AudioBlog: A 1968 UFO Incident at Minot AFB

At the suggestion of Mr. Martin Willis, this week we are looking at a report involving a UFO incident on October 24, 1968, at Minot AFB in North Dakota. It involved sightings reported by ground observers stationed at the surrounding Minuteman ICBM complex as well as the crew of a B-52. What gives this case extra significance is that there are available photos of the B-52 radarscope to back up the crew’s account. There is a Project Blue Book file on the case that contains the conclusion that what was seen was possibly a combination of “anomalous propagation” of radar returns, a plasma ball, and celestial bodies, but an exceptional investigation begun in 2000 by members of the recently formed Sign Historical Group indicates that the incident involved something genuinely mysterious.Read more →

Episode Transcript

(00:31):
In nineteen sixty eight UFO incident atMino Air Force Base by Charles Lear at
the suggestion of mister Martin Willis.This week we are looking at a report
involving a UFO incident on October twentyfourth, nineteen sixty eight, at Minot
Air Force Base in North Dakota.It involved sightings reported by ground observers stationed

(00:51):
at the surrounding Minuteman ICBN complex,as well as the crew of a B
fifty two. But gives this caseextra significance is that there are available photos
of the B fifty two radar scopeto back up the crew's account. There
is a Project Blue Book file onthe case that contains the conclusion that what
was seen was possibly a combination ofanomalous propagation of radar returns, a plasma

(01:17):
ball, and celestial bodies. Butan exceptional investigation begun in two thousand by
members of the recently formed sign HistoricalGroup indicates that the incident involved something genuinely
mysterious. The case came to theattention of s h G researchers when one
of the B fifty two crew members, Captain Bradford Running USAF, retired contacted

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the Center for UFO Studies in twothousand and filled out a QFOS UFO questionnaire.
The researchers, Thomas Tullyan, JanAldrich and James Clotts spent the next
several years collecting documentation and interviewing theB fifty two crew members, non crew
pilot Major James Parton, and AirForce personnel stationed at Minot. Made the

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results of their efforts available online aspart of the sign Oral History Project at
a site devoted to the case twentyfour October in nineteen sixty eight, Minor
Air Force Base, North Dakota.This case came at a time when Project
Blue Book had just come under scrutinyby the US Congress after scientific consultant jail

(02:20):
And Heinech had made the suggestion inMichigan that people had been seeing marsh gas.
The papers reported he said swamp gasduring a UFO flap around Dexter.
In March of nineteen sixty six,Gerald Ford, who was the state representative
then and the House Minority leader,moved the Armed Surfaces Committee to hold a
hearing on April fifth, nineteen sixtysix, there to answer questions for Secretary

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of the Air Force, Harold Brown, Project blue Book Director, Hector Kintinia,
and Heinech. The outcome was thatthe Air Force was moved to fund
a scientific study at the University ofColorado headed by doctor Edward U. Condon.
To aid the efforts of what becameknown as the Condon Committee, Air
Force Regulation eighty DASH seventy was putinto place which required prompt reporting and rapid

(03:07):
evaluation of data for successful identification.It is stated just after the description that
strict compliance with this regulation is mandatory. The Blue Book File, available on
the sign Oral History Project site,as a series of twelve memos between blue
Book, Strategic Air Command and personnelat Minot Air Force Base that tell a

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story of the evolution of the BlueBook investigation from the first contact with the
Minot Air Force Base UFO investigator LieutenantArthur J. Worlick. The first memo
is dated twenty four October nineteen sixtyeight and describes how Lieutenant Morano, who
wrote the memo, was told bya Foreign Technology Division duty officer that they

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had gotten a report of an importantUFO sighting at Mino. Morano wrote that
he told Kintonia about it and thencalled Warlick. According to him, Whirlick
hadn't expected a response that night,and described the duty officer as being more
excited about the incident than he was. Mirano wrote that Whirlick conceded that it

(04:11):
was an unusual sighting and asked ifthose at Bluebook could help him in any
way. Morano then included the detailsof the sightings as told to him by
Wharlick, starting with a brief summationof the encounter by the B fifty two
crew at O three hundred hours local. A B fifty two that was about
thirty nine miles northwest of Minor AirForce Base and was making practice penetrations sighted

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an unidentified blip on their radar.Initially, the target traveled approximately two and
a half miles and three seconds,or at about three thousand miles per hour.
After passing from the right to theleft of the plane, it assumed
a position on the left wing ofthe fifty two. The blip stayed off
the left wing for approximately twenty miles, at which point it broke off.

