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Chapter 10
Retrievals of the Third Kind
by Leonard H. Stringfield
Part 1 (parts 2 and 3 to follow) from Flying Saucer Review, Volume 25, Number 4, July-August, 1979
Combat Diaries comment: Although this report is from 1979, it remains a classic of its kind. Comparing it to modern reports in the same area of interest it will be seen immediately that very little has changed! As in Hemingway’s The Old Man and the Sea, in the end what we have in the UFO is the liminal bones of a half-form caught on the end of the hook of all mechanical investigations.
SINCE the advent of the UFO, dating back to World Was II when there was official recognition of ?he "foo fighter," one hard fact stands out: the world at large still disbelieves its existence. Another fact: most of our worm's scientific community does not believe in UFOs either, although a small number of its Fellowship today will admit their puzzlement, and sometimes curiosity, over the persistence of UFO reports.
For those of us dedicated to serious UFO research, working in all professional levels, there is no doubt that a real interloper from somewhere exists! Knowing this is frustrating. Today, after 31 years of prodigious effort, our research has failed to discover, or uncover, the real nature of the UFO, its origin or intent - and I hasten to add, to force open the door of alleged official secrecy behind which may be concealed the hard evidence, or, if you will, the extraordinary , and sobering proof we have all sought.
Today, considering the long, evasive history of the UFO, and an equally evasive official posture, our research stands at a critical crossroad. Here we find a two-way split-off, a growing and sharpening divergence of opinion about the nature and origin of the UFO. One view entertains the notion that the UFO is a paraphysical or psychical visitant from another realm, or of another dimension, and that all the paranormal evidence reportedly associated with the UFO precludes a simple "nuts and bolts" physical explanation. This hypothesis, in the view of some researchers, rules out the interplanetary "nuts and bolts" spaceship.
The other major hypothesis, and now considered a conservative view, postulates that the UFO is a structured machine and comes from across the vast reaches of space and time from another solar system. This belief maintains that the extraterrestrial race has, by virtue of its advanced technology, overcome the problem of spatial distance and has developed great psychical powers by which it can manipulate man's mind when it sees fit to do so. Thus, in this postulation, the reported paranormal events can also he explained.*
Of course, there are many other provocative splinter theories, some interlacing the two major hypotheses and some radically disregarding the known facts. Theories are free, and are a dime a dozen. In its honest endeavour to proceed down either hypothetical path, research today continues to investigate UFO reports, correlate and compute the reported data, computerize photographs, conduct conferences and symposia, and drudge over the 13,000 UFO reports released by the Air Force's former Project Bluebook which have been made available for public study at the National Archives in Washington, D.C. Therefore, it is not by accident that UFO researchers have provided for their brethren, a convenient language by which to describe events and, more specifically, a terminology so that UFO reports can be classified.
Speaking of terminology, we borrow a page from the eminent Dr. J.. Allen Hynek's book The UFO Experience, A Scientific Inquiry. From this major work, we now have, Close Encounters of the First, Second and Third Kind, which are labels covering a hypothetical set of conditions wherein the human witness observes or experiences a UFO at close range. These include physical or electromagnetic effects on a witness or his surroundings, or an encounter with a strange alien being. Popularized by the movie of the same name, "Close Encounter of the Third Kind" has become a household name. Now anybody and everybody can share in an awareness of these rare and bizarre events. But there is another event of the Alien Third Kind. This is an event known mainly through rumour. Even knowledgeable researchers admit they know of it only from shadowy sources, and when they pursued these, they encountered sudden dead ends.
Through patience, perseverence and careful, courteous diplomacy, I have wended my way through the many shadowy mazes and found, to my surprise, sources of light at many of the so-called dead ends. What I have learned from these sources describes events which I shall call, "Retrievals of The Third Kind."
Retrievals of The Third Kind, of course, relate primarily to the alien being. To be more precise, I refer to incidents where a UFO allegedly crashed, and both it and the occupants were retrieved by military personnel who were dispatched to the scene. According to my sources, these immobilized craft and deceased occupants, described as humanoid, have been placed in custody at certain military installations where they were studied under the highest security measures.
Now, for the first time, sufficient data have been amassed to lend support to some of the old retrieval claims. But, looking back to the 1950's, there was little or no desire then to pursue the reported claims. At that time active researchers, including myself, did little more than scoff. We thought we had good reason.
