ROSWELL METAL SCIENTIST:
THE CURIOUS DR. CROSS
(originally published May 2009)
Recent investigation shows that a scientist for the acclaimed Battelle Memorial Institute -- Dr. Howard C. Cross -- likely directed the study of Roswell-like "memory metal" under a Wright-Patterson Air Force Base contract soon after the crash event in 1947. Newly found details confirm that Cross led a dual life -- as both a metallurgist and as a secret government UFO researcher.
Memory metal (or shape-recovery) debris was reliably reported by many witnesses to the Roswell 1947 UFO crash. In an earlier article appearing on this site, Battelle was revealed to be the lab that Wright-Patterson contracted to begin work on "Roswellian" memory metal studies in the months immediately after the crash. Wright-Patterson has been claimed by many witnesses (and in a verified FBI memo written by agent Percy Wyly) to be the very base to which the Roswell debris was flown.
As outlined in the first article on the Battelle-Roswell connection, the Battelle memory metal report's existence was confirmed by footnotes that were discovered in metallurgical studies completed by other organizations working under Wright-Patterson's auspice. These footnotes cite a (still missing) 1949 Battelle "Second Progress Report" on the development of Nickel and Titanium alloy. This alloy comprises Nitinol, which remains the world's best-performing shape-recovery alloy. Tellingly, this was the first time that any metal alloy had ever been studied by the U.S. military that had the potential to "remember" its original shape. Based on the sections of the studies to which the footnotes refer, we know that the Battelle Second Progress Report related to the first-ever Phase Diagram on Nickel-Titanium, needed to make memory metal. All of the studies containing these footnotes to the missing Battelle memory report are themselves concerned with shape-recovery metals development and were completed after the "official" discovery of Nitinol.
Under this Wright-Patterson military contract, Battelle was to analyze and attempt new metallurgical processes on Nickel and Titanium which -- when specially processed and combined -- create Nitinol, a "morphing metal" similar to that reported at Roswell. Citations to what must necessarily exist -- Battelle's "First Progress Report" on the memory metal -- have never been located. The footnotes that were discovered, referring to Battelle's missing Second Progress Report on memory metal, are fully detailed on page 274 of the newly expanded and released book, Witness to Roswell. Additional support was provided through information given by two Air Force Generals (including a former Wright-Patterson Base Commander) as well as the confession of a high-level Battelle scientist who analyzed the debris.
In the previous article on this subject, it was revealed that it was Battelle's Dr. Howard Cross that likely directed these early, Roswell-inspired memory metal studies:
Dr. Cross was Battelle's Titanium expert. In the late 1940s, Dr. Cross was "feeding" technical information on Titanium (which is required to make memory metal) to the U.S. Naval Lab. This is the very lab where Nitinol memory metal was said to be "officially" discovered some years later.
A brief reference found in a decades-old government report shows that a technical summary report titled "Titanium Base Alloys" was authored by Battelle's metallurgist, Dr. Howard Clinton Cross. The paper was presented by him to the Office of Naval Research in December 1948. The Office of Naval Research is the very place where the "memory metal" Nitinol (a Nickel and Titanium alloy) would be "discovered" over a decade later! Titanium (in its purest possible form) is required in combination with Nickel to make Nitinol. Titanium was an important element to Dr. Cross -- and his organization was experimenting with combining it with Nickel -- in the months immediately following the Roswell crash.
Other details about Dr. Cross reveal that he had a very curious background. Cross helped to direct Battelle's metals alloy research in the late 1940s. For many years, according to studies he authored, he conducted research work in various materials science and engineering areas, including Titanium. But strangely, he also helped to direct Battelle's USAF-sponsored Project Blue Book UFO research in the early 1950s. Other information that is detailed below shows that after the Roswell Incident, Cross worked quietly -- but very closely -- with the heads of various departments of the U.S. government on various aspects of the UFO phenomenon.
Why would a materials engineer studying exotic alloys in 1948 later help to lead Battelle's government-funded studies on Flying Saucers? It is likely this is because Dr. Cross had studied the Roswell morphing metal. He held technical knowledge about the craft's construction and was given security clearances that enabled him to become a valuable asset to U.S. military and intelligence in the investigation and analysis of especially complex UFO cases. Newly developed information reveals that Dr. Cross was far more than a "mere metallurgist" who worked on Titanium alloys. Though Cross is a person about whom information is difficult to gain (and it is now understood why this is so), his name does "pop up" in some very strange places. The Battelle metallurgist was of such importance that he was able to deal freely with the heads of the U.S. Office of Naval Research, the CIA, and Air Force Intelligence. His dual life and his close relationships with the uppermost echelons of the United States government on the UFO matter post-Roswell are only evident today in hindsight.
