Kingman UFO Crash
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The Kingman incident is based on the signed legal affidavit of Arthur Glenn Stansel Jr. (1924-2006), a verified mechanical engineer employed by the Air Material Command at Wright-Patterson AFB from 1949-1960. Using the pseudonym 'Fritz Werner,' Stansel told NICAP investigator Raymond Fowler in 1973 that on May 21, 1953, he was assigned to a classified special operation - flown from Wright-Patterson to Phoenix, then transported by bus with blacked-out windows to a remote desert location near Kingman, Arizona. There, he and approximately 40 other specialists were shown an oval craft approximately 30 feet in diameter, constructed of brushed aluminum-like metal with no visible seams, that had impacted 20 inches into the desert sand without structural damage. Stansel's assigned task was to calculate the craft's impact velocity using engineering measurements. He also briefly observed a single humanoid body, approximately four feet tall with dark brown skin, clothed in a silver metallic suit. All participants signed NDAs before and after the site visit. Stansel signed an affidavit attesting to this account on June 7, 1973, witnessed by Fowler. Fowler published the account in Official UFO magazine in April 1976. Stansel's professional background is verifiable and his work under Dr. Eric Wang's Office of Special Studies is consistent with classified technical assignments. However, Fowler's own interactions revealed Stansel acknowledged embellishing stories under alcohol, no contemporaneous documentation corroborates the event, no contemporaneous press coverage has been found, and all other claimed witnesses remain anonymous. In April 2024, Christopher Mellon published a redacted Signal text exchange in which an anonymous senior government official asserted that Kingman was real - though that official subsequently disclosed they lacked direct access to the alleged program.
Key Facts
- ›Arthur Glenn Stansel Jr. (1924-2006) was a verified mechanical engineer employed by the Air Material Command at Wright-Patterson AFB from June 1949 to January 1960; he worked under Dr. Eric Wang's Office of Special Studies - verifiable professional background
- ›Stansel first told his story to NICAP investigator Raymond Fowler in 1973, approximately 20 years after the alleged event, and signed a legal affidavit on June 7, 1973 attesting to its truthfulness; Fowler published the account under the pseudonym 'Fritz Werner' in Official UFO magazine, April 1976
- ›The craft description: oval, approximately 30 feet diameter, brushed aluminum-like metal with no visible seams or joints, impacted 20 inches into desert sand without structural damage, portholes visible around the circumference
- ›One humanoid body was observed: approximately 4 feet tall, dark brown skin, two eyes/nostrils/ears/small mouth, clothed in a silver metallic suit with a skull cap of the same material
- ›Stansel's assigned technical role at the site was to calculate the impact velocity of the craft - consistent with his engineering background and a detail that argues against fabrication
- ›Operation Upshot-Knothole was active at the Nevada Proving Ground from March 17 to June 20, 1953; Shot ENCORE (27 kt) detonated May 8 and Shot GRABLE (15 kt) detonated May 25, bracketing the alleged May 21 crash date
- ›Leonard Stringfield's Status Reports documented independent anonymous accounts - a Naval Intelligence Officer and a witness designated 'JLD' - independently describing a 1953 Arizona desert crash recovery with parameters matching Stansel's account
- ›Stansel acknowledged to Fowler that when drinking he tended to embellish stories - a self-reported credibility caveat from within Fowler's own investigation
- ›No contemporaneous press coverage from Kingman or surrounding towns for May 1953 has been identified; no Project Blue Book files reference the incident; no FOIA release has confirmed the event
- ›April 2024: Christopher Mellon published a redacted Signal exchange in which an anonymous senior government official asserted Kingman's reality; the sender subsequently disclosed they lacked direct access to the alleged program