The Minot Air Force Base UFO Encounter in 1968

The Minot Air Force Base UFO Encounter in 1968

There is a super detailed and well researched web page detailing the Minot Air Force Base UFO encounter in 1968.  The site is put together by Thomas Tulien and is really worth checking out, it’s excellent.

The following is the sites introduction to the encounter:

In the early morning hours of 24 Oct. 1968, United States Air Force (USAF) maintenance and security personnel stationed within the Minuteman, Intercontinental Ballistic Missile (ICBM) complex surrounding Minot AFB, North Dakota, observed one—and at times—two UFOs. The Minot Base Operations dispatcher initiated radio communications with personnel reporting in the field, Minot, Radar Approach Control (RAPCON), and the crew of a returning B-52H aircraft.

RAPCON alerted the pilots to the location of a UFO, which the B-52 navigator observed on the radarscope maintaining a three-mile distance throughout a standard 180° turnaround. As the B-52 started its descent back to Minot AFB, the UFO appeared to close distance to one mile at a high-rate of speed, pacing the aircraft for nearly 20 miles before disappearing off the radarscope. Both B-52 UHF radios would not transmit during the close radar encounter with the UFO and radarscope film was recorded.

Shortly afterwards, RAPCON provided vectors for the B-52 to overfly a stationary UFO on or near the ground. After turning onto the downwind leg of the traffic pattern, the pilots observed a large, illuminated UFO ahead of the aircraft for several minutes, before turning onto the base leg over the UFO while observing it at close range. After the B-52 landed, both outer and inner-zone intrusions alarms were activated at the remote missile Launch Facility Oscar-7. The duration of reported observations was over three hours.

USAF Strategic Air Command, Offutt AFB, Nebraska, initiated inquiries. In the weeks following, staff at USAF Project Blue Book, Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio, completed a final case report mandated by Air Force Regulation 80-17.

The site has sections including background, details of the events, information on the investigation, a section on the investigation and even B-52 radarscope photos.  The following is a site summary provided on the page.

In order that the reader can appreciate the historical context and circumstances surrounding the UFO events, the BACKGROUND section includes historical summaries of the Strategic Air Command; Minot Air Force Base; and two operational wings at Minot, the 5^th Bombardment Wing, and 91^st Strategic Missile Wing. In addition, the concise, History of the United States Air Force UFO Programs, provides a general understanding of the evolution of the USAF UFO program from 1947-1969, including official attitudes regarding the phenomenon.

The NARRATIVE section recounts the story of the 24 October 1968 Minot AFB UFO case based on the primary source materials, while the INVESTIGATION section examines the process by which the Air Force and Project Blue Book investigated the case over nearly a three-week period resulting in Blue Book’s final case report. Finally, the RADAR ANALYSES section presents the contributions of Martin Shough and Dr. Claude Poher.

All of the primary documents are included in the DOCUMENTATION section, while the INTERVIEW section contains complete transcripts of many of the pertinent oral history interviews. For supplemental information, the MAPS section contains historical maps accumulated during the process of research, including a series created to illustrate the text, and the ARCHIVES section contains many relevant historical records of the Air Force, including unit histories and official publications for the period. In addition, all of the chronological sections and individual documents comprising the site can be directly accessed from the SITEMAP at the top right corner of the main page.

Other UFO encounters near US military bases

1. Rendlesham Forest Incident – December 1980 Location: RAF Woodbridge and RAF Bentwaters in Suffolk, England (US Air Force bases at the time) Details: Several US military personnel reported witnessing strange lights and a triangular-shaped object in Rendlesham Forest, near the bases.
2. Nellis Air Force Base UFO Incident – January 1951 Location: Nellis Air Force Base, Nevada, USA Details: A series of UFO sightings were reported near the base over several days.
3. Minot Air Force Base UFO Incident – October 1968 Location: Minot Air Force Base, North Dakota, USA Details: A crew of security policemen reported seeing a bright, glowing, disc-shaped object near the base’s missile sites.
4. Fort Belvoir UFO Incident – March 1957 Location: Fort Belvoir, Virginia, USA Details: Witnesses reported a UFO flying near the base and described it as a “huge star-like object.”
5. Ellsworth Air Force Base UFO Incident – November 1977 Location: Ellsworth Air Force Base, South Dakota, USA Details: Multiple witnesses reported seeing a large, football field-sized object with red, green, and white lights near the base.