Regarding this transcript, George Wingfield says: "This is the unabridged, unedited version of the anonymous cameraman's story, as supplied to me in print. I believe that this was written down by Ray Santilli from what the cameraman told him -- quite possibly on tape -- and the misspellings, punctuation, failure to end sentences, capital letters (or lack thereof) result from Ray's transcription of what he was told. Nothing has been altered by me except for the insertion of my footnote numbers in the text."
The numerous misspellings of even such well-known names as Wright-Patterson AFB (spelled "Write Patterson" in one instance below) indicate that the transcriber was either in a great hurry or was quite ignorant of basic UFO-related information. In any case, CNI News chooses to follow George Wingfield's decision to make no changes in the transcript.]
THE CAMERAMAN'S STORY
I joined the forces in March of 1942 and left in 1952, The ten years I spent serving my country were some of the best years of my life.
My father was in the movie business, which meant I had a good knowledge about the workings of cameras and photography. For this reason I believe I passed a medical that would not normally allow me in due to Polio as a child.
After my enrolment and training, I was able to use my camera skills and become one of the few dedicated cameramen in the forces. I was sent to many places, and as it was wartime I fast learnt the ability of filming under difficult circumstances.
I will not give more detail on my background, only to say that in the fall of 1944 I was assigned to Intelligence reporting to the Assistant Chief of Air Staff, I was moved around depending on my assignment. During my time I filmed a great deal including the tests at White Sands (Manhattan project/Trinity) [1].
I remember very clearly receiving the call to go to White Sands (Roswell) [2]. I had not long returned from St Louis, Missouri where I had filmed the new ramjet ("little Henry") [3]. It was June 1st when McDonald [4] asked me to report to General McMullan [5] for a special assignment. I had had no experience of working with McMullan but after talking to him for a few minutes I knew that I would never wish to be his enemy. McMullan was straight to the point, no messing, I was ordered to a crash site just south west of Socorro [6] It was urgent and my brief was to film everything in sight, not to leave the debris until it had been removed and I was to have access to all areas of the site, if the commander in charge had a problem with that I was told to get them to call McMullan. A few minutes after my orders from McMullan I received the same
instruction from Tooey saying it was the crash of a Russian spy plane. Two Generals in one day, this job was important.
I flew out from Andrews with sixteen other officers and personnel mostly medical, We arrived at Write Patterson [7] and collected more men and equipment, from there we flew to Roswell on a C54.
When we got to Roswell we were transported by road to the site [8]. From the start it was plain to see this was no Russian Spy Plane it was a large disc "flying Saucer" on its back with heat still radiating from the ground around it.
The commander on site handed over to the SAC medical team who were still waiting for Kenney [9] to arrive however nothing had been done as everyone was just waiting for orders.
It was decided to wait until the heat subsided before moving in as fire was a significant risk, this was made all the worse by the screams of the Freak creatures that were lying by the vehicle. What in gods name they were no one could tell but one things for sure they were Circus Freaks, creatures with no business here. Each had hold of a box which they kept hold of in both arms close to their chests [10]. They just lay there crying, holding those boxes.
Once my tent had been set up I started filming immediately, first the vehicle, then the site and debris, At around 06.00 it was deemed safe to move in, again the freaks were still crying and when approached screamed even louder. They were protective of their boxes but we managed to get one lose with a firm strike at the head of a Freak with the butt of a rifle.
The 3 freaks were dragged away and secured with rope and tape the other one was already dead, The medical team were reluctant at first to go near these Freaks but as some were injured they had no choice. Once the creatures were collected the priority was to collect all debris that could be removed easily as there was still a risk of fire. This debris seemed to come from exterior struts that were supporting a very small disc on the underside of the craft which must have snapped off when the disc flipped over. The debris was taken to tent stations for logging, then loaded onto trucks, After three days a full team from Washington came down and the decision was taken to move the craft, Inside it, the atmosphere was very heavy, It was impossible to stay in longer than a few seconds without feeling very sick. therefore it was decided to analyse it back at base so it was loaded onto a flattop and taken to Wright Patterson, which is where I joined it.
I stayed at Wright Patterson for a further three weeks working on the debris I was then told to report to Fort Worth (Dallas) [11] a problem with this but it was discovered that the Freaks may be a medical threat therefore I was required to wear the same protective suits as the doctors. It was impossible to handle the camera properly loading and focusing were very difficult [12]. filming The first two Autopsys took place in July 1947.
