Military bases in Texas were hubs for secret projects during the 1940’s. There was the Gerry Irwin transfer to Fort Bliss in El Paso(1). He was the first recorded abduction case in the U.S. Fort Bliss also became home to over 100 scientists from Germany after WWII, as part of Operation Paperclip. (2) Fort Bliss was adjacent to White Sands Missile Range.
Germany’s Wernher Von Braun helped develop the supersonic “Ramjet” project (first called Comet later known as Hermes) which was launched from White Sands. Wernher Von Braun was the technical director of Germany’s rocket test facility on the Baltic Island of Usedom during WWII. After the war he and his scientists wanted to work for the U.S.(3)
Don’t forget that July 1947, the famous Roswell crash had ties to Texas. General Roger M. Ramey of the Eighth Air Force Base in Fort Worth, Texas ordered the crashed disc to be flown to Fort Worth Army Air Field. The Eighth Air Force was commissioned with the atomic mission. Only the 509 in Roswell, N.M. had B-29’s that were able to deliver nuclear weapons.(4)
The military sent Jesse Marcel, who was an intelligence officer to secure the debris from the UFO crash site. He transported part of the debris and the weather balloon (which was faked evidence) to the Air Force Base in Fort Worth, Texas. It is now the site of the Naval Air Station Joint Reserve Base in Forth Worth.
There was much activity at the Killeen base, Fort Hood (known then as Camp Hood), Texas in 1949. Spring (March-June) there were many UFO sightings over the base. Here is NICAP’s report of that period:
- March 6, 1949; Killeen Base, Camp Hood, Texas (BBU) 8:20 p.m. (AFOSI 29 & 30) Army Sgt. Hubert Vickery and PFC John Ransom on patrol at the AFSWP (Armed Forces Special Weapons Project) nuclear weapons storage site saw a blue-white oblong object about 2 ft x 1 ft in size travel S from 286° to 279° azimuth elevation 5°45'. Other sightings by Army patrols from 8:30 p.m. to 2 a.m. (FOIA)
- March 7, 1949; Camp Hood, Texas (AFOSI-32-34) PFC. Max Eugene Manlove, 1st Provost Squadron, Camp Hood, Texas, observed a teardrop-shaped object, orange in color, drop vertically in front of him. Observation time: 2 seconds. (AFOSI 34). 1:30 a.m. Two other sets of military witnesses. Very brief (2 secs?). (AFOSI 32, 33).
- March 8, 1949; Killeen Base, Camp Hood, Texas (BBU) (AFOSI Case 39) 2 a.m. Army infantrymen in separate locations 1/2 mile apart sight different lights, one white seen by Payne, the other, by Cpl. Luke Sims, was of a yellowish red light in level flight crossing 60° of sky. (FOIA; FUFOR Index) 5 secs ?
- March 17, 1949; Killeen Base, Camp Hood, Texas (BBU 319) 7:52 p.m. Capt. Horace McCulloch, Asst. G-2 of the 2nd Armored Division at the nuclear weapons storage site, was preparing the test firing of flares in order to prove recent sightings were mistakes when he and his men themselves saw aerial phenomena, 7 separate sightings by trained artillery observers in different locations enabled rapid triangulation of large, green, red and white flare-like objects flying in generally straight lines. (FOIA) 1 hr ?