The cause of this "scoffing" was one grand hoax. Here, I refer to a book, Behind the Flying Saucers by the late Frank Scully, published in 1950. Briefly, it told about a reported saucer crash in Aztec, New Mexico in 1948. Scully went on to relate that a scientist he had met, had possession of metal artifacts taken from inside the craft which was proof that the saucer was from outer space. Investigation, however, revealed Scully's scientist to be a fraud. With the book's subsequent exposure as a hoax, which got a lot of publicity, it became unfashionable for any objective researcher to write or talk about crashed UFOs and their alleged "little men."
Adding fuel to the fire of a condemned book were strong Air Force denials in 1954 that a retrieved UFO was in hiding at Wright-Patterson AFB. I remember calling Lt. Colonel John O'Mara, Chief of Intelligence, at the air base, inquiring about the alleged retrievals. His reply, in part, "Ridiculous?"
So completely was Scully's retrieval story put down that some researchers today wonder, in retrospect, if the book and/or its exposure were contrived. And, despite denials and the suspicions of research, the crash and retrieval stories persisted. Then, like a bolt from the blue, while preparing the manuscript for my book, Situation Red, The UFO Siege, to be published by Doubleday, some new reliable sources opened up. Then, once again to my surprise, after the release of my book in 1977, still more sources surfaced to talk about what they knew. Then one by one the jig saw pieces began to fit together and a picture emerged.
Now, I believe this is the time and certainly the place - Dayton, Ohio, and so close to WrightPatterson AFB - that we must face this greatest of issues head-on. We must now take a new and honest look at the old rumours. And, we must also take a new look at the possibility of a grand official cover up and why.
If any one of the alleged retrieval incidents is true, or if only one of my informants is telling the truth, then human-kind is in for a shock. The impact of its sudden revelation - or forced admission - through official pronouncement, would probably shake up' mans lifestyle, his philosophies and even his economy.
And, if it is true that alien humanoids have been retrieved and are held in a preserved state at one or more military installations, then our government, and all consorting governments, responsible for this concealment will have to explain their policy of prolonged secrecy. We may then rightly ask what else is hidden about the UFO of a more frightening nature?
Probably following any official pronouncement of this magnitude, there would be strong public reaction. There would be demands for more hidden facts, and as always, the blame would have to be pinned onto someone, or some agency. Certainly at the top of the list would be the military establishment, and other covert intelligence agencies.
Also to blame would be the media. Where was their prowess in probing for the truth? It seems strange that some of their audacious members who helped bring down a president failed to reach the right people. with the right UFO facts - or, were they, too, in certain key areas, a part of the big cover up?
And UFO research, too, can share in some of the blame. Too much disunity among the major research groups is one factor. Perhaps a more concerted action would have carried more weight at critical moments when pressures were put to bear in areas of known cover-up. Also, perhaps, too much time has been spent by influential researchers looking for a paranormal answer for the UFO. One fact has stood out for years. The average reported UFO appears to be a metallic, structured craft with windows, and, when in a landing position, sometimes uses tripods. While this general description may apply to a vehicle from any other mysterious realm, it does suggest that tire design is more a feat of engineering than of psychical or spiritual manifestation.
And now for an academic thought. Is it right or wise for research - or myself - to try and pry open the lid of a possible Pandora's Box? Is it not morally right to know about the crashed UFO and its alien occupants? Is there something sinister about the continuing surveillance of Earth?
And what, you may ask, is my own opinion of my informants endowed with such powerful testimony? Frankly, ' cannot refute the credibility of any of my mfbrmants. They are from scattered areas, many of whom I have pursued with great effort. Knowing something about the character of each of them, suggests that none is hoaxing, and, it is difficult to believe that any one of them was a "plant," and, even if one or two were "plants," what about the others? And, I may ask, why plant the kind of information that could work against the official position which is to play down the notion of secrecy about UFOs?
It is with equal candour that I must state that I am not in a providential position to pass a positive or final judgement on the retrievals stories or on my informants. On this tenuous ground I must allow for some marginal error in observation or tiny flaw in human judgement for each reported account. However, let me quote an old adage: "Wherever there is smoke there is fire," and from my position I certainly can see a helluva lot of smoke!
Now, let me switch from my beliefs to yours and consider what you may think about me relative to my expose. To help guide your appraisal, allow me to state that I personally have neither seen a retrieved UFO, nor pasts of one, nor its occupants.
