Page 6 - 2011 - The 'X' Chronicles Newspaper - January 2011

Crash Goes the Del Rio UFO Crash Crash Goes the Del Rio UFO Crash by It became clear that the first document Dr. Kevin Randle, PhD of dollars, and helping to save many lives. had been altered using white-out and a copier. And the documents Torres sent were all for the Lines were broken in the those areas, but were Eighteen months ago, as I was finishing Civil Air Patrol as well. Clearly Willingham had whole everywhere else. The notations did not up the research and writing for Crash – When served in that organization, had been promoted conform to those normally used by the military, UFOs Fall from the Sky, I was preparing the through the officer ranks to lieutenant colonel, and there were other errors that suggested the chapter on the December 6, 1950 Del Rio UFO but there was nothing in the documentation document had been altered by someone crash. I had known about the case for a long supplied that suggested he had ever served as an unfamiliar with the finer points of military time and believed it to be authentic, based on Air Force officer. service. the affidavit signed by a retired Air Force I asked about this and was told that The Time and Points document turned colonel. That one piece of documentation was Bruce Maccabee or that Todd Zechel had out to be irrelevant because it had been created important because, at the time, I believed the checked out his background. Zechel had died a by Willingham. True, it was now in the man to have been a colonel and a fighter pilot. couple of years earlier and Maccabee told me he possession of those in St. Louis, but they had However, in the world today, we have thought that Zechel had verified Willingham’s gotten their copy from Willingham. There are the Internet which allows easy research into, credentials. In other words, there was no two points that seem disingenuous. Willingham well, everything. Type a few words into your evidence that anyone had ever attempted to has listed two squadrons and suggested in a search engine and you have a list of sites that learn if Willingham’s claims of extended service handwritten note that they are Air Force will provide information, much of which is in the Air Force and the Air Force Reserve were Reserve. But they are, in truth, CAP squadrons. reliable. So, to check out this particular crash, to true. Do we see a pattern emerging here? see if anything new had been added since the The only record that I could find in St. The final document was a Reserve last time I had looked, I typed “Robert B. Louis where all records of former military Order that certainly looked official and seemed Willingham,” and “UFO,” into the search personnel are housed, said that Willimgham had to indicate that Willingham had served twenty engine and found a number of websites. been in the Army from December 8, 1945 to years of combined active duty and reserve time But what I learned was somewhat January 4, 1947. That makes him, technically, a and would be eligible for a pension when he disturbing. The date had shifted from December veteran of World War Two. He was honorably reached age 60. That applies for those who have 1950 to 1955, the aircraft changed, the radars discharged as a low-ranking enlisted man in the not done twenty years of active duty. changed and some of the facts changed. grade of E4. They had nothing to suggest he had I had hesitated in sending this on to the Suddenly there wasn’t a clean story of a UFO been in the Air Force at any time. Air Reserve Personnel Center (ARPC) in crash, but a mess that seemed to have been Torres supplied additional pictures and Denver simply because it is a crime to alter altered significantly, and when that happens, it documents, but that did nothing to clarify the these documents and attempt to gain a pension is not a good sign. issue. Both pictures, in color, showed through fraud. However, it finally became So I contacted Noe Torres, one of those Willingham in a blue Air Force uniform, but he necessary to learn the truth. I sent a FOIA responsible for the latest interviews with Robert was wearing CAP ribbons and wings, request to the ARPC and asked if the document Willingham and asked a few questions. Torres, something that isn’t done on an Air Force was legitimate. It seemed to me that this would a careful researcher and an honest one, gave me uniform. It meant, clearly, that Willingham was be of sufficient importance to prove the point. If the answers to the questions. He even sent a in his CAP uniform. authentic then we had our evidence that copy of his book that detailed the Willingham There was one other thing that was Willingham had served. story, some documents that supported obvious to me, but not necessarily to someone According to the response I received, Willingham’s claim of long Air Force service, who had not served in the military. On the the document was a fake. They told me that it and a picture of Willingham in uniform... a lapels, had it been an Air Force uniform, there was missing information that should be on it uniform that the Air Force had phased out in the would have been a “US.” If the uniform was including a date and Willingham’s serial 1960s which meant the picture was dated from CAP, then it would have had those letters, number. They also mentioned there had been that time. “CAP,” on the lapel. In the pictures, Willingham congressional inquiries and that they had But then I noticed something else. was wearing neither insignia. He had removed searched the records and could find nothing to Willingham wasn’t wearing an Air Force the CAP. support the claims. The order number was one uniform; he was wearing one from the Civil Air At the MUFON Symposium in Denver that they couldn’t find and with everything Patrol (CAP). For those who don’t know, the in 2009, Ruben Uriarte gave me several computerized these days, it should have been CAP is a civilian auxiliary of the Air Force. It is documents to prove Willingham was who he simple. a volunteer organization whose missions are claimed to be. These included a document, search and rescue, and introducing teenagers to allegedly from St. Louis that was a record of his (Continued on Page 7) aviation in its cadet program. These volunteers military service into the 1960s, a “Time and wear modified Air Force uniforms, but they are Points” document and a Reserve Order that The ‘X’ Zone Radio Show not members of the Air Force or the Air Force seemed to confirm both twenty years of service with Reserve. They perform a vital role in search and and that Willingham had been, at least, a Rob McConnell rescue, saving the taxpayers tens of thousands lieutenant colonel in the Air Force Reserve. www.xzoneradiotv.com