After filming I had several hundred reels, I separated problem reels which required special attention in processing (these I would do later), the first batch was sent through to Washington and I processed the remainder a few days later. Once the remaining reels had been processed I contacted Washington to arrange collection of the final batch, incredibly they never came to collect or arrange transportation for them I called many times then just gave up [13]. The footage has remained with me ever since.
In May of 1949 I was asked to film the third Autopsy [14].
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Footnotes by George Wingfield [minor editing by CNI News]:
[1] Wartime Manhattan Project were initially tested at Trinity Site, 40 miles SE of Socorro, at the northern end of the White Sands Missile Range. The first atomic bomb to be tested was attached to a steel tower there and detonated on July 16th, 1945.
[2] base, which is not the same as White Sands; the airfield for White Sands was at Alamogordo (Holloman AFB). If the crash was near Socorro, it would have been far easier and quicker to fly to Kirtland Field at Albuquerque, which is half the distance from the crash site and on better roads. But there may have been operational reasons for using Roswell. See note [8].
[3] Helicopter built in 1947. It had an innovative two-blade rotor with a Marquardt ramjet at each tip. It was first flown, at McDonnell's airfield in St Louis, on May 5th 1947. It is curious this account does not mention the word "helicopter."
[4] of the eponymous aircraft company in St Louis, Mo.
[5] Staff of SAC in Washington D.C. at this time in 1947. Elsewhere the cameraman was reported to have said that the crash was on June 1st 1947 and that it was on June 2nd that he was ordered by General McMullen to go to the crash site. Other accounts of the Roswell crash, such as that by Brig-Gen. Thomas DuBose, (Chief of Staff at Carswell Army Air Field, Fort Worth, TX at the time) confirm that General McMullen was in charge of the whole operation and wanted to know everything that went on.
[6] Plains of San Agustin, where Grady L "Barney" Barnett (d. 1969) said that he came across a crashed flying disc in the desert in July 1947. Beside it, he said, were a number of dead or injured humanoids. In a short time the military arrived and cordoned off the area. He, and a small group of archaeologists who had also stopped, were sent away, told that they were not to talk about what they had seen and that it was their patriotic duty to remain silent.
In July 1995 Michael Hesemann drove to the crash site indicated by the cameraman following detailed instructions relayed by Ray Santilli. It was at the northern end of a small dry lake bed, ten miles along a dirt track running south from the Socorro to Magdalena road. Near a cleft in a rocky ridge beside the dry lake, Hesemann found an irregular discolored area which may have been the crash site. Of course there are no remains of any kind there now, but the instructions he received left him in no doubt that the cameraman had visited this place.
[7] Then known as Wright Field; has long been rumored to be where retrieved flying saucers, including the debris from the crash at the Foster Ranch near Roswell, were taken for analysis. Not long afterwards the name was changed to Wright-Patterson AFB, so it is not unexpected that the cameraman refers to it as such. It was here in January 1948 that Project Sign was established to "collect, collate, evaluate and distribute to interested government agencies and contractors all information concerning sightings and phenomena in the atmosphere which can be construed to be of concern to the national security."
[8] Carrizozo and San Antonio, NM, were very poor in 1947 and the 150 miles might easily have taken 7 hours or more to drive.
[9] in Washington, to whom McMullen reported. General Kenney himself reported directly to the President.
[10] Hand-impression "controls," which are seen in the film footage, came from the boxes referred to here.
[11] The autopsies were performed in Fort Worth or Dallas. The two cities are about 40 miles apart. The role played in the Roswell saga by Carswell Army Air Field, Fort Worth, is well known but there is no special reason to think the hospital was there. The cameraman has said separately that President Truman flew to Dallas (presumably Love Field) to see the alien corpse(s) in the operating theatre before autopsies were done.
[12] Such difficulty filming during the autopsy does seem feasible, if the cameraman had to wear a protective suit. Other sources also say that the camera had limited focussing capability which was unsuitable for close shots.
[13] At the time, the Air Force was an integral part of the Army and under that line of command. Postwar reorganisation, which led to the formation of SAC (Strategic Air Command) and the USAF (United States Air Force) itself -- which became a separate organisation established on September 18th, 1947 -- involved major changes in command structure. It has been suggested that this may have been one reason for the unbelievable oversight implicit in the failure of the Air Force authorities to collect all of the cameraman's film, if, of course, this story is true.
[14] This implies that the aliens -- or "freaks" -- lived for nearly two years after the Roswell crash. This scenario is certainly reminiscent of other stories concerning an EBE which survived a flying saucer crash in New Mexico and was possibly kept and studied at Los Alamos.
Original file name: CNI - Cameraman Story.Final
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