Minot AFB B-52 encounter
Missile-site guards saw a large glowing object while a B-52 crew tracked it on radar and lost radio contact as they passed near it.
1968 CE · 48.42, -101.36 · status: unexplained
The account
In the early hours of 24 October 1968 ground personnel at Minuteman sites around Minot AFB, North Dakota, reported a bright object; a returning B-52H picked up a target pacing it and photographed its radar scope, and its UHF radios failed during the close approach; the crew then saw a large lit object near the ground. Project Blue Book completed a case report.
The sceptical view
Blue Book suggested a plasma similar to ball lightning; researchers who reassembled the file argue this does not fit the radar and visual reports.
The researched reading
One of the best radar-visual cases on record, with crews and ground teams agreeing. Ordinary explanations struggle, so a real unexplained share remains.
| Explanation | Weight | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Genuinely anomalous | 34% | Ground teams at several missile sites and a B-52 crew saw a glowing object while the bomber’s radar painted it pacing the aircraft, with photographs of the scope and a radio failure; Thomas Tulien’s reconstruction from the full Blue Book file finds no conventional fit. |
| Something known, misidentified | 20% | Ground observers may have seen Sirius and other bright stars rising, and radar returns from a B-52 in a descent can include artefacts; the crew’s visual sighting was brief. |
| A poorly understood natural phenomenon | 18% | Blue Book proposed a plasma like ball lightning, possible in the stormy conditions; Tulien argues this does not fit the radar track. |
| Secret human technology | 14% | A secret aircraft or drone near a nuclear base is conceivable but would not be shadowed by the base’s own bomber. |
| A known natural phenomenon | 8% | Anomalous radar propagation in the overnight inversion can give false echoes. |
| Perception, memory or mind | 4% | Trained crews and multiple teams make misperception a minor factor. |
| A hoax or fabrication | 2% | Military logs and photographs make a hoax implausible. |
Official position: Project Blue Book suggested a plasma similar to ball lightning for the visual sightings and a radar effect.