UFO Activity at Nuclear Weapons Sites to be Revealed at the National Press Club: Your Assistance is

The problem I have is that they will have these press conferences, no one will pay attention to them or take them seriously no matter what kind of evidence they present.

Good Day Dereks,

Originally posted by dereks

Originally posted by Frank Warren
Good Day Argyll,

Originally posted by Argyll
Sorry........I stopped reading when they requested expenses of $15,000.

Why?

Obviously if they were serious about getting their message out why do they need $15000

My apologies for such a late retort, have been swamped on this end; let me point out that Hastings and Salas aren't politicians and aren't hocking some ideology, they are going to present evidence, the majority which we be eyewitnesses to UFO events at nuclear weapons facilities.

Putting the event together and acquiring the funds to make it happen "is an example of how serious they are."

Cheers,
Frank

Good Day Argyll,

Apologies for the slow reply.

Originally posted by Argyll

Originally posted by Frank Warren
Good Day Argyll,

Originally posted by Argyll
Sorry........I stopped reading when they requested expenses of $15,000.

Why?

Cheers,
Frank

Hi Frank

Because if someone had genuine, earth shattering information like this, then they wouldn't need to raise money to get it "out there".

Your kidding right?!

If you are aware of some way to book space at the National Press Club and all that entails, as well as providing the means to get all the witnesses there, housing them, feeding them and perhaps offering an honorarium without recompense--please share!

If Hastings and Salas have concrete evidence or proof of their claims, why don't they simply present it to, say, MIT, or some other respected body? why do they need to prepare $150 press packs?

Again I say--are you kidding?! If all that was ever needed to solve the UFO enigma was to present evidence to a University, then the conundrum we know as Ufology would have been resolved over 60 years ago.

If anyone has a sensational story to tell in any other field, say a criminal act, a political scandal etc. then they present it to the world through any number of freely available channels, why because it concerns UFO's does it have to cost $15,000??

First, if Robert & Bob can pull this off for 15k then that will be a phenomenon unto itself and James Fox and Leslie Kean will certainly want to know how it was done.

I might point out that what you "think" is free, because there was no out of cost expense to you--isn't!! All the "cute commercials" you may have watched during the Super Bowl may not have cost you a dime, (that is if you are still on "rabbit ears); however, it cost the respective advertisers MILLIONS!

Additionally, EVERY news organization for EVERY cable and or broadcast stations are "FOR PROFIT" enterprises, and what you think you see for free (or for the very least a cable and or satellite bill) again cost tens of thousands of dollars for the respective sponsors.

In fact, although you and I can enjoy this colloquy here at ATS, "they pay" for us to have the privilege--and they are a "for profit enterprise."

And why the hell should they be claiming donation money for meals?.....everyone has to pay for food whether they be at home or away!

Most people when asked to speak at an event are (at the very least) are usually paid an honorarium; getting former military men to divulge what they've witnessed in regards to UFOs near and or over nuclear weapons facilities is a feat all by itself; getting them to come and participate and telling them, "Oh and by the way you have to 'pay for your participation,'" would be a far superior feat!

Sorry but it all smacks of a junket to me.

edit to add: I see Mr Hastings also has a book for sale on this subject, priced at $23.95 + $4.95 p&p.........hmmm

[edit on 25/2/2010 by Argyll]

Argyll, I don't mean to be rude; however, your ignorance in these matters is evident, and by your innuendo re Hastings' book, if you think Hastings and or Salas is in this "for profit" then employing the word ignorant is being kind.

Respectfully,
Frank Warren

Originally posted by Frank Warren
Argyll, I don't mean to be rude; however, your ignorance in these matters is evident, and by your innuendo re Hastings' book, if you think Hastings and or Salas is in this "for profit" then employing the word ignorant is being kind.

If you think that they are not in if for profit then the word ignorant fits exactly. Of course they are in it for profit

From my book UFOs and Nukes:



The Other Roswell Incidents

So far as is known, based on eyewitness testimony, it appears that the first confirmed UFO sightings at nuclear missile sites occurred near Walker Air Force Base, New Mexico, over a several-month period in 1963 and 1964.

