Cover-Up: 100 helicopters- Robert Grey airfield, came in, for effect

Charges of a Cover Up

CH-47s, suspects in cover-up

The accused:  Col. George Sarran, ret.

On the UFO Hunters episode "Alien Fallout", Bill Birnes questioned Colonel George Sarran about the following entry in his notes for the DAIG investigation of helicopters:

  

“- 100 helicopters- Robert Grey airfield, came in, for effect”

Colonel Sarran was unable to explain the entry. The implication was that he'd uncovered a massive helicopter operation and then buried the evidence. A bit of digging reveals the probable source for the helicopter notation. 

According to October 1982 issue of the MUFON Journal article written by John Schuessler:

"On 19 March 1982 I was called by Lt. Col. George Sarran from the Department of the Army Inspector General office in the Pentagon. Col. Sarran explained that his office had received the inquiry from the Air Force Liaison Office because the Air Force had concluded their units were not involved. He explained that his interest was in the possibility that Army helicopters were involved. He would be investigating that allegation. He stressed that the U.S. Army had no opinion about the unidentified object or UFOs in general."

Sarran DAIG investigation notes released via FOIA.

Lt. Colonel George Sarran made these notes, in March or April 1982, probably during a phone conversation with UFO investigator John F. Schuessler in preparation for their first meeting in May. The "100 helicopters" notation seems to be just a recording of Schuessler’s comments. Compare them to earlier published statements by John Schuessler:

"One significant helicopter operation took place at Gray Air Force Base near Killeen, Texas, where more than 100 helicopters came in from the field “for effect.” 

-The Spectrum of UFO Research: The Proceedings of the Second CUFOS Conference (Sept. 25-27 1981, book published 1988, Published first in UFO Report Winter 1981 Vol. 9, No. 4: Texas UFO Trauma by John Schuessler)

"The unit operating out of Ellington AFB in Houston had landed before the sighting time. Robert Gray Field had 100 helicopters come in from the field at one time "for effect," but claimed to have avoided the Houston area. Hence, no one claims the helicopters that filled the Huffman area sky that winter night."

Cash-Landrum Radiation Case" by John F. Schuessler -MUFON UFO Journal November 1981 pg. 6

Army Chinooks

They might have? 

"At the Robert Gray Field near Fort Hood a spokesman said they might have 100 helicopters from the field home at one time "for effect", but he claimed they avoided the Houston area."

"Blind Terror in Texas" by John F. Schuessler, The Unexplained (UK magazine) 9(107) 2121-25, (1982)

On a site hosting a video of the UFO Hunters episode, one of Col. Sarran's co-workers spoke on his behalf, describing his interview techniques. "exitpleasantrealty" writes:

"The characterization that Mr. (Former Colonel) Sarran was lying is quite incorrect - - you have to know Mr. Sarran as I do and have for six (6) years - - he literally (even after retirement and becoming a businessman) writes down notes copiously. As soon as we saw this episode we knew someone had mentioned "100 helicopters" and he had merely wrote it down...........if they had shown all the notes instead of just that line you would have probably seen more info - - this man doesn't lie."

The Smoking Gun 

Accuser: John F. Schuessler

In a telephone interview during the DAIG investigation, Sarran made notes of his conversation with John F. Schuessler. Schuessler mentioned the "might have 100 helicopters " story, which Sarran jotted down. When those notes were released along with Sarran's DAIG report in a FOIA release, Schuessler pointed to the note as the "smoking gun" of a U.S. Government cover-up.

It made for a "gotcha" moment on the UFO Hunters show, but in this case, the charges are false.

(Note: This is a revised and updated version of an earlier post.)
C. 2013, Curtis L. Colllins

Exonerating the Helicopter Pilot

Cover-Up or Mix-Up?

