U.S. Army Air Forces lieutenant who authored the July 8, 1947 'flying disc' press release issued by Roswell Army Air Field. Later co-founded the International UFO Museum in Roswell. His 2002 affidavit, sealed until his death, reaffirmed his understanding of the recovery.
Lt. Walter Haut was the public information officer at the Roswell Army Air Field who, under orders from base commander Col. William Blanchard, drafted the original 1947 press release stating the military had captured a flying saucer. Haut's key contribution to UAP history rests not only on this monumental initial press release but also on a sworn affidavit sealed until after his death in 2005. In the affidavit, he confessed that the weather balloon explanation was a cover story and that he had personally viewed the extraterrestrial craft and alien bodies stored in a base hangar. His posthumous testimony provides profound insider validation of the Roswell crash-retrieval and biological recovery narrative.