Also, for the record, I do not possess a single affidavit to prove that any one of my informants has seen a retrieved craft or its occupants. I have only their names and their testimony. Unfortunately, I cannot use these names. Anonymity has been relluested and will be respected. The reasons should be obvious to all. In essence, therefore, the cases I przsent in this paper without names to back up the informant's testimony can be construed as hearsay.
If perchance hearsay is to be my undoing, then I must make my stand on the merits of my own credibility, which I trust has already been established ixn my 29 years of UFO research. You are the judge and jury. I will now proceed with the testimony of my informants concerning Retrievals of the Third Kind in the following abstracts.
ABSTRACT 1: UFO down in Mexico, near Laredo, Texas
In 1948, according to reports from hazy sources, a UFO with occupants numbering anywhere from one to sixteen, had crashed in a desert region of the South Western United States, or Mexico, and was retrieved by U.S. military authorities. But the reports never got beyond rumour because 1948 was the year when Frank Scully's book unloaded an alleged hoax on the public about a crashed UFO at Aztec, New Mexico.
In the fall of 1977 new word of a 1948 crash came to me from a well-informed military source. His information, however, was scanty. He had heard from other "inside" military sources that a metallic disc had crashed somewhere in a desert region. His only details indicated that the craft had suffered severe damage on impact and was retrieved by military units.
By coincidence, weeks later in 1977, I was to learn more about a crashed disc occurring in 1948. This came from researcher Todd Zechel, whom I had known since 1975 when he became Research Director of Ground Saucer Watch. Formerly with the National
Security Agency, Zechel stated that an Air Force technician told him that his uncle, then a Provost Marshall at Carswell Air Force Base near Ft. Worth, Texas, had taken part in the recovery of the crashed UFO which was described as a metallic disc, 90 feet in diameter.
The crash occurred about 30 miles inside the Mexican border across from Laredo, Texas, and was recovered by U.S. troops after it was tracked on radar screens. The job assigned the Provost Marshall, now a retired colonel, was to cordon off the crash site. The retired colonel, now living in Florida, was tracked down by Zechel. Among other facts revealed by the colonel was that found aboard the craft was one dead alien described as about 4 feet, 6 inches tall, completely hairless, with hands that had no thumbs.
Zechel learned from his source that the troops involved in the retrieval were warped that if they said a word about the incident they would be the "sorriest people around."
Continuing his investigation, Zechel pieced together other eyewitnesses to the 1948 crash event. In his statement, Zechel relates the following: "I traced another Air Force colonel, now retired in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. He had seen the UFO in flight. He was flying an F-94 fighter out of Dias Air Force base in Texas, and was over Albuquerque, New Mexico, when reports came of a UFO on the West Coast, flying over Washington, State. Radars clocked its speed at 2,000 miles per hour.
"It made a 90-degree turn and flew east, over Texas. The colonel,' then a captain pilot, actually saw it as it passed. Then suddenly it disappeared from radar screens. At Dias base, the radar operators plotted its course, and decided it had crashed some 30 miles across the Mexican border from Laredo. When the captain got back to base, he and a fellow pilot got into a small plane and took off over the border after the UFO. When they landed in the desert at the crash site, U.S. troops were there before them.
"The craft was covered with a canopy, and the two pilots were not allowed to see it. They were then called to Washington, D.C. for debriefing and sworn to secrecy about the whole event."
Zechel also traced a U.S. naval intelligence officer who was in Mexico City at the time of the crash. He was rushed to the spot, but got there just as the craft was being loaded on to military trucks.
Comment
Todd Zechel related to me by phone.on March 15, 1978, that additional details pertinent to this 1948 incident will be made known in his forthcoming book, Under Intelligent Control, to be published in 1978. Zechel also related that he has a signed affidavit by the retired Air Force Colonel who was involved in the cordoning-off operations.
ABSTRACT II: Retrieval of burned-out craft with small dead bodies
1952, the year of a great wave of UFO sightings throughout the U.S.A., can also share in the history of retrieval data.
My information for one known UFO crash incident in 1952 comes from a reliable person in a technical position at a large General Electric plant. His brother, who wishes to be unnamed, was on duty as a radar specialist at Edwards Air Force Base, California, in 1952, when he saw a UFO descending toward Earth at great speed across his radar screen. When the UFO had been confirmed to have crashed, the Captain on duty gave him instructions: "You didn't see anything!"