You've probably heard this story if you are familiar with the Cash-Landrum case:
April 30, 1981, a CH-47 helicopter landed in Dayton, Texas, as part of The Future Farmers of America livestock show. Vickie Landrum attended, met the pilot and she asked him if they ever encountered UFOs. He told her that he'd been called out by the Montgomery County Sheriff's department to investigate a UFO. when she told him that she was one of the witnesses and was injured in the encounter, he clammed up and tried to rush her out of there.

Colby Landrum and the CH-47 in Dayton, Texas.

Later John Schuessler contacted the pilot by phone. According to reports, the pilot first admitted it, but subsequently denied it.

What Happened Before is Important

Before any of this happened, in April 1981, there was an investigation into the source of the helicopters in the incident. Allan Hendry worked with Professor J. Allen Hynek at the Center for UFO Studies (CUFOS). Hendry was contracted by the Fund for UFO Research (FUFOR) to investigate the helicopters in the Cash-Landrum encounter, but Hendry's report was far more inclusive (but much more on that later).

John Schuessler received a copy of this report and he either ignored or missed the connection detailed below.

From Hendry's FUFOR report.

Hendry wrote that during in his investigation on April 2 and 3, 1981, he contacted a Mr. Nidever from Ellington Air Force Base and was told that they while they were the only base in the area with matching helicopters, they were not in flight at the time of the incident. He did however, have an interesting story, Nidever said:

"We had a UFO sighting down here earlier about two years ago. We were called out on this by the sheriff's department of Montgomery county. they had spotted one about two or three times. They had a helicopter out there, we were supposed to go out when they saw it and go chase it down because Mr. Culverson (with the Army Guard) was involved in that."

Mr. "Culverson" is one letter away from the name of the accused pilot.

Hendry's report was distributed sometime in the spring of 1981, but Schuessler did not act on the information. Instead of investigating a possible connection between the two sightings, he missed it only to treat the pilot as a hostile witness. He gave his name to the officer during the DAIG investigation and later published the pilot's name in UFO literature, citing him as a participant in a UFO cover-up.

The UFO incident the pilot was connected with seems to match this case:

July 21, 1977; Porter, TX 4:15 AM. Officer John W. Bruner, a deputy sheriff, was on duty and was the first person to observe the phenomenon. Officer Bruner and his partner Officer Coogler were parked west of the object which appeared to be approximately 1/2 to 1 mile away. Bruner and Coogler got out of their vehicle and tried to observe the object better by shinning their light on it. The object moved toward the men and the officers turned off the light because they became nervous at seeing the object's response to their light. The object then moved back to its first location. The two officers concurred that the object appeared to have six portholes surrounding a type of framework. The two officers observed the UFO for approximately 45 minutes. During that time period, the UFO appeared to stand still in mid air, pulsated, traveled at incredible speeds and flew with erratic mobility. The officers described the UFO's apparent size to be about that of a grapefruit. Officer Bruner is convinced That the object he saw was not a balloon or a helicopter.

(from NICAP: The 1977 UFO Chronology
A similar incident on July 29, 1977 is the one where the National Guard was summoned to investigate by helicopter. Full report at: NICAP Investigator October 1977 (see page 4)

Based on the evidence, it seems that the pilot mentioned the UFO case. Vickie, in her excitement, made an overzealous mistaken connection. Emotion and the inattention of the investigator carried the story from there.

The pilot's denial was the foundation of the charges of US government and a cover-up. It was a false accusation. 

Update- further information found:

Billy Cox located the pilot, and interviewed him for an article appearing on the case in the December 5, 1983 Florida Today newspaper:

"(The pilot) conceded he told them he'd flown a UFO mission out of Ellington, and he even repeated the part about being called out by the Montgomery County Sheriff's Department. But what he really told them, (the pilot) says, was that he and another chopper investigated a UFO sighting near Sam Houston State Park - in the Dayton vicinity- in 'June or July' of 1977. Not 1980. And they came up empty handed." 

The pilot is quoted, “I guess those ladies just got what I told them mixed up.”

