United States of America (1946)
Weather Balloon – Around 2,000 Built

The United States Air Force Type 17 Weather Balloon was an experimental and highly secretive weather balloon that used a saucer shape balloon design and █████ technology to test the airworthiness of the “strange” shape. The design however, proved to be more unstable than anticipated, and with a flaw in the cable design, led many of these balloons to break free and travel some distance away. These “escaped” Type 17s can be considered responsible for the “UFO sighting craze” of the late 1940s and 1950s.

History

The immediate post Second World War aviation industry was an incredibly interesting time. Many new radical concepts were being tested, with jet engines, helicopters, and many other advanced designs coming to light. Although not extensively discussed, many different types of lighter-than-air aircraft designs were also tested, but many of these have been either lost or forgotten. One of the most peculiar designs that is known is the USAF Type 17 Weather Balloon.

The origins of the Type 17 start right at the beginning of 1946. With spherical weather balloons in use for quite some time, officials at the USAF began looking to see if some other balloon shape would be more efficient than the spherical design. It was thought that maybe a saucer shape could possibly offer better stability in the wind. Work began on creating the first prototype Type 17 on April 3rd, and a first test flight was scheduled for the 9th but had to be postponed for 2 days due to inclement weather. Balloon 1 went up on April 11th with no issues and achieved an altitude of around 30,000 ft (9.1km). The problem however, was that the location, where it was first tested, was extremely close to many residential areas, and although there wasn’t a report of a “flying saucer” in the area of the test flight, the USAF decided it would be best to move testing of the aircraft out to New Mexico, where other secret aircraft projects were being tested away from the eyes of the public. Thanks to the success of the first flight, a production order of around 1000 was made.

By June, construction of around two-thirds of the Type 17s was complete, and were now being introduced to the various bases in New Mexico, with a few also being sent to bases in Nevada, Texas, Arizona, and it is known that possibly one was sent to NORAD Headquarters in Colorado. Testing continued without issues until the first of many incidents occurred on December 29th. During a routine flight, balloon 134 was sent aloft, but the cable connecting the balloon suddenly broke, and 134 was thrown by the wind similar to a frisbee. The balloon was sent almost 30 miles east and crashed in the middle of the desert. It took the USAF almost 3 days to find the remains. It was then found that the cables designed for the Type 17 had a fatal flaw. Over time, the low quality synthetic material it was made out of would eventually disintegrate, leaving the balloon to be blown away in the wind. Sometimes, the balloon would be blown in such a way, due to its shape, that it could be described as performing maneuvers that “no manmade craft could do”. This flaw was largely ignored for the first few months upon discovery, but by March of 1947, more and more balloons were being lost, and soon, reports from civilians of alien spacecraft in the desert began to emerge more and more. In some cases, multiple Type 17s would break off at once, making it appear there were entire squadrons of flying saucers over the desert. It was decided that for a few months, all Type 17s would be grounded.

Operations continued in the summer, with many now having improved cables. Despite these newer cables, many air force bases still would use the older defective cables due to an error in communication. To curb the loss of the Type 17, they were ordered to operate at a lower altitude than before. This way if the balloon was lost, it wouldn’t be swept as far by the wind, but coming at the cost of being more visible. Also in the summer, the USAF introduced the Type 17A, a larger version over the base model. As more and more of the UFO craze of 1947 came to the public, the Type 17 was once again used less and less to draw attention away from the program. While the fleet of Type 17s were grounded, a further development on the design was made in early 1948 as the Type 17B. The B used the same larger body as the Type A, but had a larger cylinder-shaped top that allowed it to carry even more instruments.

While the fleet was grounded, more of the newer cables were finally distributed to stop the balloons from breaking off. In the summer of 1948, operations would continue a lot more smoothly than the previous years thanks to the stronger cables. The Type 17 and its variants would continue to be used over the years, it is unknown when they would stopped being used completely, but it is known that a handful of Type 17s would be used for mid-air target practice by the USAF. This was at one point observed by a civilian who was trespassing on USAF property, witnessed what he claimed to be a “USAF F-86 dogfighting with an alien spacecraft”.

At some point during its operations, a version of the Type 17 was made to be manned to test high altitude pressure suits for NASA’s budding space program. From what little is known of this project, during one of these manned flights on this Type 17C, the defective cable was used and broke. The pilot in the cupola of the balloon was carried for miles with the wind, landing in a field outside of a farmer’s house. The pilot was eventually picked up a few hours later, after being mistaken for a “spaceman,” he finally convinced the owner of the farm to borrow their landline phone. The Type 17C was taken back to base as well, even if it was damaged from the impact, and supposedly had a handful of holes that matched the entry of a .22 caliber bullet. This incident is cited by many to be an encounter with an “alien spaceman.” After this, safer ways of testing the suits were used instead, and the pilot who had to endure this incident and subsequent crash was reimbursed with a cache of beer and whiskey as a reward.

There is also mention of an unconfirmed Type 17D that would test an experimental ████████ ███████-████████ engine at ██████ ███, ██. This supposed variant could reach ████ mph (████ km/h) and is claimed to have █████ and ████ around it. Details on this design are extremely sparse and the only visual we have of it is based off a napkin drawing from former USAF aeronautics engineer, ████ ████.