A short time later the specialist learned from base officials that an unidentified craft did crash in a nearby remote desert area. The retrieved craft was more than 50 feet in diameter with a row of windows around its equator. Its metallic surface was'in a burned-blackened condition. He also had heard that the craft was occupied by dead humanoid bodies approximately 4'/2 feet tall.
Also, the specialist recalls that he had heard reports that the damaged craft was held temporarily in a hangar at Edwards Air Force Base before it was shipped by truck to Wright-Patterson Air Force Base.
Comment:
I had asked my informant if I could discuss this incident with his brother, but when he checked by phone he was reminded that the incident was classified as secret and that the brother would not be in a position to disclose further details.
In possible conjunction with this 1952 event, I have talked with two sources who had witnessed a large military vehicle or lo-boy drag, with suspicious cargo under tarpaulin, destined for Wright-Patterson Air Force Base. One observer was quartermaster at Godman Field, Kentucky, when the lo-boy, under heavy guard at night, made a transient stop there. Word on the base was that its hidden cargo was a crashed UFO. Other witnesses, who had observed a strange cargo bring transported on a to-boy into Wright-Patterson AFB in 1952 were a man and his wife, then residing it Circleville, Ohio. By telephone in 1952, they claimed that while driving their car near the base that traffic was stalled. Escorting the vehicle, they said, was a motorcade of military police.
ABSTRACT III: Bodies of small ufonauts allegedly seen on truck entering Wright-Patterson AFB.
Additional testimony in support of a crashed UFO incident in 1952 comes from an unquestionable source: John Schuessler, DeputyDirector of MUFON, and engineer for McDonnell Douglas at NASA; his data comes from his father and stepmother, who, equally unquestionable, secured their data in 1968 from an unquestionable first-hand source, who was their neighbour in a small town in Pennsylvania.
According to John Schuessler, his family's close friend was formerly a civilian guard serving at a Receiving Gate for internal security at Wright-Patterson AFB. While on duty, sometime in 1952, he witnessed a tractor with to-boy hauling a tarpaulincovered craft into a tight security area at the base. The guard also had told the Schuesslers that at the Receiving Gate he witnessed the deceased bodies recovered from the crashed UFO at a site vaguely referred to as somewhere in the U.S. Southwest.
The guard described the bodies, packed in crates, as being "little people" or humanoids. It is not known whether the bodies arrived at the same time at the base as the craft on the lo-boy or at another time by other means. One point he did make clear to his Schuessler friends about the area in which he worked: "Everything delivered had to pass by me."
John Schuessler said he tried to follow up to get more information by arranging a meeting with the former guard through the influence of his parents. But, his efforts were futile. Said John: "He refused to talk about it, even to me."
Comment
The brief testimony of the Security Guard at Wright-Patterson AFB, and that of the radar specialist at Edwards AFB (cited in Abstract 11) suggests that the official cover-up of vital UFO data is so great that some of it which concerns the captive craft and occupants is under a special system of files - and has always been independent of those maintained by Project Bluebook and, perhaps is without classification, so that even the Freedom of Information Act cannot reach them.
Probably the area in which the Security Guard had served his tenure of duty from the late 1940s to the mid-1950s, was the same as that referred to by Senator Barry Goldwater in his letter to me dated December 3, 1974, in which he stated ... "I made an effort to get into the room at Wright -Patterson where the information was stored, and I was denied that request..."
ABSTRACT IV: UFO control-panel symbols allegedly seen
More corroborative evidence of a crashed UFO during 1952, and/or earlier, comes from Richard Hall, now MUFON International Co-ordinator and Editor of MUFON UFO Journal.
When Hall served as Assistant Director of NICAP he was aware of all communications received by that group. One item received by phone came from a president of a stainless steel company, dated 1957, Coral Cables, Florida. Ih the same company with this businessman was Bill Nash, former Pan American Airline pilot. He was well-known in the early years of UFO research for his and co-pilot Bill Fortenberry's outstanding sighting, on July 15, 1952; of eight circular bright red UFOs manoeuvring under their aircraft.
Nash revealed by phone to NICAP that he had interviewed a young lady who had worked in Communications, Army Intelligence at a base in Arizona. The date was around 1952. She reported that for a two-week period her base was on red alert for a possible attack by UFOs. One UFO she said had landed or had been brought down and had been sent to Wright-Patterson for analysis. She added that the UFO's interior control panel showed markings or symbols. She also saw a photograph of the object but was unable to give precise details.
