2 July 1947, this was the date of the most infamous crash at Roswell. During the evening of this date during a severe thunderstorm a fling saucer crashed on the Foster Ranch near Corona, New Mexico (The nearest military base was at Roswell).

3 July 1947, William 'Mac' Brazel and his seven year old neighbour, Dee Procter found remains of a crashed flying saucer. The wreckage was spread out over an an area more than half a mile.

6 July 1947 Brazel showed pieces of the wreckage to Chaves County Sherriff George Wilcox.After showing him the pieces Wilcox called Roswell Army Air Field (AAF) and spoke to Major Jesse Marcel, the intelligence officer. After driving back to the sherriffs office and inspecting the wreckagehimself Marcel reported to his commanding officer, Colonel William 'Butch' Blanchard. The Colonel orderedMarcel to get someone from the Counter Intelligence Corps and to go to the Ranch with Brazel and collect all the wreckage they could get into thir two vehicles. The wreckage which Brazel had left at the sherriffs office was collected by some military police and was then flown to the Eighth Air Force headquaters in Fort Worth and then onto Washington.

7th July 1947, Marcel and Sheridan Cavitt of the Counter intelligence Corps went to collect wreckage from the crash site and loaded onto their vehicles. Marcel told Cavitt to go on ahead and after Marcel filled his vehicles he drove home to show his wife and son some of the strange material which he had found.

At around 4.oopm the same day Lydia Sleppy at the Radio Station in Roswell started to transmit a story on the teletype machine about a crashed flying saucer but it was interrupted, supposedly by the FBI.

8th July1947, At around noon Colonel Blanchard at Roswell AFF ordered Second lt. Walter Haut to issue a press realease telling the county that the Army had found the reamains of a flying saucer. In the aftenoon General Clemence McMullen ordered Colonel Thomas DuBose to tell the Eighth Air Force Commander, General Roger Ramey to quash the flying saucer story and create a cover up story, also to send crash material to Washington immediatly. Later on in the afternoon Ramey gave apress conference, he went on to say how that what had crashed at orona was in fact not a flying saucer but a weather balloon. He showed the press the remains of A westher balloon to make the story more convincing.

The Los Angeles Herald Express, Chicago Daily News, The San Francisco Examiner and the Roswell Daily Record were the only evening papers to run the Flying Saucer story. The New York Times, The Washington Post and Chicago Tribune were morning papers and carried only the cover up story until the next morning.

Soldiers were sent at some point to the field of debris on the Foster Ranch along with MP,s to limit access to the field and a search was launched to find the main body of the saucer. It was found within a day or two and a couple of miles form the saucer several bodies of small humanoids were found.

The military took Brazel into custody for about a week and whilst he was on the streets he was escorted by the military. His behaviour made people who knew him curious for when he pasxed them in the street he didn't regognise them. Following this period of detention Brazel repudiated his initial story.