Years earlier, in 1947, when it was named Roswell Army Air Field, the base had briefly received international attention after its commander publicly announced that a crashed “flying disc” had been recovered nearby. Later, from 1962 to 1965, Walker AFB was home to the 579th Strategic Missile Squadron, which ultimately controlled 12 first-generation Atlas ICBMs. To maximize their survival in the event of a Soviet attack, the Air Force isolated the missile sites from one another, installing them miles apart in the barren desert terrain surrounding Roswell.

In June 2001, Florida Today newspaper columnist Billy Cox wrote an article titled, “UFOs Haunt Missile Crew”, in which he reported on mysterious sightings that had occurred at some of Walker AFB’s Atlas ICBM sites.2 Cox had interviewed three former Air Force missile personnel stationed at the base, who revealed startling details about the eerie incidents.

Jerry C. Nelson, had been a Deputy Missile Combat Crew Commander at an Atlas silo designated Site 9, located west of Roswell. He told Cox that on several occasions unidentified aerial craft had silently maneuvered above the site. “The guards were scared,” said Nelson, “These objects would hover over the silo and shine lights down on them without making any noise. So I’d call the base and the base would say, ‘We’ll take it under advisement,’ but I never got a chance to see [the UFOs], because I couldn’t leave my post.” 3

After reading Cox’s article, I called each of the individuals interviewed by him, in an effort to learn more about the incidents. Jerry Nelson confirmed the accuracy of Cox’s story and said that, at recent reunions of the 579th Strategic Missile Squadron, he had heard strikingly similar accounts of sightings near silos from other former missile launch personnel. When I asked him if he recalled how many incidents he had personally been involved in at Site 9, he replied, “probably more than three but fewer than ten” over a period of a month or so. He also remembered that the sightings had occurred “at least six months, maybe more like a year” after the Cuban Missile Crisis of October 1962, when the squadron had been placed on high-alert. He recalled that the weather had been cold and, therefore, estimated that the sightings occurred either late in the winter of 1962/63 or, more probably, during the winter of 1963/64.

Nelson emphasized that because he was a deputy missile commander, he could not leave his post in the underground launch capsule to go up and look at the UFOs. Regardless, during each incident, he had been impressed by the security guards’ obvious fear as they reported a strange, silent object hovering above the silo. “I could tell they weren’t pulling anybody’s leg,” he said, “Their voices were actually trembling.” He added, “I do remember that several different guards were involved [on different occasions] and all reacted in a similar manner.” 4

...Another former member of the 579th Strategic Missile Squadron, Airman 1st Class Tom Kaminski, reports watching an intriguing UFO display while living on base. Kaminski had been an Atlas missile facilities technician.

“At least half of my barracks saw this,” he said, “It was at night and there were two or three lights—possibly four or five—that were moving around in the sky. They looked like stars but, from time to time, they did 90-degree turns. Not all at once though—they moved independently. They obviously knew that they wouldn’t run into each other. I don’t understand why we didn’t hear any sonic booms. That bothers me. They stayed in the same general area [of the sky]. After about 15 minutes, zoom, they were gone.”

Then he added, “Actually, [sightings of UFOs] were fairly common on base. I think that a lot of guys saw them. It wasn’t something that you discussed.”

But the incident at the barracks was not Kaminski’s only UFO sighting. He recalled, “Once I was at one of the Atlas sites northeast of the base, sometime in 1964, possibly 1965. We were down in the launch capsule when we got a call from the security guard, who said that he saw some unusual lights moving in the sky. The missile commander, Captain Dondero, took the call and told me to go topside to see what I could see. I asked the guard to point out the lights. They were west-southwest of us, and looked like stars. At first, they didn’t seem unusual but, a little while later, two of the ‘stars’ begin to move in unison. They shifted directions several times, but they stayed in that general area in the sky.”

When Kaminski called Captain Dondero to report his observations, the missile commander had news. “He said he had notified the base [about the lights], and was told that they had them on radar, and were sending up two fighters to investigate. So, I stayed topside and, about five minutes later, I could see two other lights coming from the direction of the base and moving toward the first two lights. I assumed they were the fighters. As they approached the unidentified lights, [the UFOs] began to move north, again in unison. The two fighters closed on, but could not catch, the lights.” Kaminski said that shortly thereafter, the UFOs flew into some Cumulus clouds, followed the jets. A few seconds later, the jets emerged from the cloud bank but the UFOs were no longer visible. “That was that,” he said, “and the jets went back to base.”