More on Bill Nash: In the March, 1965 issue of Saucer News, published monthly by James W. Mosley in Fort Lee, New Jersey, the following story told about Nash's and Fortenberry's experience during their interrogation by Air Force Intelligence following their aerial encounter with UFOs. The article, entitled "Reconsidering The Mysterious Little Men," by Keith Roberts, quotes Nash as saying: "Before the interview, Fortenberry and I had agreed to ask the Intelligence meri if there was any truth behind the rumour that the Air Force had one or more saucers at Wright-Patterson Field. Bill remembered to ask, and one of the investigators answered, `Yes, it is true!' Later, when we were all in one room, following separate de-briefings, I remembered to ask the question. All of the investigators opened the mouth at the same time to answer, but Major Sharp, who was in command, broke in with a quick. `NO!' It appeared as if he was telling the others to shut up...
Quoting further from the Saucer News article, "Nash said that an unnamed informant told him that Life magazine had been briefed by U.S. Intelligence to the effect that the government does have crashed saucers... "
Comment:
First, if it is necessary to establish that Bill Nash was a Pan Am pilot who, with co-pilot Fortenberry, had a significant UFO sighting in 1952, researchers will find an account of their encounter fully recorded in an issue of True magazine in 1953. Also, while editor of Orbit in the 1950s, I had an exchange of correspondence with Bill Nash, so he is no figment of the imagination.
Incidentally, in a telephone comment to NICAP in 1957, Nash said that Pan American Airlines had asked him not to link his company with any more public statements or appearances. In reference to the young lady's disclosures about symbols, or glyphs, appearing inside the UFO, I have heard from another reliable military source in 1978 that he had seen photographs showing such markings at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base.
ABSTRACT V: Claim by radar specialist to have seen film of UFO and dead occupants
Mr. T., who holds a high technical position in civilian life today, was aged 20 in the Spring of 1953, and was a radar specialist with secret security clearance. While stationed at Ft. Monmouth, New Jersey in 1953, he and a small select number of radar specialists were summoned to view a special film at the base theatre.
Without any briefing, the 16 mm movie projector was flicked on, and the film began to roll on the screen, showing the usual flaiArs and scratches found in combat photography film. Suddenly, without any titles or credits, or music, there appeared a desert scene dominated by a silver disc-shaped object embedded in the sand with a domed section at the top. At the bottom was a hatch or door that was open. In the next scene, Mr. T. recalls seeing 10 to 15 military personnel all dressed in fatigues and all without identification patches, standing around what appeared to be the disabled craft. By judging their height against the UFO, Mr. T. determined that its width was approximately 15 to 20 feet, and that an open hatch or door at the bottom was about 2'/z feet wide and perhaps 3 feet high. At this point Mr. T. had no idea of the movie's purpose. I asked about the activity of the personnel? "They were just looking at the object," he said.
Then the movie switched to what appeared to be the interior of the craft. A panel with a few simple levers was shown, and he remembers being impressed by the muted pastel colours and sudden glares of white - a sign of poor photography.
Again there was a change of scene. Now in view were two tables, probably taken inside a tent, on which, to his surprise, were dead bodies. Two were on one table, and one on another. Mr. T. said the bodies appeared small by human standards, and most notable were the heads, all looking alike, and all being large compared to their body sizes. They looked mongoloid, he thought, with small noses, mouths and eyes that were shut. He didn't recall seeing ears or hair. The skin, he said, was leathery and ashen in colour. Each wore a tight-fitting suit in a pastel colour.
The sight of the dead bodies was the end of the movie. Whereas most military movies credit the Signal Corp or some other source, this one "stopped cold," said Mr. T. When the lights came on again in the theatre, the officer in charge stood up and instructed the viewers to "think about the movie," and added firmly: "Don't relate its contents to anyone." Mr. T. said in good faith that he didn't even tell his wife who lived near the base.
To Mr. T.'s surprise, two weeks later he was approached by an Intelligence Officer on the base and told: "Forget the movie you saw; it was a hoax." Shortly after seeing the movie he heard from a couple of top security officers on the base that a UFO had crashed in New Mexico and had been recovered with its occupants. The date of the crash was 1952, said Mr. T.
Commented my informant, "The 5-minute long movie certainly was not a Walt Disney production. It was probably shot by an inexperienced cameraman, because it was full of scratches, and had poor colouring and texture."
