Sgt. M.S. and the Wright-Patterson general
From the UAP Encyclopedia, the open encyclopedia of UFO and UAP history · 🗓️ Event
Contents 8
Sgt. M.S. and the Wright-Patterson general
| Date | 1977 |
|---|---|
| Topics | Crashes & retrievals (topic), Beings & bodies (topic), Secrecy & cover-up (topic) |
| People | Leonard Stringfield |
| Testimony | Shellenberger testimony, p. 81 |
| Year | 1977 in UFO history |
| Timeline | 1977 on the UAP Timeline |
| Sources | 6 |
Sgt. M.S. and the Wright-Patterson general is one of the anonymous accounts collected by the ufologist Leonard Stringfield in "Retrievals of the Third Kind", his paper for the July 1978 MUFON symposium in Dayton, Ohio.[2][3][6] According to Michael Shellenberger's 2024 summary of the paper for Congress, an Air Force sergeant identified only as "M.S." said that in 1977, at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, he befriended a major general whose surname began with "T". The general, he said, told him of a 1957 crash in the Southwest in which four alien bodies were recovered and frozen at Wright-Patterson. He also said the general showed him a top-secret document about a 1968 landing at Nellis Air Force Base.[6] Stringfield said he had confirmed that the general existed and that another source backed the Nellis story.[6] Neither man was named, and no document in the sources read here confirms the account.
The account
- The sergeant. According to Shellenberger's summary, M.S. served with the "97th Bomber Wing", as the summary puts it. While at Wright-Patterson in 1977 he got to know a major general, "Gen. T", assigned to security work in the Logistics Command, whose daughter he was dating.[6]
- The 1957 crash. M.S. said Gen. T told him that a UFO crashed in the Southwest in 1957.[6]
- Four badly burned bodies were recovered. Their silver spacesuits were undamaged but fused to the flesh.[6]
- The bodies were sent to Wright-Patterson to be deep-frozen. Their heads were large for their bodies, but heat had erased their facial features.[6]
- A recovery team got into the craft through a crack in its shell. It was taken to Wright-Patterson by rail under the cover of "classified rockets".[6]
- The Nellis document. M.S. said Gen. T showed him a top-secret document about a landing at Nellis Air Force Base in Nevada in 1968. As quoted in Shellenberger's summary, it described a large UFO hovering over the base for three days, from which three small craft separated.[6]
- One landed on the base, and a colonel went to meet it with an armed security detachment.[6]
- A "short and stocky" humanoid got out, and "a beam of light was directed at the Colonel", who was "instantly paralyzed".[6]
- The next officer in command ordered the troops to fire, but "their weapons were mysteriously jammed". The colonel was recovered and taken to hospital.[6]
- Stringfield's checks. Stringfield said he confirmed that Gen. T existed at Wright-Patterson through the Accounting and Finance Section's records. He said another intelligence source corroborated the 1968 Nellis incident.[6] Neither confirmation is documented in the sources read here.
- The earlier summary. The earlier version of this article said only that M.S. had conversations with a general who told him about recovered material from crashed craft. Shellenberger's summary of Stringfield's paper adds the details of the 1957 bodies and the Nellis landing.[6]
Stringfield's 1978 paper
- The symposium. Stringfield presented "Retrievals of the Third Kind: A Case Study of Alleged UFOs and Occupants in Military Custody" at the ninth annual MUFON Symposium in Dayton on 28 July 1978.[1][2][3] Parts were published in the MUFON UFO Journal in August 1978. A three-part version appeared in the British Flying Saucer Review from July–August 1979.[2][3] Shellenberger cites page 27 of the symposium version for the M.S. account.[6]
- Anonymous "abstracts". The paper consisted mostly of numbered "abstracts" summarising anecdotes from unnamed sources, many of whom had contacted Stringfield after his 1977 book Situation Red.[3]
- Stringfield acknowledged that cases "without names to back up the informant's testimony can be construed as hearsay". He said he "must make my stand on the merits of my credibility", earned over 29 years of UFO research.[3]
- Many of the stories followed a similar pattern: military witnesses blindfolded and driven to a crashed craft and alien bodies, or bodies seen packed in crates of dry ice.[3]
- Roswell's first appearance. The paper also contained an interview with "Major J.M.", the former intelligence officer Jesse Marcel. He described strange, strong metal fragments recovered from a ranch near Roswell in 1947. This was the earliest published version of his testimony.[2][3]
- Composite aliens. Another abstract built a "composite" description of retrieved bodies from anonymous medical and military sources. It described humanoids 3½ to 4½ feet tall with large heads, mostly grey skin and slanted eyes.[3] The heat-damaged bodies in the M.S. account match this general type.[6]
- Influence. The writer Charles Lear argues that Stringfield's paper helped make crash-retrieval research respectable among ufologists, much as Budd Hopkins's Missing Time did for abductions.[3]
Leonard Stringfield
- Background. Stringfield (1920–1994) said he saw three bright unidentified lights from a cargo plane flying from Ie Shima to Tokyo in 1945, shortly after the atomic bombings.[4] He later ran the group Civilian Research, Interplanetary Flying Objects (CRIFO) and its newsletter Orbit.[1][2][4]
- Later roles. He became public relations adviser to NICAP in 1957. He served as an "Early Warning Coordinator" for the Condon Committee from 1967 to 1969, and as MUFON's public relations director and a board member from 1974.[1][2]
- Status reports. From 1978 until his death he self-published a series of "Status Reports" on alleged crash retrievals, starting with this paper.[1][5] He died of lung cancer in December 1994.[1] His papers were donated to MUFON in 2012.[4] See MUFON.
Assessment
- Unverified. The sergeant, the general and the 1957 crash site are all unnamed, and the Nellis document has not surfaced. The account rests on Stringfield's word that he checked the general's existence.[3][6]
- Hearsay chain. M.S. reported what a general told him and showed him. Stringfield reported what M.S. told him. Stringfield himself acknowledged that such material "can be construed as hearsay".[3][6]
- Hangar 18. Stories of bodies frozen at Wright-Patterson echo the "Hangar 18" legend that Robert Carr promoted in the 1970s.[2][3] See Hangar 18.
People and topics
- U.S. Air Force — The U.S. military service that ran the official UFO projects from 1947 to 1969.
- Wright-Patterson Air Force Base — The Ohio air base that housed Project Blue Book and is linked to the Hangar 18 legend.
- Leonard Stringfield — Former Air Force intelligence officer and NICAP researcher who collected anonymous crash-retrieval accounts from 1978 to 1994.
- MUFON — The largest civilian UFO organization in the United States.
On the Timeline
- CIA Domestic Collection Division memo (1976) (26 April 1976) — A CIA teletype says agency staff monitor UAP unofficially.
- Daniel Sheehan and the Blue Book photos (1977) — Attorney Daniel Sheehan says he was shown classified Blue Book material at the Library of Congress.
See every 1977 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
- Nevada Test Site — 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. 81 · 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.
Categories: 1977 | Beings bodies | Crashes retrievals | Leonard stringfield | Mufon | Secrecy cover-up | Timeline event | Us air force | Wright-patterson air force base
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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