Any time I see such a conglomeration of explanations, I have to stop to take a look at the case. If we had a situation in which UFOs had been sighted and reported in the days preceding it, I could believe that there were many people out looking and seeing what are later identified as common objects. But here we seem to have the sightings taking place with no real communication between the witnesses. Suddenly, on October 24, air police and maintenance crews on the ground, and the crew of a B-52 on a routine training mission begin to see flying saucers.
In other cases, I have suggested that if we link the sightings, such as that by Kenneth Arnold and then Fred Johnson, we have a strong case that defies easy explanation. Here it seems that I am suggesting that we separate the cases. Not so. I'm suggesting that as the ground sightings are taking place, that the crew of the B-52 is not aware of it until alerted by the control tower. Their sighting, which is running concurrently with that on the ground, is probably linked. The key is that the B-52 crew did not know what was being seen from the ground.
According to the file, it seems that the first sighting was made about thirty minutes after midnight by Airman Isley. No first names are found in the file. He saw a bright light in the east that apparently was just hovering.
Two hours later, A1C (airman first class) O'Connor sighted a bright light. At the same time, Staff Sergeant Smith reported that he had seen a bright star light.
At 0308 (that is, 3:08 a.m.) a series of sightings began by maintenance teams around the Minot area. O'Connor, the maintenance team chief, reported that all members of his team saw a lighted object that was reddish-orange in color. O'Connor suggested it was a large object that had flashing green and white lights. According to the report, "After they entered N-7 LF [a field site designed November Seven] the object came directly overhead with the sound of jet engines."
The report continued, "SSgt Bond the FSC at Nov Flt [Flt means flight and refers to a platoon-sized organization] stated that the object which looked to him as the sun, came near the handred antenna at Nov-1. It then moved to the right and he sent the SAT out to check and see what it was. The object then moved about one mile away with the Nov SAT following. They came within 1/2 mile from where it appeared to be landing. When it reached the surface the lights became dimmer and finally went out. After this they could see nothing. SSgt Smith at Oscar-1 saw the object separate into two parts and go in oposite (sic) directions and return and pass under each other. At this time Julelt Flt and Mike Flt Team observed the same things and described it the same way. The approximate grid coordinates of the apparently landing was AA-43. The entire observation period as near as can be determined was about 45 minutes."
At 0324 SSgt Wagla, A1C Allis, A1C Deer sighted a UFO from one location. A minute later SSgt Halko, A1C Jenkins and A1C Richardson sighted the UFO from a separate location. And ten minutes after that, the crew of a B-52 was brought into the case.
The transcript of the conversations between the tower and the aircraft are available in the Blue Book file. The times in the transcript are all in Greenwich Mean Time, but I have corrected them for local time in North Dakota so that it will be consistent with the times given for the sightings by ground maintenance and security personnel.
At 0330, the controllers received the information that there was a UFO twenty-four miles to the northwest. At 0334, "JAG-31" (JAG Three One), a B-52 on a calibration check requested a clearance and was at "Flight Level 200 (2000)."
0334 the pilot asked, "MIB (Minot) approach control does JAG 31 have clearance to WT fix [a designated point on the ground] at Flight Level 200."
"JAG 31 roger climb out on a heading of 290 climb and maintain 5000. Stand-by for higher altitude. We're trying to get it from center now."
At 0335, the controller asked, "And JAG 31 on your way out to the WT fix request you look out toward your one o'clock position for the next fifteen or sixteen miles and see if you see any orange glows out there."
"Roger, roger… glows 31."
"Someone is seeing flying saucers again."
"Roger I see a…" The rest of the transmission from the aircraft is garbled.
At 0352, the controller then radioed, "Three one, the UFO is being picked up by weathers radar also. Should be at our one o'clock position three miles now."
The pilot said, "We have nothing on our airborne radar and I'm in some pretty thick haze right now and unable to see out that way."
At 0358, though the transmissions have nothing to do with the sighting of the UFO, there is a strange event. The pilot requested a straight TACAN approach, and received instructions from the controller about that. The pilot called, and then, apparently, the radio went dead. Although they could hear the instructions from the ground, they could no longer transmit. The controller asked them to "squawk ident" which meant to use the aircraft's transponder which would "paint" the controller's radar with a large, glowing blip for easy identification.
At 0400, the controller again suggested, "JAG 31, if you hear me squawk ident… JAG 31 ident observed. Cleared for the approach attempt. Contact on frequency 271 decimal three and you're cleared for the low approach."
They continued to have radio troubles for another couple of minutes. At 0402, they were again able to communicate easily. The pilot said, "Our UFO was off to our left there when we started penetration [penetration refers to turning inbound for the low approach]."
"Roger. Understand you did see something on your left side.
"We had a radar return at about a mile and a quarter nine o'clock position for about the time we left 200 to about 14…"
They discussed the troubles with the transmissions and then, at 0403, the controller asked, "Affirmative. I was wondering how far out did you see that UFO?"
"He was about one and a half miles off our left wing at 35 miles when we started in and he stayed with us 'til about 10."
"I wonder if that could have been your radio troubles."
"I don't know… But that's exactly when they started."
At 0413, as they are working the "low approach" the controller asked, "JAG 31, are you observing any more UFO's?"
"Negative on radar. We can't see anything visually."
"JAG 31, roger. The personnel on from the missile site advise they don't see anything anymore either."
Finally, at 0421, the controller said, "JAG 31, (garbled) requests that somebody from your aircraft stop in at base ops after you land."
"Roger 31. We'll give them a call."
What we have then, is a group of sightings made by men on the ground, at the missile sites scattered around the Minot Air Force Base. There is a radar sighting on the ground, the "weathers" radar. Later, there is a visual sighting from the crew of the B-52, and there is a radar sighting from the aircraft as well. Although the first sightings began just after midnight and the last was made about four in the morning, they were not continuous. There were a number of sightings made by a number of men at various times at various locations.
Project Blue Book was alerted about the sightings that same day. In a "memo for the record" dated October 24, Lieutenant Marano began to receive telephone calls. He learned that the commander of the base at Minot and Major General Nichols at 15th Air Force Headquarters were interested in what had happened. Apparently a lieutenant colonel named Werlich had been appointed the local, meaning Minot, UFO officer. He would conduct the investigation.
The "memo for the record" explained the incident. "At about 0300 hours local, a B-52 that was about 39 miles northwest of Minot AFB and was making practice penetrations sighted an unidentified blip on their radar. Initially the target traveled approximately 2 1/2 miles in 3 sec or about 3,000 mi/hr. After passing from the right to the left of the plane, it assumed a position off the left wing of the 52. The blip stayed off the left wing for approximately 20 miles at which point it broke off. Scope photographs were taken. When the target was close to the B-52 neither of the two transmitters in the B-52 would operate properly but when it broke off both returned to normal function.