Since the Roswell "crash" in July 1947 any number of theories as to what really happened or what may have crashed there have come to light. This new theory is interesting for a few reasons, which we'll come to later.
The new theory is... That the Russians did it. No I'm serious. The idea goes that in the USA in 1938 a radio drama called War of the Worlds by HG Wells was transmitted with the voice of Orson Welles. This radio play was written to sound like actually events unfolding, this caused widespread panic and fear across America until it came out it was just a play. Indeed Orson had to apoligise, armed men had taken to the streets hunting the Martian invaders.
Fast forwad to 1947 and the Russian plan is to crash a fake UFO in America and create panic, this during the cold war when pretty much anything was fair game.
The "UFO" was supposed to be a modified German Horten HO 229, originally designed in the 1943 the Horten which looks a lot like the modern stealth bomber, a flying wing design, and top secret. The Russians are thought to have captured it at the end of the war.
To make the crash more convincing "alien" bodies were placed inside, these it's claimed were genetically and or sugically modified children.
As theories go it's a cracker, it explains the initial flap and then the cover up when the USAAF finally figure out they've been had. Pranked by those pesky Russians. Sadly theres a few flaws.
The first flaw is that genitic modification was first thought of in 1936, then in a sc-fi novel called Proteus Island, it's unlikely to have been advanced enough to make convincing "aliens "by 1947, bearing in mind the children would have to go up to say 6 or 8 years old as well. That means you making the gene splicing aound 1940. Russia in 1940, no I dont think so, they didn't have rifles for all their soldiers even by the end of the war, never mind DNA tools.
Another flaww is the cold war itself only really started in march 1947, with the crash happening in July the same year the Russians would have had to work fast.
Then theres the crash location Roswell new mexico. An odd choice, Chicago or Dallas are a good bit nearer Russia and have way bigger populations to scare and spread the news. Ok Roswell did have the 509th bomb group (nuclear) based there but I cant see them being too worried about one crashed UFO.
Indeed the rancher who found the crash didn't rush into town to report it, he waited until he was going into town anyway. This is rough tough ranch and farming land, these people are not the type to panic easily.
Then theres the crash itself, how did they rig that?, assuming they flew there they'd have to make a convincing enough crash landing, leaving enough UFO and bodies intact for the Americans to find. Crashing a plane is easy, several people do it every day across the globe, having the plane still more or less in one piece is another matter, pizza box size burnt bits are not going to scare anyone much, thats often all thats left after many crashes.
Then we hit the biggie, the elephant in the room. Getting the plane there. Firstly the Germans only made a few Hortens, three is the official number, they didn't fare too well in the testing either, most crashed, and it's not know for sure if the Russians ever got one. Then there just getting it there, you'd have to fly across about two thirds of the US to reach Roswell dodging radar and air traffic control, basic as it was then.
The last problem and by far the biggest is the aircraft itself, it's about five thousand miles from Roswell to Russia give or take, the Horten had a range of six hundred and twenty miles, just a tad short then. Ok it was designed to carry over two thousand pouds of bombs so that could be used as fuel, but the aircraft was know to be fuel hungry and two thousand extra pounds wouldn't have made enough difference given the massive distance it needed to cover.
Could the Russians have pulled off the prank of the century?. Well they might have been able to get it there in short hops across the US. They might have been about to alter children enough to fool a quick look. Certainly I love the idea of them pulling it off, but the truth? Nahhh, not a hope in hell. It never happened, not with a Horten anyway.