The next morning, upon returning to Walker AFB, Kaminski and the other members of his missile team were routinely debriefed. “During that briefing,” he recalled, “my captain asked, ‘Whatever happened to the two UFOs?’ The response was, ‘What UFOs?’ My captain said, ‘The ones you sent the fighters up after!’ They said, ‘We didn’t sent up any fighters.’” Said Kaminski, “We knew that was the end of that conversation!”

Another person quoted in Billy Cox’s Florida Today article was Gene Lamb, who had been a deputy crew commander at several of the 579th Strategic Missile Squadron’s Atlas sites. I conducted a telephone interview with Lamb in December 2002, in which he acknowledged the UFO sightings at ICBM silos outside Walker AFB, and estimated that they had occurred sometime during the period 1962 through 1964.

Lamb said that while he had not personally witnessed any of the incidents, he had spoken with one missile crew commander who had. This individual stated, decades later, that he had briefly left his launch capsule to go topside to observe strange aerial lights that were being frantically reported by the site’s guards. According to Lamb, the officer said that the lights “gave him the creeps. They were fast and they were moving in different directions.” He told Lamb that he was familiar with all types of aircraft but had never seen anything like the extraordinary display in the sky above the Atlas silo. “These were not just lights,” the commander emphasized, “This was something else.”

“People talked about [the sightings] at Happy Hour, after work, or after we got off-site,” said Lamb, “but it was kept pretty quiet as far as official statements went. To my knowledge, we were never briefed about it as a unit.”

Lamb said that after he was contacted about the UFO incidents by reporter Billy Cox in 2001, he had mentioned the subject to a few of his former unit’s missile crew members. The response that he got surprised him. Said Lamb, “Some people were still reluctant to talk about it.”

Perhaps some, but not all. In March 2005, retired USAF Lt. Col. Philip E. Moore agreed to tell me about his own UFO experience at Walker AFB. At the time of the incident, Moore had been a Deputy Missile Combat Crew Commander (DMCCC), and was on duty in one of the 579th Strategic Missile Squadron’s underground launch capsules.

Moore told me, “It was late at night. My crew was on alert at 579 Site 7 in late 1964, when my crew commander, Major Dan Gilbert, and I got a call from one of our ‘sister’ sites. The other missile crew said that a UFO was alternately hovering over their site, rapidly moving away, then returning.”

He continued, “It was Major Gilbert who took the call, most likely from the other MCCC. I believe it was Site 6 that called, but it might have been Site 8. Sites 6, 7, and 8 were in a cluster south-southeast of Roswell. My rough estimate is that the sites were 10 to 15 miles apart. The sighting could have been made by a guard or enlisted crew member at the other site. There were items on the Silo Cap requiring periodic checks and an enlisted crew member might have been ‘topside’ at the time. But I don’t know whether it was a guard or enlisted crew member at the other site who initially saw the UFO. My statistical guess is that it was a guard, because one was on duty there 24 hours-a-day”

“I was a first lieutenant at the time, one of three crew members certified to monitor the launch console. Any two of the three were required to stay at the console at all times, so Major Gilbert sent our enlisted crew members—Technical Sergeant Jack Nevins, Airman 1st Class Bob Garner, and Airman 1st Class Mike Rundag—up to the Silo Cap, at ground level, to see what they could.”

“They reported the UFO zooming from the direction of Site 6 to the direction of Site 8 and hovering for awhile at the end of the movement. I recall my crew members saying that the hovering was instantaneous. At times, it hovered over Site 6, then flew extremely rapidly to the other site, and instantly stopped and hovered in-place over that one. I can’t remember how many round-trips were involved. I’m not sure if anyone was even able to count because of the various crew members coming and going during the show. They all described it as a silent light that moved extremely rapidly—instant go and instant stop, no getting up to speed or slowing down. Unfortunately, no binoculars were available.”

Moore continued, “The common comment I remember was that everyone thought it was a UFO, and that it was hovering directly over Sites 6 and 8 and nowhere else. Thus, it was specifically interested in those sites.”

