Person
Fred Claussen
Also known as Col. Fred Claussen, Claussen
- Colonel, U.S. Air Force (ret.); fighter pilot (F-105, F-4, F-15), twice awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross
Fred Claussen is a retired U.S. Air Force colonel and fighter pilot with more than 4,000 flying hours, who flew combat missions in Vietnam. He contacted James Fox anonymously after Fox's 2022 film and later went public, first with his own UFO intercept and then, at the January 2026 press conference, with an analysis of the alleged U.S. flight that took the Varginha beings out of Brazil.
His account of the flight rests on a Brazilian controller's report; he describes what records it would have left, not records he has seen.
Sources: National Press Club press conference (NewsNation, 20 January 2026) · Podcast UFO (February 2026)
Facts and claims
- claimed He said that, according to a Brazilian air traffic controller, on or about 20 January 1996 a U.S. Air Force cargo plane, most likely a C-17, flew into Brazilian airspace without clearance and landed at Viracopos airport in Campinas, where witnesses spoke of it loading an unusual cargo, and that if this is true “30 to 40 Americans” would have direct knowledge of the flight; he set out the orders and records such a mission would have generated. Source: Varginha press conference at the National Press Club: James Fox and the Brazilian witnesses (NewsNation live, 20 January 2026) at 2:09:16
- claimed He says that while flying the F-15 he intercepted a UFO and that his gun-camera film was immediately confiscated. Source: Varginha press conference at the National Press Club: James Fox and the Brazilian witnesses (NewsNation live, 20 January 2026) at 2:07:50
Connected files
Claims
Events
Incidents
- Varginha incident (investigated) — He traced the paper trail an alleged U.S. Air Force flight to Campinas in January 1996 would have left