Unidentified flying objects -- Sightings and encounters -- New Mexico -- Roswell
I, Charles A. Coltman, Jr., Col, USAF, MC (Ret), hereby state that
James McAndrew was identified as a Lieutenant, USAFR, on this date
at my place of employment and do hereby, voluntarily and of my own
free will, make the following statement. This was done without
having been subjected to any coercion, unlawful influence or
unlawful inducement.
I entered the U.S. Air Force in 1957 as a flight surgeon and was
assigned to Walker AFB, NM, in 1958. Following a residency at Ohio
State University from 1959 to 1963, I was assigned to Wilford Hall
USAF Medical Center, Lackland AFB, TX, where I eventually became
the Chairman of the Department of Medicine. I retired from the Air
Force in 1977. I am presently a Professor at The University of
Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, and Chief Executive
Officer of the Cancer Therapy and Research Foundation of South
Texas.
I remember a balloon crash that happened north of Roswell, NM, in
May, 1959. I received a phone call from the NCOIC of the Flight
Surgeon’s office, who informed me of the crash. The NCOIC, Earl
Wormwood, came to my quarters and we drove, in an old blue Air
Force “crackerbox” ambulance, to the crash site. I remember the
gondola laying on its side and the deflated balloon on the ground.
The crew members were sitting next to the gondola. I examined the
pilots and determined they were not seriously injured. They told me
they were practicing touch-and-go’s and a gust of wind had dumped
them on the ground, and the gondola had struck one of the pilots
in the head. Also present were Air Force technicians in trucks who
tracked the balloon. The injured pilots were transported to the
Flight Surgeon’s office at the hospital at Walker AFB.
The injury sustained by the crew member was a head
abrasion/contusion and a hemotoma. The hemotoma caused the
patient’s head to swell, however, it was not serious enough for
him to be admitted. I remember receiving a call from Col (Dr.)
John Stapp. He was in charge of the balloon project and was quite
famous. Dr Stapp inquired about the injuries to the pilots and he
wanted them returned to Holloman AFB as quickly as possible.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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