The mysterious flying object that crashed in New Mexico, USA, 64 years ago may have been a Soviet spy plane, not an alien flying saucer.

Annie Jacobson, investigative reporter for Los Angles Times magazine, has just published a book about many US military secrets, including the UFO incident in 1947 that caused a stir in world public opinion.

Jacobson’s book is called AREA 51: An Uncensored History of America’s Top Secret Military Base (roughly translated as Area 51: The uncensored history of America’s top secret military base).

Area 51 is the name of a military base in the southern state of Nevada, USA and about 130 km from the city of Las Vegas. The center of the base is a large military airport. The US military built this base to test new aircraft and weapons.

To write the book, Jacobson interviewed dozens of people who worked in “area 51”, including many pilots, scientists and engineers. Among their stories, Jacobson found a lot of notable information about the UFO incident that crashed near Roswell, New Mexico 64 years ago.

The book asserts that the strange object was in fact just a Soviet-made spy plane. The pilots flying the plane were only in their teens. Jacobson did not give a reason for the plane crash.

In July 1947, an unidentified object (UFO) crashed near the city of Roswell, New Mexico, USA. Photos taken after the crash showed that it was a disc-shaped object. The US government explained that the falling object was a weather balloon. However, because US officials did not release complete information, the world’s media and public opinion speculated that a flying saucer carrying aliens crashed near Roswell.

A memorandum released by the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) suggested that the “flying saucer incident at Roswell in 1947” could be true. The memo was written by Guy Hottel, in charge of the FBI’s Washington office, in 1950. It was then forwarded to the FBI director.

In addition to the “flying saucer crash” near Roswell, Jacobson’s book also helps readers better understand many secret programs of the US military in the last century – such as building unmanned U-2 spy planes, F-117 stealth bomber, training cats and pigeons to be spies.