Del Rio crash claim
From the UAP Encyclopedia, the open encyclopedia of UFO and UAP history · 🗓️ Event
Contents 8
| Date | 13 August 1979 |
|---|---|
| Topics | Crashes & retrievals (topic), Beings & bodies (topic), Secrecy & cover-up (topic) |
| People | Leonard Stringfield, Robert Willingham |
| Testimony | Shellenberger testimony, p. 89 |
| Year | 1979 in UFO history |
| Timeline | 1979 on the UAP Timeline |
| Sources | 7 |
The Del Rio crash is an alleged recovery of a crashed UFO near the Texas–Mexico border in the 1950s. The story rests almost entirely on the account of one man, Robert Willingham, and has been told in several conflicting versions; researchers who examined it, including some sympathetic to crash-retrieval stories, have concluded it is probably a hoax.[1][2]
Willingham's account
According to UFO researcher Kevin Randle, Willingham first told the story in 1968, in MUFON's early publication Skylook. In the version promoted in the 2008 book The Other Roswell: UFO Crash on the Texas-Mexico Border by Noe Torres and Ruben Uriarte, Willingham — then described as a retired Air Force colonel and former fighter pilot living near Wichita Falls — said that in 1955 he was flying an F-86 escorting a B-47 over West Texas when a radio warning reported a very fast object. He said he followed it to near Del Rio, saw it wobble and descend, and later found that Mexican soldiers had cordoned off a long furrow south of Langtry, Texas; he said he took a hand-sized piece of metal that could not be burned or cut.[1][3]
The testimony's account
According to the testimony, a retired airman wrote to researcher Leonard Stringfield on 13 August 1979 saying he had learned of a 1950 crash near Del Rio, and the account was included in Stringfield's crash-retrieval status reports. Stringfield, a former Air Force intelligence officer, collected hundreds of such second-hand crash stories from the late 1970s onwards.[4]
Conflicting versions
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The date of the event moved repeatedly in Willingham's tellings — from 1948 to 1950 to the mid-1950s — and its location shifted between the Del Rio area and near Laredo. The Majestic 12 "Eisenhower briefing document", widely considered a hoax, refers to an object that crashed near El Indio–Guerrero on the Texas–Mexico border on 6 December 1950. Another popular version describes dozens of objects detected near Del Rio in December 1950 and an unnamed colonel who later said he helped recover scattered debris; no record shows any interceptor or missile was fired.[1][2][5]
Investigation
Randle checked Willingham's military record and found he had been a lieutenant colonel in the Civil Air Patrol, a civilian auxiliary, not an Air Force officer, and that he had not been a fighter pilot or served in Korea as he claimed. Willingham later said he had been present at six other crashes. In more than two decades Randle found no other witness to the Del Rio retrieval.[1][2]
Eric Davis
In 2018 physicist Eric Davis said on Coast to Coast AM that Del Rio was another 1950s case worth betting on. Randle argued that Davis appeared to be relying on Willingham's story; in 2025 Davis replied through an intermediary that he had been briefed on classified evidence the public could not see.[1][2]
People and topics
- Leonard Stringfield — Former Air Force intelligence officer and NICAP researcher who collected anonymous crash-retrieval accounts from 1978 to 1994.
- Robert Willingham — Man who claimed he saw a crashed craft near Del Rio, Texas.
- U.S. Air Force — The U.S. military service that ran the official UFO projects from 1947 to 1969.
On the Timeline
- Southeastern Oregon crash claim (1979) (27 June 1979) — An informant claims a craft crashed in southeastern Oregon and he helped load crates.
- NORAD's $294,157 search fee (September 1979) — NORAD says a search for UAP tracking data would cost $294,157.
See every 1979 event on the UAP Timeline →
References
- Kevin Randle, "Robert Willingham and the lie about Del Rio" (Dec 2025) · kevinrandle.blogspot.com · archived copy
- Kevin Randle, "Dr. Davis confirms Del Rio UFO crash?" (Sep 2018) · kevinrandle.blogspot.com · archived copy
- "New book discloses 'The Other Roswell' UFO crash", PR.com (May 2008) · pr.com · archived copy
- Leonard H. Stringfield — Wikipedia · en.wikipedia.org · archived copy
- "The Del Rio 'crash'", Stronghold Nation · stronghold-nation.com · archived copy
- Stringfield's 1978 report — Patrick Gross · ufology.patrickgross.org · archived copy
- ignaciodarnaude.com · ignaciodarnaude.com · archived copy
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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