When I asked Moore whether the crew members had been certain that the UFO was stopping directly over the other missile sites—given their estimated 10 to 15-mile distance from Site 7—he responded, “They assumed that the hovering was directly over the sites, because the crew commander who called us said that it was definitely over his site. After awhile, Major Gilbert ordered Nevins to sit at the console with me and he went topside. He saw the same activity. During the event, the UFO did not come to our site. By the time my turn came to go topside, the show was over, so I didn’t see anything.”

I then asked Moore how he had determined the approximate date of the incident. He replied, “Major Gilbert became our Missile Combat Crew Commander in mid-to-late ’64, and the UFO event occurred after he had been the commander for a few months, so I think that it was during October, November, or December 1964.”

I asked Moore if he and his crew were debriefed about the incident. He responded, “Our report to the Walker Command Post got the similar ho-hum response that (former Deputy Missile Combat Crew Commander) Jerry Nelson described to you. We were never debriefed, never warned not to discuss it, nor was it discussed beyond crew member-to-crew member. In other words, there was no official discussion or acknowledgment. It seemed to be ignored above crew-level. But some of us crew members discussed it freely. I suspect that the majority of those who didn’t were folks who either didn’t believe in UFOs, or didn’t want to get involved, or were the kind who don’t open up about controversial things. But the four eyewitnesses weren’t sensationalists. All of them saw the UFO, and I completely trusted their word about it..."

...I then asked Moore if he remembered hearing any rumors about unusual missile malfunctions at Sites 6 and 8, over which the UFO presumably hovered at the time of the incident. He said, “I don’t recall the mention of equipment at the other sites being affected by the UFO. Certainly none of our Site 7 equipment was affected.” The purpose of this particular question will become clearer to the reader in a later chapter.

Referring to some of the other former members of the 579th Strategic Missile Squadron who have gone on-the-record about the UFO sightings at Walker AFB, Moore added, “Jerry Nelson, Gene Lamb, and Bob Caplan are friends. All of those guys are solid citizens, stable, and have intact faculties and memories. They are definitely not kooks. I consider myself in the same category, and I’m not a kook either. I think you know why I said that. There are folks who haven’t experienced UFOs who too quickly judge folks like Jerry, Gene, Bob, you, and me.”

Moore concluded, “I personally believe that there is something to the UFO-ICBM connection. I know the Air Force covers-up when it feels the official need. UFOs over ICBM sites could be one of those official needs.”

...Significantly, a letter written in 1964 has come to light which almost entirely substantiates the 40-year-old memories of the former Atlas missile personnel whom I interviewed. Written by an Air Force missile facilities technician who was stationed at Walker AFB at that time, it describes in detail multiple ICBM-related UFO incidents—just after they had occurred. A copy of the letter was sent to me by researcher Jan Aldrich.

On December 20, 1964, Airman 2nd Class Barry L. Krause wrote to the civilian UFO research organization, NICAP, to inform the group of several spooky—and apparently highly classified—incursions by mysterious aerial objects near the base’s missile sites.

(NICAP—the National Investigations Committee on Aerial Phenomena—was at that time the foremost UFO research group in the country. Its director, U.S. Naval Academy graduate and retired Marine Major Don Keyhoe, had openly and repeatedly called for congressional investigations into government secrecy surrounding the subject of UFOs. At various times, the organization had on its Board of Governors such persons as retired Vice-Admiral Roscoe Hillenkoetter, who was later the first director of the CIA, and retired Rear Admiral D. H. Fahrney, who served as the chief of the Navy’s first guided missile program.)

In his letter to NICAP, Krause wrote, “I am attached to the 579th Strategic Missile Squadron. We support the Atlas ‘F’ which is located in this area. There has [sic] been, and still are, frequent sightings of U.F.O.’s at the missile [sites]. At one of our sites in particular, there are recurring sightings...the site in question is site eight, located south of Roswell N. Mex. on route 285.”

Krause continued, “Some of the people in our squadron thought the guards were seeing things until, one night an E.P.P.T. (Electrical Power Production Tech.) on one of the Combat Crews on duty that night went on the silo cap for some fresh air. He sighted a strange light in the Western sky. The light was doing weird movements...He went in the silo and told the Missile Combat Crew Commander what he had seen. The Commander called the S.A.C. command post. While he was reporting the incident S.A.C. headquarters came in on the line and was listening. They told the command post that they had a KC-135 in the area (a KC-135 is the jet tanker employed by the Air Force) and that they would deploy it to the area in which the object was located. Just shortly after the KC-135 flew over the site to get his heading, the U.F.O. shot out of sight.”

