PART 3: A 1968 UFO Incident at Minot AFB

by Charles Lear, author of “The Flying Saucer Investigators.”

This is the third part of a series looking at a case from 1968 that involved sightings of UFOs on October 24, 1968, by ground observers stationed at the ICBM missile complex surrounding Minot AFB in North Dakota. A B-52 was flying in the area, and the pilot was requested to change course and investigate. The result was a UFO encounter that was caught on photographs of the B-52 radarscope, and the pilot, Maj. James A. Partin, and co-pilot, Captain Bradford Runyon, reported that they’d had a visual sighting of the object when it was on the ground. In addition to the sightings, it was reported that the outer and inner perimeter alarms of the missile site designated Oscar-7 went off and that a padlocked entry hatch there was found open with a plug-style gate secured by a combination lock removed from it. The case was officially examined by the officer in charge of UFO investigations at the base who provided details and evidence to Project Blue Book. The Blue Book conclusion was that what was seen was possibly a combination of “anomalous propagation” of radar returns, a plasma ball, and celestial bodies. It was also concluded that the break-in was unrelated. The case lay dormant for 30 years until Runyon contacted the Center for UFO Studies and filled out a sighting report form. The case caught the interest of members of the newly formed Sign Historical Group and they did a thorough investigation that included many interviews with witnesses. They’ve made material they gathered available as part of the Sign Oral History Project on a website devoted to the case. In Part III, we’ll look at the reports by the ground observers.

On the SOHP website, there is a narrative of the events that includes sections specifically detailing the experiences of the people on the ground stationed at various locations throughout the missile complex. According to the narrative, the first sighting reported on October 24, was at 2:15 a.m. by Airman First Class R. McDowell and A1C W. Johnson. They made up a Camper Team which was a security team equipped with a camper truck so they could spend extended periods out in the field, especially in bad weather.

On this occasion, they were providing security for a Target Alignment Team working at a missile site designated Oscar-6. They radioed Staff Sergeant William Smith Jr. at the Oscar-1 Launch Control Facility to report seeing a strange light nearby. In an August 2001 interview with SHG investigators Thomas Tulien and James Klotz, Smith said they reported seeing “a large glowing object go down by some trees not far away.” Smith went outside at 2:30 a.m. and was able to see the light for himself, and he reported this on an AF-117 (Air Force UFO sighting report form) he filled out.

According to Smith during his interview, he and others had been seeing strange lights for months and just prior to October 24, the activity increased. He described lights being seen that would stop and reverse direction and recalled one of his people saying “those lights– they’re not doing the right things.” He said he called the base to see if they had any helicopters operating in the area and was told they didn’t. Smith said he and others made multiple reports “as we’re supposed to” and that “nothing was done.” He said that at one point, he called the Capsule Crew and said, “Sir, we’re just not happy with what we’re seeing.” He said the response was “Well, just keep them under observation.” Tulien informed Smith at this point that documents show someone in the Control Tower commenting “Those damn missile guys are seeing things again.”

According to the narrative, Smith reported his October 24^th observation of the light over Oscar-6 to Technical Sergeant Bowles at the 91^st Strategic Missile Wing Security Control at Minot. A captain there who was in charge of the Targeting Team told the Missile Combat Crew Commander at the Oscar Launch Control Center that he felt nervous about having a UFO near an exposed missile and said they could do what they were doing at another time. The Target Alignment Team closed the silo and returned to the base.

That same night, A1C Robert O’Conner and A1C Lloyd Isley of the 91^st Minuteman Maintenance Squadron were driving to November-7, 15 miles WSW of Oscar-6. At 2:30 a.m., when they were five miles north of their destination, they saw what they thought was a light in a farmer’s field. During a February 2005 interview with Tulien, O’Conner said he looked over at it again and saw it rise up and then move parallel with them, staying 30 to 40 feet above the ground. He said the ground below it was illuminated. Isley’s account during his August 2001 interview with Klotz and Tulien matches that of O’Conner’s.

O’Conner said the object would appear to hover or stop when they stopped or turned off their headlights. They became concerned and radioed the base Transportation Control Center to find out if they had any aircraft in the area and they were advised in the negative.

