Robert B. Willingham (Del Rio claimant).
disputedsource_actorCrash-Retrieval Cases
Sole primary source for the Del Rio crash; claimed retired-colonel pilot status contradicted by records showing an E-4 discharge in 1947.
Willingham is the originator and only direct witness of the Del Rio crash claim. He presented himself as a retired Air Force colonel and F-86 pilot, but the Air Force Records Center showed he entered the Army in 1945 and left as an enlisted E-4 in January 1947, with no verifiable pilot or officer service. He repeatedly shifted the crash date (1948, 1950, 1954-57) and acknowledged memory problems after a stroke, undermining the affidavit that gave the case credibility.