Mr. T., when asked about his interest in UFOs, claimed that neither then nor now was he interested, but he has always been curious about the purpose of that film in relation to his work in radar. Years later, he met an old army acquaintance who also was a radar specialist. To T.'s surprise, he learned from this man that he, too, had seen the same film at another base under the same similar hush-hush conditions.
Comment:
Considering the credibility status of my informant, I believe he saw the movie and describes the subject matter to the best of his recollection. Regarding the subject matter, he believes that the crashed craft and the dead bodies were difficult, even for a major Hollywood studio, to have made dummy bodies look so real for use in what was otherwise a make-shift film. And for what morbid purpose?
ABSTRACT Vl: official investigation of crashed object; armed guard on tiny dead ufonaut
Research Director for MUFON, Raymond E. Fowler of Wenham, Massachusetts, watched incredulously as Fritz Werner signed the following affidavit, dated June 7, 1973: "I, Fritz Werner, do solemnly swear that, during a special assignment with the U.S. Air Force on May 21, 1953, I assisted in the investigation of a crashed unknown object in the vicinity of Kingman, Arizona. The object was constructed of an unfamiliar metal which resembled aluminium. It had impacted 20 inches into the sand without any sign of structural damage. It was oval and about 30 feet in diameter. An entranceway hatch had been vertically lowered and opened. It was about 3'/s feet high and 1'/s feet wide. I was able to talk briefly with someone on the team who did look inside only briefly. He saw two swivel seats, an oval cabin, and a lot of instruments and displays. A tent pitched near the object sheltered the dead remains of the only occupant of the craft. It was about 4 feet tall, with dark brown complexion and it had 2 eyes, 2 nostrils, 2 ears, and a small round mouth. It was clothed in a silvery, metallic suit and wore a skull cap of the same type of material. It wore no face covering or helmet. "I certify that the above statement is true by affixing my signature to this document on this 7th day of June, 1973.”
According to Ray Fowler, a researcher of the highest credentials, here is Werner's story:
"I was project engineer on an Air Force contract with the Atomic Energy Commission for `Operation Upshot-Knothole' at the atomic proving ground, Nevada. My job involved the measuring of blast effects on various types of buildings especially erected for the tests. "On May 20, 1953, I worked most of the day at Frenchman Flat. In the evening, I received a phone call from the test director. Dr. Ed Doll, informing me that I was to go on a special job the next day. On the following day, I reported for special duty, and was driven to Indian Springs Air Force l;ase, near the proving ground, where I joined about fifteen other. specialists. We were told to leave all valuables in the custody of the military police. We were then put on a military plane and flown to Phoenix, Arizona. We were not allowed to fraternize. There, we were put on a bus with other personnel, who were already there. The bus windows were blacked out so that we couldn't see where we were going. We rode for an estimated four hours. I think we were in the area ofl Kingman, Arizona, which is North West of Phoenix and not too far from the atomic ground in Nevada. During the bus trip, we were told by an Air Force full colonel that a supersecret Air Force vehicle had crashed and that, since we were all specialists in certain fields, we were to investigate the crash in terms of our own speciality and nothing more. Finally, the bus stopped and we disembarked one at a time as our names were called, and were escorted by military police to the area that we were to inspect. Two spotlights were centered on the crashed object, which was ringed with guards. The lights were so bright that it was impossible to see the surrounding area. The object was oval and looked like two deep saucers, one inverted upon the other. It was about 30 feet in diameter, ~vith convex surfaces, top and bottom. These surfaces were about twenty feet in diameter. It was constructed of a dull silver metal, like brushed aluminium. The metal was darker where the saucer `lips' formed a rim, around which were what looked like `slots.' A curved open hatch door was located on the leading end and was vertically lowered. There was a light coming from inside but it could have been installed by the Air Force. My particular job was to determine, from the angle and depth of impact into the sand, how fast. the vehicle's forward and vertical velocities were at the time of impact. The impact had forced the vehicle approximately twenty inches into the sand. There was no landing gear. There were also no marks or dents, that I can remember, on the surface - not even scratches. Questions having nothing to do with our own special areas were not answered. An armed military policeman guarded a tent pitched nearby. I managed to glance inside at one point, and saw the dead body of a four-foot, human-like creature in a silver metallic-looking suit. The skin or. its face was dark brown. This may have been caused by exposure to our atmosphe~e. The face was not covered but it had a metallic skull-cap device on its head. As soon. as each person finished his task, he was interviewed over a tape recorder and escorted back to the bus. On the way back to the bus, I managed to talk briefly with someone else going back to it at the same time. He told me that he had glanced inside the object and saw two swivel-like seats, as well as instruments and displays. An airman who noticed we were talking separated us and warned us not to talk with each other. After we all returned to the bus, the Air Force colonel who was in charge had us raise our right hands and take an oath not to reveal what we had experienced. I was instructed to write my report in longhand and not to type or reproduce it. A telephone number was given me to call when the report was complete. I called the number, and an airman picked up the report.”
