Col. Willingham's Del Rio crash (1955)
Col. Robert B. Willingham said that in 1955, flying an F-86 escort out of Carswell AFB, he watched an object make a 90-degree turn, throw sparks and dive toward Mexico. He says he then flew over a wreck in three pieces just across the Rio Grande near Langtry, returned in a light plane, met Mexican soldiers guarding the site, and took a fragment that a Marine lab later denied receiving. He told the story in a 1967 article, a 1977 affidavit and a 2008 book, with changing details. Eric Davis said in 2018 that "Del Rio, Texas" was a real 1950s case.
How plausible · Moderate
A named Air Force pilot told the story from 1967 on and swore to it in 1977, and Davis names a 1950s Del Rio case as real; the changing details are inconsistencies, not contradictions.
- ●●Access Saw the object and visited the site.
- ●○Cost of speaking Signed a 1977 affidavit.
- ●○No gain sought The 2008 book was written by others.
- ●○Independent convergence Draeger's general; Davis's 2018 remark.
- ●○Checkable details check out 1967 article, 1977 affidavit, 1955 Security Service request.
- ●○Fits the documented skeleton Rapid cleanup and a metal that resists cutting fit other accounts.
- −Lone source, no corroboration One firsthand witness.
Plausibility weighs how well an account fits where secrecy hides the documents by design, so missing records never count against it. Strength measures what is documented. Assessed 2026-10-24.
On the record
- The 1977 affidavit for Todd Zechel and the 1967 Mechanicsburg article.
- The 18 July 1955 Security Service request for B-47 UFO data.RB-47 crews: unidentified aircraft over the Canadian Arctic Archipelago (1-8 June 1955)