Hangar 18

"Wright-Patterson Underground" redirects here. For Blue Room, see

Building 18

.

Building 18 - WPAFB Cold Rooms/Labs

Hangar 18 is a term used in UAP research to describe a purported storage and analysis facility at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton, Ohio, allegedly housing retrieved non-human craft, biological materials, and bodies from the Roswell crash and other retrieval events. The name has achieved iconic status in UFO lore despite the facility's actual identification as part of the Foreign Technology Division complex comprising Buildings 18A, 18B, 18C, and 18D. According to numerous whistleblowers, including U.S. Senator Barry Goldwater, UFO researcher Leonard Stringfield, and many former base workers, a classified facility allegedly exists underneath Wright-Patterson for the purpose of storing non-human biologics and vehicles. These artifacts reportedly come from crash recoveries; the network of vaults and cold rooms under the base purportedly provides a secure environment for exploitation of this material.

Building 18

Building 18 with 1960's base map shown for context

1960's era map showing location of Building 18 relative to other sites on-base (Large)

"Hangar 18" is probably a misnomer for Building 18, the Power Plant Laboratory Complex, one of the oldest structures at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base. One part of this, Building 18F, included cold rooms used for low-temperature testing of engines and other equipment. This facility has also been called the Blue Room.

Origins

Wright Field's Foreign Technology Division was established to receive, test, and analyze captured foreign military technology — initially German, Russian, and Japanese hardware acquired during World War II. In July 1947 Roswell wreckage and bodies were reportedly transferred to Wright Field for the same reason, to determine whether the craft was of Soviet or German origin.

Bodies in transit (1947)

Colonel Philip J. Corso, who later headed the Foreign Technology Division at the Pentagon under General Trudeau, claimed to have encountered five crates in transit at Fort Riley, Kansas, in the summer of 1947 — trucks heading from "an airfield in New Mexico" to Wright-Patterson along Route 66. Corso reportedly opened one crate and observed a body floating in fluid, noting it was small, with a large head, spindly arms, and gray coloration. Corso stated that he took charge of the Foreign Technology Division in 1961, inheriting what he described as autopsy reports prepared at Walter Reed Hospital under Army contract, with all copies required to be returned to the Division.

Early published claims

Frank Scully's 1950 book Behind the Flying Saucers described claims that wreckage and dead aliens from the alleged Aztec, New Mexico crash had been taken to Wright-Patterson, where they were being analysed by scientists and engineers.

In 1966, the book Incident at Exeter by journalist John G. Fuller mentioned "frequent and continual rumors" of "a half-dozen or so small humanoid corpses, measuring not more than four-and-a-half feet in height" in an Air Force morgue at Wright-Patterson Field.

On October 11, 1974, science-fiction author and UFO researcher Robert Spencer Carr conducted a live radio interview where he publicly claimed that alien bodies recovered from the Aztec, NM crash were being kept at "Hangar 18" at Wright-Patterson. The claim garnered substantial press attention, and led to official denials. The Air Force replied that no "Hangar 18" existed at the base (perhaps somewhat disingenuously, given the existence of Building 18), and noted Carr's claims bore a close similarity to the fictional Fortec Conspiracy.

During the interview, Carr also relayed a tale of Senator Barry Goldwater requesting and being denied access to a restricted area. Reached for comment, Goldwater admitted to having requested a tour and been denied, but Goldwater said he'd never heard any rumors of alien bodies.

By September 1979, Carr claimed to have interviewed five eyewitnesses to the recovery, including a surgical nurse who witnessed an alien's autopsy.

The 1980 film Hangar 18, which dramatized Carr's claims, was described as "a modern-day dramatization" of the Roswell incident by the film's director James L. Conway, and as "nascent Roswell mythology" by folklorist Thomas Bullard. Decades later, Carr's son recalled that he had often "mortified my mother and me by spinning preposterous stories in front of strangers... [tales of] befriending a giant alligator in the Florida swamps, and sharing complex philosophical ideas with porpoises in the Gulf of Mexico."

Claims that alien bodies were being hidden by the military were also popularized by longtime UFO researcher Leonard H. Stringfield. Stringfield claimed analysis of bodies and UFO crash debris was being conducted at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, however no connection to Roswell was specified. In July 1978, Stringfield spoke about alleged crash retrievals at the international MUFON symposium held in Dayton, Ohio. Also in attendance were Donald Keyhoe, J. Allen Hynek, and Ted Bloecher. Stringfield wrote a seven-part series titled Status Report I–VI (later extended as Retrievals of the Third Kind) documenting his research.

The Blue Room

A sub-facility known as the "Blue Room" or "Blue Hangar" is described as the specific vault where physical UFO evidence is stored within the Building 18 complex. Investigator Donald Schmitt, co-author of five books on the Roswell case and Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, states that multiple witnesses have referred to the Blue Room as the repository for recovered materials. An Air Force officer reportedly threatened court martial against a colleague who inquired about the Blue Room's contents, contributing to its legendary status.

Senator Barry Goldwater

Whether or not Goldwater had inquired about aliens at the time of Carr's 1974 interview, he certainly did later. On March 28, 1975, he wrote to Shlomo Arnon: "The subject of UFOs has interested me for some long time. About ten or twelve years ago I made an effort to find out what was in the building at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base where the information has been stored that has been collected by the Air Force, and I was understandably denied this request. It is still classified above Top Secret." Goldwater further wrote that there were rumors the evidence would be released, and that he was "just as anxious to see this material as you are, and I hope we will not have to wait much longer". The April 25, 1988, issue of The New Yorker carried an interview with Goldwater in which he recounted efforts to gain access to the room.

Senator Goldwater, a reserve Air Force Major General and chair of the Senate Armed Services Committee, attempted in 1963 to gain entry to the Blue Room. Tom Carey, co-author of The UFO Secrets of Wright-Patterson, documents that Goldwater telephoned General Curtis LeMay, the Air Force Chief of Staff and a personal friend, to request access. LeMay's response was emphatic refusal accompanied by threats of court-martial: "No, you can't go in that room. Hell no, you can't go in that room. I can't go in that room...and if you ever ask me that again, I'll see that you're court-martialed." Goldwater recounted the episode publicly on Larry King Live in 1994, stating:

I think the government does know. I can't back that up, but I think that at Wright-Patterson field, if you could get into certain places, you'd find out what the Air Force and the government knows about UFOs... I called Curtis LeMay and I said, 'General, I know we have a room at Wright-Patterson where you put all this secret stuff. Could I go in there?' I've never heard him get mad, but he got madder than hell at me, cussed me out, and said, 'Don't ever ask me that question again!'

Transfer to private sector

Donald Schmitt argues that after the Foreign Technology Division failed to unlock the operational principles of the recovered craft, reverse-engineering responsibility was shifted to private defense contractors — a transition consistent with accounts in which companies such as Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, and Boeing are implicated in subsequent UAP exploitation programs. Tom Carey, co-author of The UFO Secrets of Wright-Patterson, similarly argues that all Roswell wreckage and bodies were ultimately routed to Wright Field as the "ultimate repository," with some materials later moved to Dugway Proving Ground in Utah and subsequently transferred to private contractors including Lockheed Martin, Lawrence Livermore Laboratories, and the Rand Corporation.

See also

• S-4

References

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