CROSS LIKELY WORKED ON USAF PROJECT BLUE BOOK REPORT NO. 14 AND OTHER GOVERNMENT UFO STUDIES
Cross authored a January 9, 1953 memo (stamped Secret in red ink) to Wright-Patterson Air Force Base's Colonel Miles E. Goll. Goll was at the time the head of Intelligence Analysis for the Air Materiel Command. In the memo, Cross makes clear he had authority to speak in an official capacity on behalf of Battelle about their UFO work for the government. In the memo, Cross insisted that Wright-Patterson delay the work of the CIA's UFO study group, the Robertson Panel. Cross wanted to first have Battelle complete its Air Force-commissioned statistical study on UFOs, later known as Project Blue Book "Report No. 14". The CIA itself even consulted with Cross and concurred with him on the need for delay. Ultimately though, both the CIA and Battelle were overruled by the Air Force. Information now being developed lends support that it was Battelle that also authored the (missing) Project Blue Book Report No. 13 -- the report number immediately preceding Battelle's confirmed authorship of Blue Book's "Report No. 14." Some believe that it is the missing Blue Book Report 13 that details the debris discovered at Roswell.
CROSS WAS OBSESSIVELY SECRET ABOUT HIS WORK
Cross was obsessive about confidentiality and did not want the Battelle organization mentioned by name in its Blue Book UFO studies for Wright-Patterson. He wanted secret authorship and requested that Battelle's name not be used. Project Blue Book leader Edward Ruppelt, in a book he authored years later, referred to Battelle's UFO studies only as "Project Bear". Again, though a Battelle leader and active in USAF UFO studies, history has managed to protect Dr. Cross. Very little is publicly available about this secretive man -- and now we know why. Cross even obfuscated his name. In both his metallurgical work, and his work for government UFO studies, he frequently identified himself variously as "H.C. Cross," "Howard Cross," or simply as "Dr. Cross." No written signatures made by Cross have ever been located, and only one photo of him (seen in a group setting) has ever been found.
CROSS AUTHORED THE MYSTERIOUS "PENTACLE" UFO MEMO TO WRIGHT-PATTERSON
(Click image to see full size)
Decades after it was written in 1953, a memo marked "Secret" was discovered under unusual circumstances. It is sometimes called the "Pentacle" memo and was written by Battelle's Howard Cross. Dr. Cross directed this letter to a "Colonel Miles Goll" of Air Materiel Command. In the memo, Cross urged the Air Force to consider a strange UFO-related operation. Cross only typed his name in closing the document, and then only as "H.C. Cross", but did not sign it. In this document, Dr. Cross outlined a scheme for the Air Force to "stage" the appearance of "artificial" UFOs. Cross wanted to see how target populations would report their "sightings" -- and the impact that these UFOs would have on them. There is no evidence that this was done. We can now see that Dr. Cross was not only directing metals studies at Battelle (and conducting statistical analysis of UFO studies for Blue Book), but he was even addressing the
psychological and observational aspects of the phenomenon with Air Force Intelligence. Cross was obviously highly knowledgeable about many facets of the UFO issue -- which is very curious given that he was officially a "mere metallurgist".
In 1968, noted U.S. Air Force UFO study scientist Dr. J. Allen Hynek approached Dr. Cross about the memo, which had been brought to Hynek's attention. Cross agreed to meet alone with Hynek to discuss it, but instead Cross brought with him four "colleagues". When Hynek started reading from his notes about the memo, Cross defiantly snatched the paper out of Hynek's hands and chastised Hynek that it was an "old story". Cross clearly did not want to discuss the matter and he did not return Hynek's notes. Hynek -- rather meek -- was stunned. Cross was an expert in the physics of metals. His authority and involvement in far-ranging UFO studies is impossible to comprehend -- unless he had prior UFO-related work experience, perhaps studying the materials of construction of UFOs.
CROSS WORKED CLOSELY ON UFOS WITH THE HEAD OF WRIGHT-PATTERSON'S CHIEF OF ANALYSIS
"Colonel Miles Goll" is the individual to whom Cross authored the aforementioned "Pentacle" memo on UFOs. Miles Goll is key to the Roswell mystery. Goll, very tellingly, was Chief of Analysis for the highly-classified "T-2" unit at Wright's Air Materiel Command. Goll's group had a mission to provide technical intelligence and analysis of fallen enemy aircraft or other recovered technologies with defense applications. Additionally, they were to prevent strategic, tactical or technological "surprise." They were to provide any intelligence that was gathered to the engineering section to use in attempts to reverse-engineer or replicate such technology. They were to also facilitate the transfer of enemy aircraft technology to U.S. defense contractors. Finally, they provided counter-intelligence to obfuscate and confuse all of these activities. One is almost forced to think that if Roswell was a UFO-related event, that Goll's group -- the one working with Battelle's Dr. Cross -- was surely involved. More about Battelle's "Wright-Patterson Paymasters" will be detailed in a forthcoming article.
