1953 · Southeast of Kingman, Hualapai Mountains, Arizona

Kingman, Arizona, 1953 crash retrieval

Sourced, unconfirmed

Strength D · 4/10

Evidence 1/4 · Witnesses 2/3 · Backing 1/3

A signed affidavit from a named engineer with a checkable career, plus secondhand Stringfield accounts and a 2020 Signal message; no document or physical trace is public.

Plausibility Moderate

Score 10 · 7 factors for, 0 against

Two named witnesses with checked careers, a signed affidavit and later independent rumours line up; no record has surfaced, as secrecy would predict. Woolcott's false story counts against her only.

See the factors ↓

Unexplained

Part ofThe legacy program, The nuclear connection, The recovery teams

A silver disc in a floodlit desert wash near Kingman, with specialists brought in by bus, as the 1953 retrieval is described. · Illustration for uaptrail.com

When20-21 May 1953

WhereSoutheast of Kingman, Hualapai Mountains, Arizona

Engineer Arthur G. Stancil (first called 'Fritz Werner', also spelled Stansel) signed an affidavit for researcher Raymond Fowler saying that on 21 May 1953 he was taken from Upshot-Knothole atomic tests to a crash site in the desert near Kingman, Arizona. There he measured the impact of a 30-ft disc with an unmarked metal skin and saw a small humanoid body in a tent. Other secondhand accounts point to an Arizona crash the same year. UAP Gerb hears from his own sources that the material Lockheed offered to divest under Kona Blue came from Kingman.

How plausible · Moderate

Two named witnesses with checked careers, a signed affidavit and later independent rumours line up; no record has surfaced, as secrecy would predict. Woolcott's false story counts against her only.

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Access AMC engineer on loan to the AEC; a simulator engineer.
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No gain sought Nothing sold.
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Independent convergence Uhouse, Stringfield's sources and Mellon's Signal message.
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Cost of speaking Signed an affidavit.
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Character record Fowler vouched for Stansel; careers confirmed by Gilde.
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Checkable details check out Careers and Wang's role are on paper; the crash is not.

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

Stancil had worked as an engineer at Air Materiel Command, Wright-Patterson, and was on loan to the AEC for Operation Upshot-Knothole at the Nevada Test Site, under test director Dr Ed Doll.
His affidavit was published by Raymond Fowler in UFO Magazine, April 1976. Fowler checked his background and found him a man of 'considerable integrity and scientific ability'.
The earliest known mention of a Kingman crash reached researcher Richard Hall in April 1964.
The affidavit text, dated 7 June 1973, as read by Gerb from Fowler's Casebook of a UFO Investigator.
Gilde's career checks for Stansel and Uhouse.
Judy Woolcott's account is shown false (Redfern); it is set aside.

Claims

Bussed with about 15 specialists to a desert wash near Kingman, he measured the impact of a 30-ft disc with an undamaged surface and saw a 4-ft humanoid body in a silver suit.firsthandSourced, unconfirmedArthur G. Stancil (affidavit to Raymond Fowler)

Bodies from a 1953 Arizona crash arrived at Wright-Patterson packed in dry ice.secondhandLeadLeonard Stringfield

The Lockheed material in the Kona Blue divestment plan was Kingman wreckage.Lockheed's 12 craftanonymousLeadUAP Gerb (Sam)

A 2020 Signal exchange released by Christopher Mellon calls Kingman 1953 a landing.anonymousLeadChristopher Mellon

Stancil named Eric Henry Wang (WADC) as technical lead and Edward Bushnell Doll (later STL/TRW) as coordinator.firsthandSourced, unconfirmedArthur G. Stancil

"I, Fritz Werner, do solemnly swear that during a special assignment with the US Air Force on May 21st 1953 I assisted in the investigation of a crashed unknown object in the vicinity of Kingman Arizona", constructed of an unfamiliar metal like brushed aluminium, impacted 20 in into the sand without structural damage, oval and about 30 ft across, with a 3.5 by 1.5 ft hatch.Arthur Stansel JrfirsthandSourced, unconfirmedArthur Stansel Jr

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Kingman, Arizona, 1953 crash retrieval

How plausible · Moderate

On the record

Claims

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Sources

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