- March 31, 1949. E of Killeen Base, Camp Hood, Texas (BBU) 11:50 p.m. (AFOSI Case 46) Army Lt. Frederick Davis on patrol saw a reddish white ball of fire pass horizontally over the base airstrip and noted interference on the field telephone afterward when he reported it. (FOIA) 10-15 secs
- April 27, 1949. SE of Killeen Base, Camp Hood, Texas (BBU) 9:20 p.m. 2 Army soldiers [Pillett and Belislandro?] on patrol saw a blinking violet object 1-secs 1/2 inches in diameter 10-12 ft away and about 6-7 ft above ground in motion, passing through branches of a tree before disappearing. At 9:25 p.m., 2 miles away 4 Army men sighted a 4-inch bright light, with a 2-4-inch metallic cone trailing in the back, 600 ft away 6-7 ft above ground silently approaching from the NE in level flight at 60-70 mph, disappearing suddenly in the SW at 150 ft away. At 9:37 p.m. the same witnesses saw a 2-inch white light appear 100 ft away to the NNE flying in a zigzag in level flight about 6 ft above ground, disappearing suddenly. At 9:39 p.m. the same witnesses saw a 3rd light in the WSW. (FOIA; FUFOR Index; Jan Aldrich) 1 min+
- April 28, 1949. SE of Killeen Base, Camp Hood, Texas (BBU) 8:30-10 p.m. Several Army security patrols sighted a variety of strange lights, mostly slowmoving changing color from white to red to green, one with a red blinking light, one with a "coneshaped affair" trailing in the rear similar to one seen the day before. (FOIA) May 6, 1949; Killeen Base, Camp Hood, Texas (BBU) UFO observation network using Army artillery observers (Ward?), established 2 days earlier, tracks its first object. (FOIA; Jan Aldrich) real-time triangulation?
- May 7, 1949; Killeen Base, Camp Hood, Texas (BBU) 7:40 p.m. Lt. Mardell Ward, at the Army's UFO observation post, and another observation site, spotted a brilliant white diamond-shaped object at triangulated location 15,000 ft away at 1,000 ft 57 secs 2+ real-time triangulation altitude headed NW. Object was tracked for 57 seconds as it traveled 20 miles (at 1,300 mph) while changing color from white to reddish to greenish as it dropped altitude and dimmed then disappeared. No sound. (FOIA; Jan Aldrich; Loren Gross Jan-Jun 1949 Supp p. 79, erroneously put at Los Alamos)
- May 8, 1949; Killeen Base, Camp Hood, Texas (BBU) 10:08-10:17 p.m. Lt. Mardell Ward, at the Army's UFO observation post, and 2 other posts sighted brilliant diamond-shaped object to the W moving NW or NE at 1,600 ft altitude slowly dropping. Severe radio interference during sighting, none afterward. (FOIA; Jan Aldrich; Loren Gross Jan-Jun 1949 Supp p. 80, erroneously put at Los Alamos) 9 mins real-time triangulation
- June 6, 1949; Killeen Base, Camp Hood, Texas (BBU) 9:05-9:08 p.m. Williams, Jones and others in UFO observation and triangulation network tracked a hovering orange object about 30-70 ft in diameter, 2 mils angular size, 1 mile above ground, 3 miles S of the observation post, 4-1/2 miles S of the Plotting Center, which suddenly started moving in level flight then exploded in a shower of particles. (FOIA; FUFOR Index) source and references: http://www.nicap.org/waves/1949fullrep.htm.
- Mink, Trish, (September 19, 2017), Earliest Recorded UFO Abduction: Gerry Irwin was Never Seen Again, Part 1, Irwinhttps://comfortinaninstant.typepad.com/angelic_visions/2017/09/earliest-recorded-ufo-abduction-gerry-irwin-was-never-seen-again.html
- Mink, Trish, (January 14, 2016), Operation Paperclip and the Skunk Works Projects, https://comfortinaninstant.typepad.com/angelic_visions/2016/01/operation-paperclip-and-the-skunk-works-projects.html
- Wernher Von Braun-Part 2, The German Way and More, https://www.german-way.com/notable-people/featured-bios/wernher-von-braun/wernher-von-braun-2/
- New Mexico 'Disc' Declared Weather Balloon and Kite". Los Angeles Examiner. Associated Press. July 9, 1947. p. 1. Retrieved February 5, 2013.
- 1949- Fort Hood, Texas UFO Wave, https://www.ufocasebook.com/fthood1949.html