CROSS HAD A WORKING RELATIONSHIP WITH THE CIA CHIEF OF SCIENTIFIC INTELLIGENCE ABOUT UFOS
The Battelle metallurgist had such "clout" that he was visited by the CIA Chief Of Scientific Intelligence, H. Marshall Chadwell, on official matters. According to archived records of the now-defunct UFO study group NICAP, we find the notation: "Dec 12, 1952, CIA/OSI Chief Dr. H. Marshall Chadwell, Dr. HP Robertson and Fred Durant visit Project Blue Book and Battelle's Dr. Howard Cross." Those familiar with official government UFO studies such as Blue Book and the Robertson Panel will recognize the above names -- except the name Dr. Cross.
CROSS WAS CLOSELY ASSOCIATED WITH THE PREDECESSOR TO NASA
Dr. Vannevar Bush was at one time chair of NACA, the predecessor organization to NASA. Cross likely worked with Bush. Available documents show that Cross consulted with NACA on potential space flight materials. Vannevar Bush is implicated in a November 1952 memo from government engineer Wilbert Smith of Canada: "Their modus operandi are unknown but concentrated effort is being made by a small group headed up by Vannevar Bush." Smith learned this from Dr. Robert Sarbacher, who confirmed this to a researcher in 1985. Sarbacher was a leading US physicist who was a DOD consultant in the 1950s. In forthcoming articles, it will be shown that Battelle moved the memory metal research to NASA. Today, NASA is a leader in the development of shape-recovery technologies, including for future spacecraft applications.
CROSS OBSERVED THE SKIES FOR UFOS
Dr. Cross had his own UFO sighting in 1951. Buried in the Project Blue Book files (and categorized as an "unknown") there is a mention that "Howard Cross of Battelle Memorial Institute" observed an unusual "bright oval with clipped tail" on October 2 at Columbus, OH. Cross told the Air Force that it "flew straight and level, fading into the distance after 1 minute."
U.S. NAVAL COMMANDER SUMMONED CROSS TO INVESTIGATE FALLEN DEBRIS DURING THE 1952 UFO "FLAP"
According to news articles and further research by the late Todd Zechel, U.S. Naval Commander Alvin Moore recovered an unusual "broken-off" cylinder object from his property in suburban DC during the famous 1952 UFO flap. Moore told Zechel that he took the material to associates at the National Bureau of Standards (NBS). He said that NBS scientists and CIA scientists, as well as a scientist from Battelle, examined the debris piece. That scientist was none other than Dr. Howard Cross. Moore said, "Only Howard Cross of Battelle for the USAF, said that he thought it could be a piece from an open hearth furnace -- which made no sense since it had come crashing from the sky." The piece was later determined to be terrestrial, but of indeterminate manufacture. Cross was a Battelle expert in both metals and UFOs. He had gained unique metallurgical expertise (due to his exposure to the Roswell debris) that the government felt was valuable in applying to other possible UFO crashes.
CROSS MANAGED THE VERY SCIENTIST WHO AUTHORED BATTELLE'S "MISSING" PROGRESS REPORTS ON MEMORY METAL IN THE LATE 1940s
Perhaps the most telling item about Dr. Cross is that it has been confirmed that he worked closely -- and co-authored with -- Battelle scientist L.W. Eastwood. Copies of papers that Dr. Cross and L.W. Eastwood wrote together are on file and available for review. Incredibly, it is L.W. Eastwood who is one of the authors (along with Craighead and Fawn) of Battelle's missing reports to Wright-Patterson in the late 1940s on the Nickel Titanium memory metal (Nitinol). Information available on Dr. Cross is very scarce, but in one metals study located, Cross is referred to by the title "Research Director". Given this -- and all that we now know about him -- it may be that Dr. Cross was the manager of the memory metal scientists.
Future articles will explore:
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Why the "official history" of Nitinol is riddled with holes and deficiencies
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Government studies on "the mind" and its relationship to morphing metal
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How Battelle, Military Intelligence, and NASA direct shape-recovery alloy research today
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The hidden meaning of "morphing" and why it is vital to understanding the UFO phenomena
N.B. Dr. Howard Cross died in 1992. Through his legacy, we further the connection between Battelle and Roswell. But Battelle has demonstrated a troubling pattern. When it comes to Battelle's reports relating to both the UFO subject and to their early memory metals work -- they are "missing."