40989238-001

Lieutenant Colonel Kaufman "Roswell Incident" 24 May 1995 Interviewer: lst Lt James McAndrew Oe I came here to interview you for, we're responding to a GAO inquiry regarding events that have come to be known as the Roswell Incident. We've researched for about the last year. We wrote a quite lengthy report last summer which I provided you a copy. Subsequent research has determined that there was more to the story, and we came upon some of the work that you had done Previously when you were an the Air Force. So lid gust Hike to Stab de OUE With whale veacedid you gor the Aire Horce,;gand... A: W…

KAUFMAN - 5/24/95 programs in use of altitude equipment, oxygen masks, things such as that, parachutes, seat ejection. I got involved in pressure suits and obtained a Master's degree in human physiology, then flew for a year during the Korean War, and returned to the Aeromed Lab as a project officer on altitude suits, where my main efforts were in the development of the MC-3, MC-4 altitude suit, the sort that was used by the U-2 pilots. Then I returned to the university and obtained a doctorate in human physiology and biophysics. From that time on in the Air Force, my main function was as a re…

KAUFMAN - 5/24/95 ©8 Could you describe under what circumstances did you become involved in balloons? A: That must have been in my third assignment at the Aeromed Lab. Joe Kittinger had begun his balloon projects, and wanted some backup pilots. His requirement was, or the requirement to train for One Of sthese positions, was Fo first be a pilot, a pilot on flying Status, and eo have made a panache jump. There were two of us in the laboratory who met that requirement Dan Fulgham who had been an F-84 pilot anda parachutist, and I had made a parachute jump with the parachute laboratory at Wrerght…

KAUFMAN - 5/24/95 Os I have some pictures. A: Theres aene Gondola, which was: sone oF Ike a big garbage can. The balloons, if I remember correctly, were 50 feet across. They might not have been quite that large, but they were sizeable balloons. I think we weighed about 1200 pounds on launch, and that put us with three occupants and parachutes and ballast, a stabvlazed altitude of i think abouk 127000 feet. =So they were sizeable balloons. Ox We reviewed your personnel record, and we found a reference that you were involved in a non-dirigible aerostat accideneson hie ZiSiz Om May, s950e A: Weet…

KAUFMAN - 5/24/95 Well, the sky was beautiful and it was dead calm, so we decided we would get a few more minutes, perhaps hours in. Something that people always express surprise at, we were making touch and go landings in the balloon, which was very simple in Ghat balloon, “ou samply valve Oia bike Om helaum and sine balloon starts its descent, and when it settles to the ground, your dump a bie Of ballast and the balloon rises again. Ane shen you valve off again and the balloon touches the ground, and you Gain COUC wary vigorously, OF vou Cam could wey gemely, eine vou can establish an altitu…

KAUFMAN - 5/24/95 ING The tgondola.. i hit ther satetry. switch; then hat the explosive: bole (switch, and we wolled up in asbalile. Ghat ws, whe gondola had turned completely upside down with the three of us under it, and it suddenly became very dark. n [This balloon was fitted with a cargo chute so that when you cut the balloon away, there was still a cargo chute above, on the risers above the gondola. I can picture this strong wind inflating the parachute and dragging us across this little pasture, and I made some remark like, "Let's get the hell out of here." I heard Dan Fulgham say, "Not …

KAUFMAN - 5/24/95 Dan Fulgham came to me and made some remark about how did he look? His face was rather badly scraped. He was wearing an experimental helmet, hard hat, which had been crushed. Of LS ieee soe A: inate eS) tt. els iditiierene than a standard pulliot Ys helmet. Ox It's like a cap. A: It covers the top mainly. wtt's like bike helmets sort Or. [his Ehing was like a plece Of paper. You could shake at and it would flutter. He, apparently, had been hit in the forehead by the edge of the gondola. And you can see the gondola is padded at the top. As the dice cup went over, he must have …

KAUFMAN - 5/24/95 Joe was bleeding rather badly but superficially from under I think his left eye. Ox SO Bulgham goe the hit an the head. You put himeon the Sit reecher and took im sco. tne heli copter, AS Mes Ox And now Captain Joe Kittinger was also injured. A: Yes. He had what turned out to be a fairly superficial laceratvon under, I think 16 was the left eye, "but ats a haghilly vascular area and he bled profusely. Joe was very disturbed about this, that we should wreck the balloon and get in all sorts of bad public relations problems here and so on. But the thing at the time, we were conc…