Wright Field
Wright Field was a United States Army Air Forces installation near Dayton, Ohio, that served as a major center for aeronautical research, development, and testing from 1917 until its merger with Patterson Field in 1948 to form Wright-Patterson Air Force Base. During the late 1940s, Wright Field was the site of the Air Force Technical Intelligence Center (ATIC), which conducted analysis of foreign aircraft and advanced technologies.
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According to testimony from Robert Sarbacher and Eric Walker, Wright Field hosted classified meetings circa 1949–1950 at which US government scientists—including Vannevar Bush, John Von Neumann, and J. Robert Oppenheimer—discussed recovered UAP craft, materials, and occupants. These meetings are collectively referred to as the Wright Field Crash Retrieval Meeting.
Historical Background
Wright Field was established in 1917 as Wilbur Wright Field, named after aviation pioneer Wilbur Wright. By World War II, it had become a major hub for military aviation research and development, housing the Air Materiel Command and serving as the Army Air Forces' primary facility for testing and evaluating captured enemy aircraft and advanced technologies.
In 1948, Wright Field was combined with nearby Patterson Field to form Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, which remains one of the largest and most important installations in the US Air Force.
The 1949–1950 Crash Retrieval Meetings
Robert Sarbacher, a physicist who served as a consultant to the DoD's Research and Development Board, stated in his 1983 letter to researcher William Steinman and in his recorded conversation with Stanton Friedman that meetings concerning recovered UAP craft and materials took place at Wright Field around 1949–1950. Sarbacher did not personally attend but was invited to participate in discussions at the R&D Board about crash retrievals. He named Vannevar Bush, John Von Neumann, and J. Robert Oppenheimer as definitively involved.
In his conversation with Friedman, Sarbacher described a meeting at Wright Field about a crash that had occurred "out west," likely referring to the 1947 Roswell incident or other contemporaneous New Mexico recoveries. He mentioned an attendee from Philadelphia who "acted very smug" about his involvement—later identified as Eric Walker, who served as Executive Secretary of the Defense Research Board from 1950 to 1951.
Eric Walker independently confirmed to William Steinman in interviews conducted between 1987 and 1990 that he attended the Wright Field meeting described by Sarbacher, and that it concerned crash retrievals and body recovery efforts.
Connection to ATIC and Foreign Technology Division
Wright Field housed the Air Force Technical Intelligence Center (ATIC), the organization responsible for analyzing foreign aircraft and technologies. ATIC's role included assessing the capabilities of Soviet jet fighters, captured German aircraft, and other advanced systems. Given this mission, Wright Field was a logical location for classified briefings on recovered UAP technology, as the facility already possessed the infrastructure, security clearances, and technical expertise required to analyze novel aerospace systems.
ATIC later became the Foreign Technology Division, which continued to operate from Wright-Patterson Air Force Base and remained involved in UAP-related intelligence analysis through its oversight of official Air Force UFO investigation programs including Project Sign, Project Grudge, and Project Blue Book.
Wright Field vs. Wright-Patterson Air Force Base
It is important to distinguish between Wright Field (pre-1948) and Wright-Patterson Air Force Base (post-1948). The alleged crash retrieval meetings described by Sarbacher occurred around 1949–1950, placing them just after the merger. However, Sarbacher consistently referred to the location as "Wright Field," suggesting the meetings took place in facilities or organizational structures that retained the Wright Field identity even after the formal merger.
Wright-Patterson Air Force Base has remained central to UAP research and speculation, with numerous witnesses alleging that recovered craft, materials, and biologics have been stored in secure facilities on the base—most famously in the rumored "Blue Room" or Hangar 18.
Significance
Wright Field's role as the alleged site of the 1949–1950 crash retrieval meetings places it at the origin point of the US government's organized efforts to understand and reverse-engineer recovered non-human technology. The convergence of the nation's top scientists at Wright Field—individuals who had built the atomic bomb and shaped postwar defense policy—underscores the seriousness with which the US government treated the UAP question during the early Cold War.
The fact that multiple independent sources (Sarbacher, Walker, and Wilbert B. Smith's contemporaneous notes) reference Wright Field as a hub for UAP-related discussions lends substantial credibility to the claim, even in the absence of publicly released documentation.