Robert Willingham and the Lie about the Del Rio UFO Crash

 

A couple of years ago, I heard Dr. Eric Davis mention, briefly, that the UFO crash near Del Rio, Texas, was real. It was something of a “throw away” line on Coast-to-Coast AM, and there was no follow up. Having investigated the Del Rio crash for more than two decades, I was surprised by such a bold statement and attempted to reach out to Dr. Davis to learn why he thought the case was solid.

I never received a reply… until now.

Apparently, André Skondras reached out to Dr. Davis to ask him about my assessment of the Del Rio case. According to Andre the response was, “Davis maintains that Randle’s conclusions about crash-retrieval history are incorrect and based on flawed research. He stresses that he, David Grusch, and other cleared personnel were briefed on classified evidence firsthand—information that remains inaccessible to the public due to long-standing national-security restrictions. According to Davis, critics often misunderstand how these secrecy protocols work, and the absence of public proof does not invalidate what is known inside classified programs.”

Yes, we have the old dodge that he is privy to information from classified sources and that he, among others, were briefed on classified evidence and that we, on the outside, misunderstand secrecy protocols. Except, of course, I served as an intelligence officer in both the Air Force and later the Army. I get all that, but the problem is his belief that the Del Rio crash is real.

As I have noted in the past, when the story first popped up, in 1968, the architect of the tale was Robert Willingham, identified as a lieutenant colonel in the Civil Air Patrol. You can read the entry from Skylook, the original publication of MUFON here:

The Willingham story is the 3rd paragraph down. 

This provides not only the article but identifies the 

source.

I will point out that the original source on this, the self-proclaimed Air Force colonel, Robert Willingham lied about his Air Force experiences, lied about being a fighter pilot and lied about serving in Korea. I’ll note that he eventually claimed to have been present at six other crashes. I was the first to actually vet his military record and found it wanting. I learned he had been a Civil Air Patrol lieutenant colonel, which is nowhere the same as being an Air Force officer. For those who missed it, a good recap of all this information can be found here:

https://kevinrandle.blogspot.com/2018/09/dr-davis-confirms-del-rio-ufo-crash.html

The point is that in over two decades of research into the Del Rio crash, I have not found another witness to the Del Rio retrieval. The date has changed three times and Willingham told me that he wasn’t sure if it was 1954 or 1955. Please note here that I did interview the prime source and so far, as I know, the only witness to the crash.

While Dr. Davis may well have been exposed to first-hand witnesses to other crash/retrievals, he heard nothing first-hand about Del Rio. That crash was invented by Robert Willingham. Other than him, there is no evidence that the crash took place.

I’ll close this by saying that unless there is something about Del Rio that I haven’t discovered, and I freely admit that possibility, my conclusion, based on my research to date is that it is a hoax.