Minot Air Force Base B-52 Radar Encounter 1968

On October 24, 1968, a B-52H Stratofortress on approach to Minot Air Force Base tracked an unidentified object on its on-board radar. The crew observed a brilliantly lit object visually through the aircraft's windows. Simultaneously, security teams at Minuteman ICBM launch sites in the Minot ICBM field reported the same object moving sequentially over multiple missile sites. Minot Approach Control confirmed the radar return. The B-52 crew provided a detailed description of the object's characteristics. Project Blue Book investigators were dispatched to Minot and interviewed all witnesses. The Project Blue Book file for the case was originally withheld from the publicly-released Blue Book files; copies obtained through separate FOIA requests showed the case had received TOP SECRET handling. The combination of airborne radar track, approach control radar confirmation, B-52 crew visual observation, and simultaneous ICBM site security reports across multiple sites makes the Minot incident one of the most multi-layered documented encounters of the Project Blue Book era.