Unmarked helicopter claim (1975)
From the UAP Encyclopedia, the open encyclopedia of UFO and UAP history · 🗓️ Event
Contents 9
| Date | 14 March 1975 |
|---|---|
| Topics | Beings & bodies (topic), Nuclear & missile sites (topic), Military encounters (topic) |
| People | Leonard Stringfield, Kenneth Rommel |
| Testimony | Shellenberger testimony, p. 80 |
| Year | 1975 in UFO history |
| Timeline | 1975 on the UAP Timeline |
| Sources | 8 |
The unmarked helicopter claim is an account attributed to an anonymous Air Force lieutenant colonel, "Lt. Col. X" of Carswell Air Force Base in Texas, and collected by the crash-retrieval researcher Leonard Stringfield. According to a 2024 timeline submitted to Congress, he said on 14 March 1975 that "squadrons of unmarked helicopters with sophisticated instrumentation" were kept at underground facilities and isolated military reservations, and sent to areas of UFO activity.[6] He also described where recovered alien bodies were taken. He said he had himself witnessed a crash retrieval in northern New Mexico in 1962.[6] Like most of Stringfield's material, the account comes from an unnamed source and cannot be checked.[3]
The account
The UFO timeline compiled by Michael Shellenberger and submitted as written testimony to the House Oversight Committee summarises Lt. Col. X's claims as follows.[6]
- The helicopters. Underground facilities and isolated areas of military reservations held squadrons of unmarked helicopters with sophisticated instruments on board, which were dispatched to areas of UFO activity.[6]
- Where bodies went. In "earlier years" some bodies were taken to Wright-Patterson Air Force Base. Later they were taken to different places, depending on where a crash retrieval occurred.[6]
- A Pacific island. Some bodies were being flown to a "secret naval installation" on an island in the Pacific.[6]
- His own sighting. In 1962, he said, he witnessed a crash retrieval in northern New Mexico. A silver disc had skidded along the ground. The bodies were small and dressed in silver, skin-tight suits, and were taken with the craft to Holloman Air Force Base. Segments of the craft were later taken to Los Alamos.[6]
- Corroboration? The timeline adds that a CIA source told the ufologist Robert Barry that a crash retrieval took place in New Mexico that same year.[6]
The earlier version of this article described the officer's claim only as unmarked helicopters being sent to UFO-related sites, and suggested they were part of a quick-reaction capability for recovering material or controlling witnesses. That interpretation is not in the timeline's summary. The timeline adds the claims about bodies and the 1962 New Mexico retrieval.[6]
The source
- The citation. The timeline cites "Retrievals of the Third Kind presented at MUFON 1978", page 155.[6] Stringfield first presented that paper at the Ninth Annual MUFON Symposium in Dayton, Ohio, in July 1978. It became the first of his self-published "Status Reports".[1][3]
- Anonymous abstracts. The paper consisted largely of numbered "abstracts" summarising stories from unnamed informants, many of them military.[3]
- Hearsay. Stringfield acknowledged that cases "without names to back up the informant's testimony can be construed as hearsay", and asked readers to rely on his own credibility.[3]
- Not read. The original text was not available for this rewrite.[5]
Mystery helicopters
The 1970s brought many reports of mysterious unmarked helicopters in the American West, often in connection with cattle mutilations.[7][8]
- New Mexico. In February 1979 the FBI's Albuquerque office reported to the FBI Director that New Mexico State Police officer Gabe Valdez claimed the Department of Energy and Los Alamos National Laboratory were trying to "cover up" the cattle-mutilation phenomenon.[7]
- Senator Schmitt. Senator Harrison Schmitt organised a conference on the mutilations in 1979, hosted by the defence contractor BDM. The timeline suggests Schmitt may himself have been misled by the Energy Department and Los Alamos.[7]
- Logan-Cache, 1977. A story later relayed to Jacques Vallée described a 1977 incident in which a deputy sheriff tracked three helicopters linked to a mutilation to the Logan-Cache Airport. One carried a US Army marking on its underside but they were otherwise unmarked, and a man who got out refused to identify himself. (See Army helicopters and cattle mutilations.)[8]
The earlier version of this article said several states, including Colorado and New Mexico, investigated the mutilations. It also said that in 1979 the former FBI agent Kenneth Rommel studied them for New Mexico and concluded most were caused by scavengers, and that military and law enforcement agencies denied flying the helicopters. Those points are not covered in the sources read here.
Leonard Stringfield
- His background. Stringfield (1920–1994) took a particular interest in crashed-saucer stories, and published his "Status Reports" from 1978 until his death.[1]
- His record. He had founded CRIFO, advised NICAP and served as an "Early Warning Coordinator" for the Condon Committee.[1][2]
- His papers. His papers, 60 volumes, were donated to MUFON in 2012.[4]
Assessment
- Unverifiable. The officer is unnamed and his claims are unsupported by records in the sources read here. No helicopter "squadrons" of the kind described, and no Pacific island facility, are documented.
- Hearsay. The 1962 retrieval story, like much of Stringfield's material, cannot be checked.[3][6]
People and topics
- U.S. Air Force — The U.S. military service that ran the official UFO projects from 1947 to 1969.
- Leonard Stringfield — Former Air Force intelligence officer and NICAP researcher who collected anonymous crash-retrieval accounts from 1978 to 1994.
- Unidentified flying object — An object in the sky that can't be identified; the older term for UAP.
- Federal Bureau of Investigation — The U.S. federal police agency, which helped check flying disc reports from 1947 to 1950.
- Kenneth Rommel — Former FBI agent whose 1980 report attributed most cattle mutilations to natural causes.
- Crash retrieval — The alleged recovery of crashed non-human craft by governments.
On the Timeline
- Midwest engineers group claim (1974) (10 December 1974) — Kit Green tells Vallée 15 engineers in the Midwest secretly research UAP for the CIA.
- Goldwater letter to Shlomo Arnon (1975) (28 March 1975) — Goldwater writes that UAP information is classified above Top Secret.
See every 1975 event on the UAP Timeline →
Further reading
- Wright-Patterson Air Force Base — Wikipedia · en.wikipedia.org · archived copy
- Hangar 18 (the legend and 1980 film) — Wikipedia · en.wikipedia.org · archived copy
- UFO documents — CIA Reading Room · cia.gov · archived copy
- Los Alamos National Laboratory — Wikipedia · en.wikipedia.org · archived copy
- Holloman Air Force Base — Wikipedia · en.wikipedia.org · archived copy
References
- Leonard H. Stringfield — Wikipedia · en.wikipedia.org · archived copy
- Stringfield's 1978 report — Patrick Gross · ufology.patrickgross.org · archived copy
- Leonard Stringfield's status report at the 1978 MUFON symposium — Podcast UFO · podcastufo.com · archived copy
- Retrobituaries: Leonard Stringfield — Mental Floss · mentalfloss.com · archived copy
- UFO Crash Retrievals: Status Report I — Goodreads · goodreads.com · archived copy
- Michael Shellenberger, written testimony to the House Oversight Committee (13 November 2024), p. 80 · oversight.house.gov
- Michael Shellenberger, written testimony to the House Oversight Committee (13 November 2024), p. 88 · oversight.house.gov
- Michael Shellenberger, written testimony to the House Oversight Committee (13 November 2024), p. 144 · oversight.house.gov
Facts in this article are drawn in part from the Wikipedia article “Leonard H. Stringfield”, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.
This page was last edited on 29 October 2026. Articles are written in our own words from the sources listed under References; disputed claims are attributed to the people who made them.
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