Lt. Col. Wendelle C. Stevens Best Known UFO Researcher Has Died
UFO research pioneer, Wendelle Stevens (87) passed away on September 7, 2010, at his home in Tucson, Arizona of respiratory failure.
Lt. Colonel (USAF Ret.) Wendelle C. Stevens was born in 1923 in Round Prairie, Minnesota and joined the US Army in 1941. He transferred to the Air Corps in1942 and became a pilot. He alternated his career between pilot and Air Technical Service assignments with the Air Technical Intelligence Center (ATIC) at Wright Field. ATIC is where the Blue Book Office for the study of UFOs was located.
In 1947, he was assigned to Alaska where data collecting equipment onboard B-29s were detecting UFOs. He became interested in the subject and started his collection of UFO photographs. Col. Stevens amassed one of the largest collections of UFO photographs in the world. He served as US Air Attach in South America and retired from the USAF in 1963.
He spent much of his adult life actively investigating UFO cases despite harassment by the government. In December 1997, he received an award for lifetime achievement at the First World UFO Forum in Brazilia, the capital of Brazil.
Wendelle Stevens was the Director of Investigations for the Aerial Phenomena Research Organization (APRO) in Tucson, Arizona. He investigated numerous contact cases, such as the Billy Meier case in Switzerland.
He published more than 22 books concerning UFOs, and was a founder and Director of the International UFO Congress. He recently transferred his extensive photo collection, and library to Open Minds Production.