Andrew Kissner and the 1947 crashes
From the UAP Encyclopedia, the open encyclopedia of UFO and UAP history · 🗓️ Event
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| Type | Event (unpublished research claim) |
|---|---|
| Researcher | J. Andrew Kissner, former New Mexico state representative, Las Cruces |
| Manuscript | Peculiar Phenomenon: Early United States Efforts to Collect and Analyze Flying Discs (1994, unpublished) |
| Claim | Military forces in southern New Mexico shot down two to four "flying discs" in 1947 |
| Publicised by | Linda Moulton Howe, 2nd Annual UFO Crash Retrieval Conference, Las Vegas, 12–14 November 2004 |
| Related | Rep. Steven Schiff's 1993 request to the General Accounting Office |
| Status | Unverified; sources unnamed |
| Date | 1994 |
| Topics | Crashes & retrievals (topic), Nuclear & missile sites (topic), Military encounters (topic) |
| People | Andrew Kissner, Steven Schiff |
| Testimony | Shellenberger testimony, p. 119 |
| Year | 1994 in UFO history |
| Timeline | 1994 on the UAP Timeline |
| Sources | 3 |
J. Andrew Kissner, a former New Mexico state representative from Las Cruces, wrote an unpublished manuscript in 1994. It argued that U.S. military forces in southern New Mexico shot down several "flying discs" in 1947, and that the discs may have been linked to a wave of deaths that year. His ideas reached a wider audience through a presentation by the journalist Linda Moulton Howe at the 2004 UFO Crash Retrieval Conference in Las Vegas. Kissner's sources were never named, and no records support the shoot-down claims.[1]
The manuscript
According to Howe, Kissner's manuscript was titled Peculiar Phenomenon: Early United States Efforts to Collect and Analyze Flying Discs. It was based on years of private interviews with former employees of White Sands Proving Ground, the Naval Research Laboratory and Atomic Energy Commission laboratories, and with military officers and defence contractors. Kissner shared his information with the New Mexico congressman Steven Schiff. In 1993 Schiff asked the General Accounting Office (GAO) to search for records about the 1947 Roswell incident.[1][2]
Schiff (1947–1998), a Republican, represented New Mexico's 1st congressional district from 1989 until his death in March 1998. He had served in the New Mexico Air National Guard and as district attorney for Bernalillo County, and in Congress he pressed officials for information about UFOs. The GAO's report, Government Records: Results of a Search for Records Concerning the 1947 Crash Near Roswell, New Mexico (NSIAD-95-187), was issued on 28 July 1995. It found that Roswell Army Air Field's outgoing message records for 1946–1949 had been destroyed.[2][3]
Kissner's claims
Kissner argued that a series of events beginning with a V-2 rocket test at White Sands on 15 May 1947 led to the crash and recovery of at least two, and possibly four, discs. In his account they were brought down by anti-aircraft fire or surface-to-air missiles from Fort Bliss, Texas, or by fighters from Alamogordo. He tied this to contemporary newspaper reports. The White Sands commander blamed "peculiar phenomena" for the erratic flight of the 15 May V-2. On 29 May 1947 another V-2 went off course and crashed near Juárez, Mexico, which Kissner claimed was really a secret missile strike on radar targets. His source at White Sands, a senior officer who died in 1998, reportedly said the rocket had been joined on radar by an unknown target.[1]
Kissner also counted more than 600 aircraft crashes worldwide between May and July 1947. He suggested, while admitting it was unproved, that the discs might have contributed to deaths among military personnel and civilians.[1]
Radar sites
Howe said Kissner also researched secret early radar stations built from late 1947 to protect Los Alamos. As a legislator he helped have the surviving El Vado radar site, north of Los Alamos, added to the New Mexico historic register around 2000.[1]
Assessment
Kissner's sources were never named, and his account reached the public second-hand, through Howe's conference paper; the manuscript itself has not been published. No records support the shoot-down claims. Newspapers at the time reported the V-2 incidents as test rockets going astray.[1][3]
People and topics
- Unidentified flying object — An object in the sky that can't be identified; the older term for UAP.
- Andrew Kissner — Former New Mexico legislator who looked into the 1947 crash stories.
- Steven Schiff — New Mexico congressman who asked the GAO to search for Roswell records.
- General Accounting Office — The investigative arm of Congress.
- Roswell Army Air Field — The bomber base at Roswell, home of the 509th Bomb Group in 1947.
On the Timeline
- Arthur Lundahl and presidential briefings (1994) — Researcher Grant Cameron says the CIA's Arthur Lundahl may have briefed presidents on UAP.
- Edward Dudgeon and the Philadelphia Navy Yard (1994) — A Navy veteran tells Vallée about his time at the Philadelphia Navy Yard.
See every 1994 event on the UAP Timeline →
Further reading
- Laurance Rockefeller — Wikipedia · en.wikipedia.org · archived copy
- Los Alamos National Laboratory — Wikipedia · en.wikipedia.org · archived copy
- Sandia National Laboratories — Wikipedia · en.wikipedia.org · archived copy
- White Sands Missile Range — Wikipedia · en.wikipedia.org · archived copy
References
- Linda Moulton Howe, "UFO crash retrievals: U.S. government policy of denial", 2nd Annual UFO Crash Retrieval Conference Proceedings (Nov 2004), Internet Archive (PDF) · archive.org · archived copy
- Steven Schiff — Wikipedia · en.wikipedia.org · archived copy
- GAO, "Government records: results of a search for records concerning the 1947 crash near Roswell" (NSIAD-95-187), GovInfo · govinfo.gov · archived copy
Facts in this article are drawn in part from the Wikipedia article “Steven Schiff”, 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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