Krause then mentions another incident and the apparent secrecy surrounding it, “Some people might not believe a guard of the lowly airman ranks, but one night a Lt. Col. sighted [a] U.F.O. and was telling how he saw it with his own eyes. After someone put the word to him he wouldn’t tell anyone about it.”

Krause concluded his letter to NICAP: “There have been sightings at most of our missile sites. It got so bad the guards were afraid to go on guard duty...My roommate and I talk to the guards and try to learn everything we can. We gave up on trying to look at the incident report[s] at the sites. Every time we tried, they told us that [they were] top secret and [we] couldn’t read them. So, we have to go by word of mouth. That is about all I know at this moment.” 5

Upon learning of the existence of this letter, I attempted to locate Krause and sought the assistance of others in this effort. Two individuals—former 579th SMS member Bob Caplan, and a private investigator—independently discovered that he had died in September 1973.

In summary, Krause’s contemporary letter confirms that several different UFO-related incidents had indeed occurred at Walker AFB’s Atlas missile silos in the early 1960s. It also mentions alleged efforts to silence witnesses, notes that the security guards involved were badly frightened by the UFOs, and reveals that the Air Force had apparently classified the incidents “Top Secret”. In other words, the letter substantiates much of the information provided to researchers much more recently by other former members of the 579th Strategic Missile Squadron.

References:

2. Cox, Billy. Florida Today, June 27, 2001

3. Ibid.

4. Ibid.

5. Barry Krause to NICAP, personal correspondence, December 20, 1964

--Robert Hastings

www.ufohastings.com

dereks wrote: If you think that they are not in it for profit then the word ignorant fits exactly. Of course they are in it for profit.

RH: Do you work for free, dereks? My research is my career. I have spent countless hours over 37 years pursuing documents and interviewing witnesses. Given the level of "profit" I have achieved during that period of time, I estimate that I have been working for minimum wage, or less.

I also note here that I have given away, for free, large portions of my 600-page book, by posting excerpts on this website and others, so that interested individuals might be educated about the reality of the UFO-Nukes Connection. For this effort I earn zero, zip, nada.

I know that I will never satisfy the Argylls and dereks of this world. They've got it all figured out: I am a charlatan, in it for the money, and that's that. Nothing more, nothing less. Well, as I noted earlier, that particular brand of ignorance comes with the territory.




[edit on 27-2-2010 by Robert Hastings]

""If you think that they are not in if for profit then the word ignorant fits exactly. Of course they are in it for profit""

A one liner accusation isn't going to cut it on this board fella. If you have some kind of evidence to back this up then by all means, please, present it... Otherwise your accusations don't hold water.

It's admirable that these former military officers are coming forward with eyewitness testimony.

I really hope that they also present new and compelling evidence (photos, radar and other data, etc.) to go with it. Something that skeptical scientists and other researchers can really sink their teeth into, examine and study.

It might be difficult to generate the kind of enthusiasm needed to fund the press conference unless solid evidence in addition to the testimony is not also presented.

Synchro: I really hope that they also present new and compelling evidence (photos, radar and other data, etc.) to go with it.

RH: Alas, Synchro, neither the officers on alert in the underground missile launch capsules, nor the Security Police teams guarding same, would be in the loop for radar data. The whole business is very compartmentalized, to maximize security. There is one case where the radar tracking info was successfully declassified, which I will post next, but that is a rare exception. All one can say at the moment is that over 100 persons--once trusted by the U.S. government to operate or guard weapons of mass destruction--have independently come forward and testified about UFO activity at ICBM sites. That in itself is significant, and a good first step to complete disclosure.

But, based on anecdotal data, the UFOs have indeed been tracked on radar during at least some of these incidents. Two examples follow, excerpted from my book UFOs and Nukes:

1) In 1965, Airman Second Class Robert Thompson was assigned to the 809th Combat Defense Squadron, at F.E. Warren AFB, Wyoming. He guarded the Quebec Flight Launch Control Facility (LCF), which controlled ten Minuteman I nuclear missiles, poised underground in launch facilities (LFs), commonly known as silos. While on duty one night, he got a call from the LCF’s Missile Combat Crew Commander, asking him and his partner to walk outside and look straight up.

