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19471776 Club

Army says it has a flying disc; General Ramey says it is a weather balloon

Rancher Mac Brazel, who found the tinfoil and wooden beams near Corona, is unconvinced: "I am sure that what I found was not any weather observation balloon."

In late June 1947, rancher Mac Brazel found tinfoil, rubber, tape, and wooden beams scattered across the ranch he managed near Corona, New Mexico. Sheriff George Wilcox alerted the Roswell Army Air Field, and on July 8 public information officer Walter Haut announced the recovery of a "flying disc." General Roger Ramey, along with Colonel Thomas DuBose and weather officer Irving Newton, retracted the claim within a day, identifying the debris as a weather balloon. Brazel disagreed, telling the Roswell Daily Record, "I am sure that what I found was not any weather observation balloon."…

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More from July 8
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1663

Charles II signs Rhode Island's charter; no colony has ever put religious liberty in writing like this

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17761776 Club
Trenton and Easton hear it simultaneously; in New York, Washington's troops pull down the equestrian statue of King George III.
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More from Cold War America
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