Minot AFB B-52 UFO Incident (24 Oct 1968).
documentedmilitary_installationUS Department of Energy (DOE)
On 24 Oct 1968, Minot AFB (a SAC dual-wing base in North Dakota) generated one of the best-documented USAF UFO cases - Project Blue Book case #12,548 (145 pages, 13 radarscope photos).…
On 24 Oct 1968, Minot AFB (a SAC dual-wing base in North Dakota) generated one of the best-documented USAF UFO cases - Project Blue Book case #12,548 (145 pages, 13 radarscope photos). Maintenance/security personnel in the Minuteman ICBM complex observed one-to-two UFOs through the early morning; a returning B-52H (call sign JAG-31) tracked a UFO on radar at 1-3 miles, both UHF radios failed to transmit during the close approach (the file logs '0400-0402 B-52 regains ability to transmit'), and 13 radarscope frames were recorded. Just after landing, the Oscar-7 launch facility's outer and inner alarms triggered and a padlocked hatch was found open. Blue Book chief Quintanilla attributed the events to anomalous radar propagation, a plasma ball, and celestial bodies, and called the break-in unrelated. The case was revived decades later by the Sign Oral History Project (minotb52ufo.com).