“The launch crew in the capsule, and the guards topside, played practical jokes on one another quite often,” Thompson recalled, “When the commander called for us to step outside and look straight up, I thought that it was another joke.” However, as soon as he did so, Thompson’s attitude instantly changed. Directly overhead, he saw eight stationary lights, much brighter and larger than stars, grouped together in four pairs. Due to their altitude and brilliance, it was not possible to determine the objects’ shape or other details.

After a few moments, one light left its position and began to roam among the others, moving slowly from pair to pair. Thompson and his partner watched the mysterious aerial formation for about 10 minutes, before reporting the sighting to the missile commander. In response, Thompson was informed that NORAD, then located at Ent AFB, Colorado, had earlier notified F.E. Warren that its radars were tracking eight unknown objects hovering in the vicinity of the Quebec launch control site. Apparently, the base’s Command Center had called the LCF and asked the missile commander to verify their presence.

Said Thompson, “I wasn’t sure what we were seeing until I reported back to the launch commander. When he told me of the report of UFOs from NORAD, I could tell by his voice that he wasn’t joking.” He added, “Please note, at that time, I was not a believer in stories of UFOs and little green men.”

Thompson said that he and his partner were never debriefed, or warned to remain silent about the incident, but he never again mentioned it to the missile commander.

2) In 2005, I posted a series of messages on the Yahoo missile_talk group’s bulletin board, summarizing the testimony of former and retired USAF sources who had reported their UFO-related experiences at various nuclear missile sites over the years. My hope was that some of the Yahoo group’s members, largely made up of U.S. Air Force missileers, would be encouraged to come forth and discuss their own experiences. A few members of the group, including Larry Manross, did just that. He wrote,

"Robert, You are right on. As a launch crew commander at Minot AFB from 1966-1970, I will tell you that there were UFO incidents. In one incident [during which I was present] the security team upstairs went into a defensive posture with lights turned out. They had called in a UFO sighting to the base and radar was tracking it. All of a sudden it buzzed the launch control center and that was when they cut the lights and took a defensive position.

The details are fairly slim on the incident, [but it occurred sometime during] 1967 or ‘68. It was treated by the Air Force as a non-incident. In other words, no report was asked for from the missile crew. I am not certain if the security team made a report, but the whole thing made you feel somewhat uneasy.

At the time, I was a 1st Lieutenant and was the junior officer in the capsule. The security team kept us informed of their concerns. Especially the buzzing of the launch control center. Sitting downstairs you obviously didn’t see a thing. I wish I had been upstairs when the incident took place, but as you know the launch crews were down in the capsules for 24 hour uninterrupted stretches. But base ops did confirm that they were tracking an unidentified object on radar.

The number of UFO incidents at the time, during 1966-’70, were so frequent, that in the summer the security team sometimes would put chairs in front of the building, or on the roof of the building to watch for UFOs. Can you believe it?"

Regarding this last statement, I told Manross that I had heard nearly identical stories from other former or retired USAF personnel who had been stationed at Ellsworth, F.E. Warren, and Malmstrom AFBs during that era. This particular side show is almost humorous: Nuclear missile security guards, sitting outside Minuteman launch control facilities at night looking for UFOs, because the objects appeared above the missile field so frequently! If only the American media had been given that story at the time. But, of course, like everything else relating to these classified incidents, almost no information leaked out to the press or public.

As with all of my ex-military sources, I asked Thompson and Manross for their "DD-214" to verify their military service record.



--Robert Hastings

www.ufohastings.com



[edit on 27-2-2010 by Robert Hastings]

From my book UFOs and Nukes:

“Someone is seeing flying saucers again.”

During the pre-dawn hours of October 24, 1968, a UFO was tracked at Minot AFB—both by the base’s weather radar, as well as onboard a B-52 Stratofortress bomber preparing to land at the base. Significantly, this simultaneous tracking occurred during the same period of time when USAF missile security teams and missile maintenance teams were reporting UFOs maneuvering near Minuteman missile Launch Facilities (LFs) O-6 and N-7.