The Roswell Incident

The most famous of the Type 17 incidents happened in early July of 1947 near Roswell, New Mexico. On July 1st, men at Walker Air Force Base, 3 miles from Roswell, sent balloon number 678 up for a few tests. Due to a strong wind that day, and the deterioration of the cable connecting the balloon, 678 broke free and traveled extremely close to Roswell before crashing nearby. The men at Walker AFB were quick to act and quietly recovered what they thought was most of the debris. However, upon impact, the balloon had been torn in half, with only a single half of the aircraft being recovered. The second was thrown even further away by the wind and wasn’t recovered until July 8th. By this point however, the people of Roswell had already caught glimpses of the vehicles used to collect it and a report was done in the local newspaper that day of a claimed alien spacecraft crash landing nearby. To at least alleviate this claim, once the remains of balloon 678 were taken to Fort Worth,Texas, a publicity photo was done to show that the craft was just a simple weather balloon, and not anything of alien or supernatural nature. This whole incident is widely popular in ufology, despite there being obvious evidence that it was a Type 17 balloon that crash landed.

Design

The Type 17 was a weather balloon designed for high-altitude flight. The balloon had a flat, saucer shaped body made of aluminum-infused rubber. On the underside of the craft was sometimes painted the USAF symbol and the production number of the balloon. At the top of the balloon was a rounded hump that carried most of the onboard instruments. This hump is often mistaken for some sort of “cockpit” by ufologists. At the very bottom was the connection point that had the radiosonde attached. The balloon was both tested with hydrogen and helium, but it would primarily use helium as its main gas source. On the underside is where the gas valve was filled from. The balloon was connected to the ground via a cable. Instead of a steel cable, a newer synthetic material was used at first, but it was found it corroded very fast and broke easily because of this. A stronger synthetic connection cable was created for the craft around the time of the Type 17A being created.

Several variants of the Type 17 exist. The first of these was the Type 17A, which had the same design but was much larger. The increase in size was done to stabilize the design more and around 100 of these were built. The second was the Type 17B. A derivative of the Type 17A, the B was the exact same size but the instrument “dome” was enlargened to a more cylindrical shape to carry more onboard instruments. The final design was the Type 17C. No photographs exist of this design and details are sparse, but it is known to have had either an A or B design for the balloon, but beneath it was an enclosed gondola that a man could sit in.

Conclusion

The Type 17 was at least known to have still been in use by the mid 1950s. Eventually it was decided that the Air Force should return back to more spherical shaped balloons. Balloons that would cause less of a panic than the saucer shaped 17. After the program was finished, all Type 17s and many of the documents relating to the program were destroyed by the USAF, some say it was out of embarrassment. The last reported use of the Type 17 was in 1957.

 

The Type 17 was an interesting attempt to create a new and improved weather balloon design, but was more of a flop that caused more panic than progress. Due to the poor cable integrity and strange shape, the amount of Type 17s lost is uncountable, and it can be assumed that hundreds of this type are most likely scattered across the deserts and lands of America.

If you ever happen to be out exploring near where the Type 17 operated, and come across material or remains you believe to be related to the Type 17, please contact the United States Department of ████████ at 1-███ ███ ████. Thank you for your cooperation.

Variants

 

• Type 17– Base model of the Type 17
• Type 17A – A second design that was slightly larger than the base design. Only around 100 of these type were made.
• Type 17B – Variant of the Type 17A that had a larger instrument dome that was more cylindrical in shape to carry more instruments. It is known only around 10 of these were built. 1 was confirmed lost.
• Type 17C – A mysterious 3rd design. Details are sparse on this but supposedly this was an attempted manned version to test high-altitude pressure suits. Beneath the balloon was an enclosed gondola for the test pilot.
• Type 17D – An unconfirmed 4th design that supposedly tested ██████ ████████ at ████████ ████████, ██████. It could supposedly achieve speeds of ████ mph (████ km/h).

Operators

 

• United States of America – The Type 17 was operated by the United States Air Force for weather research and performance testing. It operated from 1946 to at least 1957.

Type 17 Weather Balloon Specifications
Diameter	65 ft / 20 m
Height	17 ft / 5.1 m
Maximum Service Ceiling	Around 35,000ft / 10668 m
Gas Type	Hydrogen or Helium
Material	Aluminum-infused Synthetic Rubber
Maximum Speed (Type 17D)	████ mph / ████ km/h
Equipment	Type 17 Radiosonde Mk33 Radar Antenna Various other meteorological tools

Gallery

Sources

• Joe Rogan Experience #1315 – Bob Lazar & Jeremy Corbell
• Joe Rogan Experience #1510 – George Knapp & Jeremy Corbell
• Johnsmith, Joe (1988), The Truth Behind the 1947 Saucer Craze: How a Balloon Tricked America. MIB-Books
• Lovejoy, Erik (2022), How Balloons Ruined My Life and How They’ll Ruin Yours!, MM-PUB.
• Nermal, Abbey (2003), USAF Aircraft in Detail: The Type 17 Weather Balloon, Greasy PUB.
• Wikipedia
• Some of the info was revealed to me in a dream