The Cash-Landrum Video Documentary Collection

The Cash-Landrum case has been covered several times on television over the years, and below is a collection of what is available online. Several key video documents of the Cash-Landrum UFO case are not available, chiefly:

• "Good Morning America" (ABC TV) 1981 Featured Vickie Landrum and was the first televised national coverage of the case.

• “That's Incredible!'" ABC-TV/Alan Landsburg Productions, broadcast November, 16, 1981. Features Vickie Landrum hypnotized, also appearing: Colby Landrum, Betty Cash, Dr. Leo Sprinkle and John Schuessler. This episode also featured a recreation of the event which the witnesses felt was accurate.

If you know where to locate these or others, please contact me.

Cash-Landrum Case Video Coverage

"The UFO Experience" September 1982, an hour-long documentary created by San Francisco TV station KPIX, directed by Ron Lakis. Features interviews with Colby Landrum, Betty Cash, Vickie Landrum, Dr. V. B. Shenoy, John Schuessler and Major Dennis Haire of Ellington AFB. Also, of note is an on-scene recreation of the incident by the witnesses, with a small commercial helicopter playing the role of the UFO.

Segment begins at 13:50.

The UFO Experience

HBO documentary America Undercover episode: “UFOs: What's Going On?” August 1985

Robert Guenette, 1985, 56 minutes, HBO Cable TV/Robert Guenette Production, produced and directed by Fred Rosen.

Betty Cash and Vickie Landrum were interviewed, Colby shown, and it included comments on the case by Phil Klass and Stanton Friedman. Video of BC demonstrating how VL's handprints were left in the dashboard. The Cash-Landrum segment begins at 35:30.

UFOs: What's Going On?

UFO Cover Up? Live 10/14/1988

Notorious for its wild claims, this program had another credibility problem. The producer required guests to "perform" a pre-written script. The claims made by "Falcon" of the UFO's origin were outrageous, but Betty seemed to like the idea of the US Government's involvement.
Segment with Betty Cash and Vickie Landrum:

 

UFO Cover Up? Live

Unsolved Mysteries February 6, 1991
Interviews with Betty Cash, Vickie Landrum, John Schuessler, Dr. Bryan McClelland and L.L. Walker. This show was broadcast in prime time and reached millions of people. It lives on in reruns even today, and is the best-known media coverage of the case. 

Sadly, there are many inaccuracies in it, and the depiction of the UFO bears little resemblance to what the witnesses initially described.
See partial transcript with photos at http://unsolved.com/archives/texas-ufo

Sightings (Fox television series) season one, episode 11 from July 31, 1992
Interviews with Vickie Landrum and John Schuessler. There are some sensational claims by Vickie Landrum, claims that disagree with the documented facts of the case.

Sightings

Encounters: The UFO Conspiracy, Feb. 22, 1994 on Fox, pilot episode of the 90s TV series. Hosts: John Marshall, Sandra Pinckney, Russell Rhodes, Natalie Brunt. Featuring: Stanton Friedman, George Knapp, Jim Dilettoso, Bob Oechsler, Bruce Maccabee, Larry Fawcett, Don Berliner, Betty Cash, Steven Schiff, Chuck DeCaro. The Betty Cash segment begins at 6:26 and runs about four minutes.

The Unexplained episode "Close Encounters" from July 9, 1998.

Produced by Towers Production, Inc. for A&E Network ; writer/producer Kevin Barry. 
Betty Cash, Vickie Landrum, John Schuessler, Dr. Bryan McClelland, attorney William Shead, and Ken Storch are interviewed.

The Unexplained: "Close Encounters"

Mysterious Worlds episode, "UFO Secrets" aired in the USA in 2002, it was produced for TLC, originally shown on The Learning Channel, written and directed by Kevin Barry. It featured the last known filmed interview with Vickie Landrum and included archival footage of Betty Cash (from Encounters: The UFO Conspiracy, Feb. 22, 1994). It also featured re-enactments of the story and new interviews with John Schuessler, and Dr. Bryan McClelland. (This French language version aired on France's Planete Choc.)