Over a five year-period, researchers Tom Tulien and Jim Klotz painstakingly investigated the events which occurred at Minot that early morning in 1968, interviewing many eyewitnesses and reviewing numerous declassified USAF files and radarscope photographs. In fact, this case is so spectacular and so well-documented, ABC Television chose to include a detailed discussion of it in its February 2005 two-hour special, UFOs: Seeing is Believing, hosted by the late Peter Jennings.

Tulien notes for the record, “The contents of the National Archives and Records Administration’s (NARA) USAF Project Blue Book microfilm file regarding the Minot incident (case number 12,548), consists of over 130 pages dated from 24 October 1968 to 14 November 1968.” While the final report on the Tulien/Klotz investigation is nearing completion, the basic facts of the case—as summarized in declassified Project Blue Book files, and in witness testimony—are as follows:

On 24 October 1968, at 2:15 a.m., 14 miles east-northeast of N-7, a missile security camper team posted at LF O-6 notified the Flight Security Controller (FSC) at the Oscar Flight Launch Control Facility that they were observing a UFO near their position. The camper team reported that, from their vantage point, the UFO had disappeared behind some trees. At the time, a missile targeting team was at work at O-6. Immediately after being notified of the situation by the FSC, the Combat Targeting Commander ordered his team to abort their work, secure the LF, and return to base.

At 2:30 a.m., two missile technicians assigned to the 91st Missile Maintenance Squadron (MIMS), Airmen 1st Class Lloyd Isley and Robert O’Connor, reported observing a strange light in the eastern sky while traveling to Minuteman Launch Facility N-7 for a routine procedure. Based on the documentation it appears as though it was the same UFO sighted earlier at O-6. Based on reports he was receiving from the maintenance team, the Base Operations dispatcher noted this in his log at 3:00 a.m.: “object S/E of N-7 moving toward site with brilliant light like the sun. Lights flashing on and off. Its too brilliant and big for an aircraft now moving south and hovered over N-7 [my emphasis], turned green, amber off and on.” O’Connor, later reported that the UFO “appeared self-luminous like a big ball of white light that seemed to change to a dim green light then later to a dim amber color.” 1

The maintenance team notified Transportation Control and Base Operations, then radioed the FSC upon entering the site, at which point they reported the UFO to him. Eventually, both the FSC and his two-man Security Alert Team observed the UFO from their positions at the November Launch Control Facility. All of the observers, both maintenance and security personnel, reported that the UFO was extremely bright and had the ability to hover, as well as to move abruptly at great velocity.

Sgt. Bond hastily dispatched the SAT team to N-7. While en route, both men reported that a second UFO had appeared east of their position and then flew toward the first object, which was still located near the LF. After maneuvering near each other in the sky for a brief period, one of the UFOs suddenly disappeared.

In his report, researcher Tulien states, “During the period [that the November Flight SAT team was] on the road, the Wing Security Controller noted in his summary that between 3:20 and 3:25 a.m. ‘SSgt Smith at Oscar-1 saw the object separate in two parts and go in opposite directions and return and pass under each other. At this time Juliet Flight and Mike Flight Team observed the same things and described it in the same way.’” 2

While these startling events were unfolding, the pilot of a B-52 returning to Minot after a 10-hour training mission received a radio call from the base’s Radar Approach Control (RAPCON) center, asking him to look for any unusual “orange glows” from his position. According to the declassified transcript of the radio conversation, the RAPCON controller told the bomber’s pilot and co-pilot, “Someone is seeing flying saucers again.” 3 He then told them where to look. Shortly thereafter, RAPCON was informed that the base’s weather radar was tracking the object near Bowbells, ND, about 38 nautical miles northwest of the base.

Suddenly, that UFO flew toward the B-52, and began pacing it at a distance of one mile. The aircraft’s own radar was already tracking the object and recorded these maneuvers. The navigator, Major Patrick McCaslin, said that the UFO’s radar return was “as big or bigger than a KC-135 [tanker].” 4

Radar Navigator Major Chuck Ritchey quickly activated the aircraft’s radarscope camera and the object’s radar return was captured on film. Later that morning, the images were evaluated by one of the 5th Bombardment Wing’s intelligence officers, Richard Clark, who recalls that he computed the UFO’s mean velocity at 3900 mph. This estimate was based on the fact that the UFO had covered two miles during one, three-second sweep of the radar. He told Tulien, “It had to be something other than what we were aware of, you know, and I didn’t think our technology had anything like that as far as capability—so it’s got to be a UFO.” 5

As the UFO began to pace the B-52, the aircraft’s two UHF radios were apparently impacted by its presence, and normal outgoing radio transmissions were temporarily interrupted. However, the aircraft’s UHF receiver was unaffected and the crew continued to hear instructions from the RAPCON controller. The UFO paced the aircraft for approximately 20 miles, at which point it broke-off and moved away. As soon as it did so, and disappeared from the bomber’s radar, the aircraft’s transmitters resumed normal functioning.

