Robert Wood
Dr. Robert Wood is a retired McDonnell Douglas aerospace engineer and Majestic 12 document researcher who, alongside his son Ryan S. Wood, has conducted extensive forensic analysis of alleged MJ-12 documents leaked between 1984-1999. Wood is primarily known for authenticating the Special Operations Manual (SOM 1-01) and other MJ-12 materials using professional document analysis techniques.
| Role | Document authenticator; MJ-12 researcher; retired McDonnell Douglas engineer |
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Authentication of SOM 1-01
When Don Berliner received the Special Operations Manual in 1994 as undeveloped 35mm Tri-X film, Wood and Berliner developed the film together in a darkroom, retrieving original images of pages photographed from an Echo binder. Wood enlisted a retired Government Printing Office supervisor to examine the manual physically. The GPO examiner identified the raised-Z letter artifact characteristic of hot lead press printing used by government facilities in the 1950s and verified period-correct fonts, indentation patterns, M-dash usage in "MJ-12 Long Dash clearance" formatting, and capitalization of "First Aid"—conventions that changed in later decades. The supervisor concluded the CIA probably printed it at a facility "in a cage down on 10th Street."
Authenticating features Wood identified include: the abbreviation "N.Mex" for New Mexico (correct 1954 postal abbreviation before zip codes changed it to "NM"), "craft tape" instead of "duct tape" for packaging materials, "screw driver" as two words (period-appropriate), use of "down satellites" pre-Sputnik for space debris, and the manual containing only one typographical error ("desicant" instead of "desiccant")—consistent with professional government document production.
Bowen Manuscript Authentication
Wood conducted forensic ink and paper analysis on the Bowen manuscript (Encyclopedia of Flying Saucers) after it was obtained via FOIA in 1999 with "Top Secret MAGIC" stamps and handwritten marginalia attributed to Vannevar Bush. The onion-skin paper and ink tested to approximately 1962, consistent with the claimed Bush annotations. The manuscript had been submitted to the Air Force for review in 1960 and held for 39 years before being returned.
Early McDonnell Douglas UFO Program
In approximately 1967, Wood convinced his management at Douglas Aircraft Company that investigating UFO propulsion was worthwhile, famously asking "are we going to figure out how the UFOs work before or after Lockheed does?" The company spent the equivalent of $4.5 million in internal R&D funds (adjusted dollars) working on gravity experiments and theory, interviewing abductees, and conducting field investigations. Wood's son Ryan S. Wood recalls as a young teenager going to the Mojave Desert where one of Wood's engineers used magnetometers and strip chart recorders to document anomalous events.
Wood hired Stanton Friedman to work for him examining the nuclear physics aspects of UFO propulsion during this period. The team did not have access to classified information but conducted independent theoretical and observational research until the merger creating McDonnell Douglas.
Collaboration with Forensic Illustrator
Wood collaborated with forensic illustrator Bill McDonald on designs of the extraterrestrial entities known as EBE Type 1 and EBE Type 2 as described within the Majestic 12 Special Operations Manual, as well as forensic reconstructions of the Roswell craft and the 1976 Tehran, Iran UFO incident.