Mysterious Worlds: UFO Secrets

Link to English version below. Segment starts at about 12 minutes.
Watch Mysterious Worlds Online - S01:E05 - UFO Secrets | Tubi TV

UFO Hunters "Alien Fallout" episode aired January 14, 2009.
Kevin Barry writer/producer. Colby Landrum, Mickey Geisinger (Betty Cash’s daughter), Dr. Bryan McClelland and Colonel George Sarran were interviewed. This show focused on the US Government conspiracy theory and the legend of the road burned by the UFO. 

UFO Hunters: Alien Fallout

These videos sometimes vanish either due to copyright claims or users closing their accounts. I'll periodically refresh the links as available.

More C-L Documentaries

This YouTube playlist features some of the videos above, plus several others since discovered:

Cash-Landrum UFO Documentaries

. . .

There were many stories on the C-L case, especially local news stories from Texas, from Houston CBS affiliate KHOU. If anyone has more information on locating other programs, please post a comment or send an email.

100 helicopters- Robert Grey airfield, came in, for effect

George Sarran

On the UFO Hunters episode "Alien Fallout", Bill Birnes questioned Colonel George Sarran about the following entry in his notes:

  

“- 100 helicopters- Robert Grey airfield, came in, for effect”

Colonel Sarran was unable to explain the entry. The implication was that he'd uncovered a massive helicopter operation and then buried the evidence. A bit of digging reveals the probable source for the helicopter notation. 

According to October 1982 issue of the MUFON Journal article written by John Schuessler:

On 19 March 1982 I was called by Lt. Col. George Sarran from the Department of the Army Inspector General office in the Pentagon. Col. Sarran explained that his office had received the inquiry from the Air Force Liaison Office because the Air Force had concluded their units were not involved. He explained that his interest was in the possibility that Army helicopters were involved. He would be investigating that allegation. He stressed that the U.S. Army had no opinion about the unidentified object or UFOs in general.

Lt. Colonel George Sarran made these notes, in March or April 1982, probably during a phone conversation with UFO investigator John F. Schuessler in preparation for their first meeting in May. The "100 helicopters" notation seems to be just a recording of Schuessler’s comments. Compare them to earlier published statements by John Schuessler:

One significant helicopter operation took place at Gray Air Force Base near Killeen, Texas, where more than 100 helicopters came in from the field “for effect.” 

-The Spectrum of UFO Research: The Proceedings of the Second CUFOS Conference (Sept. 25-27 1981, book published 1988
(Published first in UFO Report Winter 1981 Vol. 9, No. 4: Texas UFO Trauma by John Schuessler)

 The unit operating out of Ellington AFB in Houston had landed before the sighting time. Robert Gray Field had 100 helicopters come in from the field at one time "for effect," but claimed to have avoided the Houston area. Hence, no one claims the helicopters that filled the Huffman area sky that winter night.

"Cash-Landrum Radiation Case" by John F. Schuessler -MUFON UFO Journal November 1981 pg. 6: 

 Update: Another clarifying entry found:

At the Robert Gray Field near Fort Hood a spokesman said they might have 100 helicopters from the field home at one time "for effect", but he claimed they avoided the Houston area.
"Blind Terror in Texas" by John F. Schuessler, The Unexplained (UK magazine) 9(107) 2121-25, (1982)

Update: On a site hosting a video of the UFO Hunters episode, one of Col. Sarran's co-workers spoke on his behalf:

Author exitpleasantrealty    The characterization that Mr. (Former Colonel) Sarran was lying is quite incorrect - - you have to know Mr. Sarran as I do and have for six (6) years - - he literally (even after retirement and becoming a businessman) writes down notes copiously. As soon as we saw this episode we knew someone had mentioned "100 helicopters" and he had merely wrote it down...........if they had shown all the notes instead of just that line you would have probably seen more info - - this man doesn't lie. 

It made for a "gotcha" moment on the UFO Hunters show, but in this case, the charges are false.