Ray Fowler states that Werner held several enigineering and management positions at Wright-Patterson AFB between June 1949, and January 1960. During that period, he worked in the Office of Special Studies of what was then the Air Material Command Installations Division. Later, he designed aircraft landing gear, and became Chief of alighting devices within the Aircraft Laboratory at Wright Air Development Center. At the time of the alleged incident, he was on assignment to the Atomic Energy Commission at the Atomic Proving Ground in Nevada.
Fowler also states that Werner told him that he sympathized with the Air Force's secret handling of the UFO problem and added that the Air Force did not know where UFOs originated. Werner also said that the Air Force believed that the UFOs were interplanetary vehicles but that they did not know how to handle the situation. They did not want to create panic.
Comments Fowler: There were some inconsistencies in Werner's story, but most of them appeared to be in the realm of memory lapses and exaggerations by the witness. Former employers that were checked held him in high esteem, and all described him as a highly competent and moral individual. Having published a number of technical papers, Werner also holds membership in the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
In Fowler's continuing evaluation he cites one piece of evidence which seems to give a strong element of truth to Werner's account. In an attempt to pin down the exact date of the alleged incident, Werner agreed to show his diary he kept in those days. On its aging pages, for May 20, 1953, it read in part: "Well, pen's out of ink. Spent most of day on Frenchman's Flat surveying cubicles and supervising welding of a (one word illegible) bridge which cracked after last shot. Got funny call from Dr. Doll at 1000. I'm going on a special job tomorrow." On May 21st, the diary read: "Up at 7.00. Worked most of day on Frenchman with cubicles. Letter from Bet. She's feeling better now - thank goodness. Got picked up at Indian Springs AFB at 4.30 p.m. for a job I can't write or talk about."
Comment:
In my book Situation Red, I cover the Werner story in full, based on my. conversations with Ray Fowler. Said Fowler, "With more substantiation, it could blow the lid off secrecy." I agree. One final note: the name Fritz Werner is fictitious, but I feel that his story, although embellished, is basically true. One Intelligence source commented: "A lot of it is story."
ABSTRACT VII: Air Force metallurgist analysed metal of crashed UFO
Finally a name of a witness surfaces - an Air Force Major named Daly, who was a metallurgist stationed at W=ight-Patterson AFB in 1953 - who relates his adventures with a crashed UFO. The source for this information comes from fellow Cincinnati-based researcher, Charles Wilhelm. He. related, in 1968, how a friend of his father was flown to an unknown destination in April 1953. The place was hot and sandy, and he was to examine the
ashed UFO. lie was blind-folded and driven to a point about 30 minutes away from a base of operations. There, inside of a tent standing in soft sand, his blind-fold was removed. From there he was taken to a location where he saw a silvery metallic craft about 25 to 30 feet in diameter. The exterior of the craft, he said, was not damaged, however, his on-the-spot two-day analysis of the ship's metal, using the equipment he carried with him, showed that it was not native to Earth. Major Daly, although he was not permitted to enter the craft, observed that the craft's entrance measured four to five feet high and two to three feet wide.
Comment
Major Daly’s blinded trip to the crash site, similar to that of Fritz Werner’s, indicates that it was common procedure for the military to use extreme security measures relative to UFO retrievals. It is to be noted that Major Daly's experience takes place in April, a month shy of Fritz Werner's which was in May of the same year. Also, to be noted is that Daly did not see any dead alien bodies. Maybe they had already been removed, or, if the craft was found undamaged, as he attested, it is possible the occupants managed to evade capture. Or, perhaps there were two crashes in a desert area in the Spring of 1953. If, however, the reports of Werner and Daly describe the same crashed UFO event, it is possible that Daly gave the wrong month.
(to be continued)
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