As the B-52 began its final approach to Minot, it was unexpectedly diverted, on the orders of a unidentified “general officer.” RAPCON provided the pilot vectors for the UFO—which was by then on, or hovering near, the ground—and told to turn the aircraft and fly directly over it.

Tulien and Klotz have interviewed the aircraft’s co-pilot, Captain Bradford Runyon, and the Instructor Pilot, Major James Partin, both of whom provided detailed accounts regarding the UFO’s appearance.

Partin noted that he first saw an orange object on or just above the ground and stated that it appeared “like a miniature sun placed on the ground below the aircraft.” As the aircraft closed on the UFO, the object’s shape became more visible. Partin said, “It was sort of oblong, there were—looked like windows around it that were lit, and it was just hovering there.” 6

Captain Runyon later drew a picture of the UFO, showing an oval-shaped object with a tubular limb extending from one end. Beyond the other end of the tube was a crescent-shaped spray of illumination. He stated, “My first impression was that the orange [oval] portion was bigger than a large barn and the tubular section reminded me of a large grain silo lying on its side. The crescent-shaped part did not become clear until we rolled into the first 90-degree turn...I’m not good at estimating dimensions, especially 32 years after the fact, but to my best guess, I would say it was at least 200 ft in length and 100 ft in width and 50 ft. in height.” 7

Navigator Patrick McCaslin, who did not see the object himself, added, “The description [given] to me [by one of the pilots] was that it was an elliptical shape—kind of a cough drop-shaped thing, glowing orange with a boomerang exhaust, or boomerang-shaped exhaust or whatever—a florescence off one end.” 8

As the B-52 neared the UFO, its UHF transmitters were impacted once again. Upon landing, one of the crew was debriefed about the incident, but there was no further discussion among the crew until years later.

What was the Air Force’s official verdict on these events? On November 13, 1968, three weeks after the UFO incidents, Project Blue Book chief Major Hector Quintanilla issued an official statement about them. He wrote, “The following conclusions have been reached after a thorough study of the data submitted to Foreign Technology Division. The ground visual sightings appear to be of the star Sirius and the B-52, which was flying in the area. The B-52 radar contact and the temporary loss of the UHF transmission could be attributed to a plasma similar to ball lightning. The air visual from the B-52 could be the star Vega, which was on the horizon at the time, or it could be a light on the ground, or possibly a plasma. No further investigation by the Foreign Technology Division is contemplated.” 9

This highly implausible official explanation for the UFO incidents at Minot AFB was reminiscent of Quinanilla’s earlier verdict on the August 1, 1965 UFO sightings at F.E. Warren AFB, Wyoming. In that case, several Air Force SAT teams had independently observed, over a three hour-period, as many as nine UFOs maneuvering near and hovering over various Minuteman missile sites. The Blue Book chief concluded that the teams had not seen UFOs, but twinkling stars.



References:



1. National Archives and Records Administration’s (NARA) USAF Project Blue Book microfilm file (case number 12,548)

2. Tulien, Thomas and Klotz, James. The Minot UFO Incident Report (get name)

3. National Archives and Records Administration’s (NARA) USAF Project Blue Book microfilm file (case number 12,548)

4. Ibid.

5. Tulien, Thomas. “A Narrative of UFO Events at Minot AFB, 24 OCTOBER 1968”, www.minotb52ufo.com...

6. Ibid.

7. Ibid.

8. Ibid.

9. Quintanilla, Hector. Project Blue Book Report, Case Number 12,548, November 13, 1968

--Robert Hastings

www.ufohastings.com

Seems pretty-obvious to me. Adamski pointed it out quite well. Stop Nuclear testing, 1954.
The obvious thing now -- that's at least one of the reasons one of the many EBE races are here now.

Decoy