William Blanchard

William H. Blanchard (1916–1966) was a U.S. Air Force officer with an outstanding military career: graduate of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, four-star general and, before his death in 1966, Vice Chief of Staff of the Air Force. In UFO history he stands above all at the centre of the Roswell incident: as commanding officer of the 509th Bomb Group at the Roswell Army Air Field he authorised the famous press release of July 1947 announcing the recovery of a flying disc — a release that higher command retracted shortly afterwards and reclassified as a weather balloon.

• U.S. Air Force officer (1916–1966)
• Graduate of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point
• Rank of four-star general
• Vice Chief of Staff of the Air Force before his death in 1966
• Commanding officer of the 509th Bomb Group at the Roswell Army Air Field in July 1947
• Authorised the famous Roswell press release on the recovery of a flying disc; retraction and reclassification as a weather balloon by higher command
• Leadership roles in strategic B-29 and B-36 bomber operations and in atomic training for intercontinental bomber crews within Strategic Air Command

For the UAP timeline, Blanchard is the institutional key figure of the Roswell case: he is not only chronologically at the origin of the recovery announcement but also militarily so senior that his signature on the press release lends the entire case historical weight. His career up to Vice Chief of Staff also shows that Roswell was no side-desk error by an insignificant officer but a decision made by a future top military leader.