that talk, Games only suggested they had remained overnight in Roswell and that Craigie had then returned to Bolling Army Air Field (near Washington, D.C.) to meet with President Harry Truman.
Cox also noted that Games had a copies of various DD-214s, which is the standard military discharge papers, showing a strange 44 year military career. He also had his personal flight records back to 1942, but raising a red flag is the missing documents that would cover the critical July 1947 period. He has no explanation for that.
Tony Bragalia talked to Games recently, and I verified much of what transpired in that telephone interview. Games said, again, that they made an unscheduled flight into Roswell from Wright Field in Dayton, Ohio, and that Craigie remained there for several hours. They then flew on to Washington, D.C. so that Craigie could meet with the president.
Games seemed to believe that Craigie was a close friend of General Curtis LeMay, who, in 1947 was in char
ge of Research and Development for the Army Air Force. Craigie worked for LeMay, and that would mean, of course, that Le May knew about Roswell because he would have sent Craigie to New Mexico, and, more importantly, would tend to corroborate the tale told by the late senator and Air Force Reserve major general, Barry Goldwater.Remember, Goldwater once asked LeMay to show him the special room where it was alleged that debris and possibly bodies from the crash were housed. Goldwater told many that LeMay’s answer was "Not only no, but hell no, and if you ask me again I’ll see that you’re court martialed." Confirmation of this attitude came from Goldwater himself and I have a copy of a letter sent to former Roswell researcher Kent Jeffrey that tells us as much (seen here).
Games, who is 84, according to what he has said, is a retired major who holds a PhD, flew in World War II, Korea and Vietnam and has some 737 recorded combat hours. Craigie, for those interested was the first American military pilot to fly a jet. Craigie (seen here) would later establish Project Sign
.What this does is provide us with some information about who was involved in the crash retrieval, gives some corroboration that President Truman was kept informed (which, had there been a crash, is not that difficult to believe), and hints, once again at the importance of what fell. Games made it clear that had it been a weather balloon, or even a balloon array, those in Roswell, as well as those coming in to investigate including Craigie, would have recognized it as a balloon. While those in Roswell wouldn’t have been able to follow it all the way to Mogul, if that was the answer, Craigie certainly could have. Games made it clear that neither he nor Craigie saw a balloon.
Games said that he had been living out of the country, working for, or heading up, several airlines and hadn’t realized how big Roswell had become. He said that he had not been sworn to secrecy. When he learned about the discussions of Roswell, he realized how he fit into the overall picture.
If there is a flaw in this story, it’s those missing flight records. Some military pilots keep them religiously and others rely on the documentation supplied by Operations. He has other records to cover many other periods, but the critical ones, that would show a trip into Roswell are missing. How many times have we heard that? "I have everything but what I need to prove a point."
I’m not saying anything other than those missing records bother me. It would have been nice for Games to be able to corroborate that flight into Roswell. That certainly would have silenced the critics but because the records are missing, they will have a field day. Games’ information could be important, but we just don’t know. Just once I wish we could get our hands on the documentation because no matter how good a cover-up might be, it just can’t be this good.
4 comments:
Kevin:
This is exactly the problem with Roswell and almost every other UFO episode: an important ingredient (or the "missing gun") is missing.
That one thing which might "prove" a story or sighting to be probable, even verifiable, is not to be had.
And, thus, 60+ years after the Arnold sighting, no one is any closer to a UFO denouement than they were back in 1947.
It's not just frustrating but endemic to the phenomenon which includes, besides the UFOs themselves, the participants or observers also.
You and other legitimate UFO experts deserve credit for hanging in there, but when should one stop beating a dead horse?
RR
Kevin: The Goldwater story is quite an old one. I believe he wanted to see the Air Force records on UFOs. This was c. 1963, during the time that LeMay was USAF Chief of Staff. He was denied access to these records. At that time there was no talk of Roswell, so Goldwater had no knowledge of it and was not looking for UFO wreckage or bodies. The fact is that he had a long term interest in UFOs. Various citizens in Arizona (or was it New Mexico?) who were also concerned about UFOs asked him to try and get at the AF files. He may have tried more than once, but he certainly never said he was out to find bodies or physical debris; at least not to my knowledge. He did once refer, in a letter, to the 'Blue Room' but that hardly suggests anything sinister.
Do you really believe that LeMay ever told a top US Senator he would have him court-martialled if he got too inquisitive? I don't buy this. So what is the origin of this quote? Did Goldwater ever say, or write, this or are you relying on second or third hand oral testimony?
A more likely scenario is that LeMay told Goldwater that military personnel can be court-martialled for getting too involved in secret matters that don't concern them.
Goldwater ran for president in 1964, during LeMay's tenure as Chief of Staff.
The term "blue room" usually referred to a SAGE bunker, as the inside was darkened in blue.
see this page for info on SAGE:
http://www.radomes.org/museum/sagedocs.html
It is clear, though, that Goldwater couldn't have been referring to one of these, if that was indeed the phrase he used. There were more personal interviews with him, over the years, where he clearly says he was interested in items, or material, stored there, and not just general info on UFOs.
I have just looked at www.bibleufo.com where several politicians give their views. There are some quotes from Barry Goldwater given there.
In one of them LeMay says to him that not only can Goldwater not go into the 'Blue Room' but that LeMay himself could not (even as AF Chief of Staff)! As for the alleged quote about Goldwater being court-martialed, this is not there. I do not believe any such threat was ever made. According to the Wikipedia LeMay & Goldwater were friends anyway.
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