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Scote photographs were taken when the targetwas close to the B fifty two.
Neither of the two transmitters and theB fifty two would operate properly, but
when it broke off, both returnedto normal function. Warlick also described sightings
of a bright orange red object byat least fifteen people on the ground around
the time of the Bee fifty twoencounter. In addition, he said that

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a security alarm for both the innerand outer ring of one of the missile
sites had been activated, and thatthe outer door was found open and the
combination lock on the inner door hadbeen moved. According to Morano, Quintinia
told him that the Blue Book staffneeded more precise information before they could do
anything, and Warlick said he'd getit for them rather than go through all

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twelve memos individually, will sum themup in a narrative as best we can.
On October twenty eighth, Colonel Wyantfrom Strategic Air Command h Q called
to find out how Blue Book hadreceived the report and who was handling it.
He was told that they got thereport by phone and that Marana was
handling it. That same day,Colonel Wyant called back. The memorator got

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the name wrong and identified him asColonel Wyatt, and wanted to know if
Blue Book personnel ever participated in investigationsand was told by Morano that they seldom
went out into the field. Moranotold him they felt that Warlick was quite
competent and didn't require any assistance fromthem at that time. On October twenty

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ninth, Colonel Pulland from sac HQcalled and asked for, in Quintinia's words,
a brief rundown of the Minot sightings. Quintinia told him that the blip
on the radar could have been causedby the aircraft transmission receiver, that there
was an inversion, and that peoplecould have been seeing celestial bodies affected by
the inversion and scintillation. Pullan askedfor a preliminary report, and Quintinia told

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him he needed a more precise timelinefrom Warlick. Pullan asked if they had
sent anyone to mine not and Qintiniatold him no and explained that he only
had four people on his staff,including himself, a secretary, an assistant,
and an administrative sergeant. Pullin againasked for a preliminary report so that,

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in Quintinia's words, he could giveit to General Stewart and get this
thing simmered down. The memo describingthis exchange ends with this, he requested
that Colonel Quintonia hit a little heavyon what has happened to other aircraft on
occasions like this. This would helpplay the issue down. Morano phoned Mine
not and spoke with Sergeant Hoy asWarlick was flying. He requested that Warlick

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send the navigator with someone to interviewall the observers in order to obtain precise
details covering all the circumstances around thesightings, and said that Warlick should send
those by teletype. He specifically statedthat the following was to be sent to
them by mail, a map ofthe area, a map of the flight
path of the B fifty two fromtwo five eight hours until it landed af

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DASH one seventeen forms citing reports fromall the observers and copies of the radarscope
photos. Whirlick called and talked toMorano and told him he didn't see how
the navigator could help, but saidhe himself had people fill out the forms
while he monitored them and showed themwhat various angles sixty degrees, ninety degrees,
et cetera looked like. In thecourse of their conversation, Whirlick told

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them that there were farm fields wherethe light was seen by observers at the
November seventh sight, and that itcould not have been produced by anything on
the ground there. He said thatother ground observers saw both the Bee fifty
two and the light when it wasover the same area. He said that
Morano would find that the most informationcomes from airman O'Connor and Eisley and an

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aircraft instructor. Morano asked if itwas going with the wind, explaining that
they'd had trouble with hot air balloons, and Whirlick said the geography of the
area made this impossible. Whirlick alsosaid that he wanted to check Oscar seven
the side of the break in witha Geiger counter. He said that they'd
had three other break ins over threeyears by former personnel with keys, but

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that there were no tire tracks,footprints, et cetera found at Oscar seven.
The next day, Mirano told Warlick, sac was giving us trouble because
they wanted to know what we weredoing. Worlick said that they had asked
earlier for technical assistance and did whatthey could when they didn't get it.
Wirlick said he was sending the materialrequested and described that the blip on the

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B fifty two radar was a fairlygood sized blip and emphasized how unusual the
failure of the radio transmitters was.He said it was his opinion that it
couldn't have been a malfunction because theytransmitted before and afterwards, giving an indication
of what the conclusion in the blueBook report would be. Mirano explained that

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there were many astronomical bodies in thearea that could have been magnified by the
inversion, and Warlick said there wasa raggedy ann cloud cover and that some
observers could see stars and some couldn't. The conversation ended with Wherlick saying he
had done all he could to complywith the regulation and that he was at
the limit of my capabilities. Hesaid this was his first report and that

(10:13):
he didn't know how to ask questions, et cetera, and he had spent
too much time on it already.The last two memos describe failed attempts to
contact Whorlick after several calls. Othermemos reflect Sach's interest in the case,
and there is a request that theyreceive a report as quickly as possible.
The conclusions already mentioned put the caseto rest for over thirty years, but

(10:37):
the investigation by the Sign History Groupmembers revealed some very strange aspects of the
case not mentioned in the blue Bookreport next week the Sign History Group Investigation.
Charles Lear is the author of TheFlying Saucer Investigators, available at Amazon
dot com. SA