O’Conner said during his 2005 interview that Isley grabbed an axe from the back of the truck “just in case there were some little green men or something,” and said that he, himself, was “totally concerned.”

Both Isley and O’Conner filled out AF-117s and described their sightings. According to Isley on his, when they got to the November-7 site and were out of their truck, they watched the object fly in a circular pattern to the south of them. He wrote, “It came within hearing distance twice. The sound was that of jet engines.” According to him, it stayed in the area for 2 to 3 hours and then moved out of sight in the southeast. Isley couldn’t determine a shape, but he described the object as having lights on the front like the headlights or landing lights of an aircraft, a flashing light in the middle, and estimated that it was the size of a KC-135 tanker plane.

O’Conner wrote that the object “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.” A note below, presumably added by someone at Project Blue Book, reads, “characteristic colors of Sirius.” O’Conner added that the object “seemed to take on the appearance of a stingray fish,” but notes elsewhere that it was too bright for him “to make out any definite shape.” O’Conner said during his 2005 interview that he didn’t hear any sound when it was hovering, “so I knew it wasn’t a helicopter.” He described it as being the size of a B-52.

According to the narrative, their call to the Transportation Control Center was routed to the Base Operations Dispatcher who confirmed there were no aircraft in the area, and he then contacted the Control Tower operator and an open line of communication was established by the controllers at Radar Approach Control (RAPCON) with the people at November-7.

O’Conner was told to continue describing what he was seeing and he kept a log over the next two hours. In his first entry at 3:00 a.m., he describes an object that was too big to be an aircraft moving towards the site with a brilliant sun-like light. He wrote that it “hovered over N-7, turned green, amber off than [sic] on.”

According to the narrative, O’Conner unlocked the gate and went down into the Launch Support Building and radioed Flight Security Commander SSgt. James Bond at the November Launch Facility. Security Alert Team member A1C Joseph Jablonski was present and recalled during a February 2005 interview with Tulien that the maintenance team was “hysterical” at that point. According to the narrative, Jablonski and another team member, A1C Gregory Adams, went outside and saw a bright light over N-7, “alternating all kinds of pretty colors.”

Bond sent Jablonski out to assist the team at November-7 and when they were en route, they observed another similar object. During his interview, Jablonski said he saw lights coming off it that were like smaller craft that moved back and forth. He said there were many of them, more than 10, and that they all faded out along with the bigger light.

According to the narrative, 14 ground observers in scattered locations saw two distinct lights between 3:20 and 3:30 a.m. The Wing Security Controller noted in his summary, “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 Flt and Mike Flt Team observed the same things and described it the same way.”

Jablonski recalled in his interview, “And, we got there and they were hysterical, I mean the site was wide open we drove right in.” He said, “When we got there, you know to see a man with that rank running, I mean they were all telling us ‘Shoot it Shoot it!’”

According to Jablonski, when the B-52 crew was called in, it was difficult to provide coordinates because the object would go dark at times and then reappear at a different location.

It seems as if the B-52 possibly encountered a third object, separate from those seen by the ground observers. Jablonski and Bond both wrote in their AF-117s that they saw the light change to a dim green color and then slowly fade out for the last time in the southwest. The visual sighting of the object on the ground was SSE of November-1.

After the B-52 headed back to base, O’Conner and Isley finished their maintenance work at November-7. As they were headed back and passing Oscar-7, O’Conner saw that the overhead security lights were on even though no one was supposed to be there. He saw that the hatch leading down to the missile silo was open and said during his interview that he also saw that the plug had been removed. He then saw a Security Alert Team approaching, so he continued on his way having been through enough already.

According to the narrative, just after the B-52 landed at 4:49 a.m., the Outer Zone and the Inner Zone alarms for Oscar-7 went off at the Oscar Launch Control Center. While animal activity and shifting snow-drifts were known to set off the Outer Zone alarms, having both alarms go off at the same time was very unusual and indicated a break-in.

Smith sent a Security Alert Team to check on the site, and they left armed and prepared for hostility. They found no one there, and Smith went out later that day by himself. During his interview, Smith said that a Lieutenant who was there from Missile Wing Security Control told him they found “a large circular pattern of radiation” in the parking area inside the perimeter.

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