I thought I would summarize this classic UFO case, which demonstrates that at least some UFOs are clearly and unequivocally "somebody else's hardware". It is one of the best encounters ever, and it needs to be covered here since it doesn't seem to have been discussed so far. I invite the skeptics to come up with a plausible "normal" explanation. This summary is lengthy because the sighting was complicated with an unprecedentally large amount of excellent data.
This was an extraordinary radar and air-visual UFO and ground observer encounter witnessed by the pilot and radar operator of a B52H bomber (and several other military witnesses on the ground) near Minot AFB in North Dakota USA on 24 October 1968. We have a very valuable exhaustive 145-page detailed scientific analysis of the case written by Claude Poher, Ph.D. and released in Aug. 2005, which is at https://www.academia.edu/105405731/Analy...view-paper.
This study shows unequivocably that the extensive radar data and witness observations completely correlate and are internally and externally consistent with there having been an actual object with flight characteristics totally impossible for any aircraft.
This case was never investigated properly until many years later by Poher. Project Blue Book was operating at the time of the event but as would be expected they basically and ridiculously wrote it off as mistaken observations of exceedingly rare ball lightning and the star Vega, despite all the evidence to the contrary and the interest of several Strategic Air Command generals including 15th Air Force's Major General Nichols. They were especially concerned because there was apparent damage to the Minuteman missile site there, and the disruption of B-52 radio transmissions indicated we had a threat to a primary nuclear offense system.
Witnesses at Minot Air Force Base, North Dakota, which included security personnel at the installation’s ICBM launch complex, maintenance staff, and the crew aboard the airborne B-52H, all participated in one of the most significant UFO incidents ever to have occurred.
From the Hynek UFO report:
At one point of this complex sighting, the object was reported to land on the ground, where numerous observers actually observed it. Also occuring during this incident was apparent damage to a local Minuteman missile site complex.
Some key points of many extracted from the original unclassified message describing the sighting, at https://minotb52ufo.com/pdf/Basic_Reporting_Data.pdf :
The following are just a few scattered quotes from the 145 page detailed Poher analysis which show its depth and exhaustiveness, and demonstrate that this is one of the best or perhaps the very best UFO sighting ever, with documented radar display images of the object, which are entirely and exactly consistent with the reports of the eyewitnesses. Aircraft radarscope photos have been preserved which unequivocally show the UFO. They are first-generation photographic prints from the original 1968 film-negatives. Calculations show that the UFO was highly supersonic during its entire observed flight, which should have produced a loud sonic boom time and again, though none was reported, as is generally the case with other reported supersonic UFOs. Nevertheless, these speeds are clearly beyond all aeronautical developments in 1968. It is especially interesting that an ionized cloud surrounded the UFO, as verified by visual observations and photogrammetric analysis of the radarscope photos.
(This post was last modified: 2024-05-07, 04:13 PM by nbtruthman. Edited 7 times in total.)
This was an extraordinary radar and air-visual UFO and ground observer encounter witnessed by the pilot and radar operator of a B52H bomber (and several other military witnesses on the ground) near Minot AFB in North Dakota USA on 24 October 1968. We have a very valuable exhaustive 145-page detailed scientific analysis of the case written by Claude Poher, Ph.D. and released in Aug. 2005, which is at https://www.academia.edu/105405731/Analy...view-paper.
This study shows unequivocably that the extensive radar data and witness observations completely correlate and are internally and externally consistent with there having been an actual object with flight characteristics totally impossible for any aircraft.
This case was never investigated properly until many years later by Poher. Project Blue Book was operating at the time of the event but as would be expected they basically and ridiculously wrote it off as mistaken observations of exceedingly rare ball lightning and the star Vega, despite all the evidence to the contrary and the interest of several Strategic Air Command generals including 15th Air Force's Major General Nichols. They were especially concerned because there was apparent damage to the Minuteman missile site there, and the disruption of B-52 radio transmissions indicated we had a threat to a primary nuclear offense system.
Witnesses at Minot Air Force Base, North Dakota, which included security personnel at the installation’s ICBM launch complex, maintenance staff, and the crew aboard the airborne B-52H, all participated in one of the most significant UFO incidents ever to have occurred.
From the Hynek UFO report:
Quote:"USAF Minot AFB ground radar tracked an unidentified object correlated with orange glow and radioed it to the attention of the USAF crew of B-52H bomber (call sign JAG 31) on a 290° heading at 2,000 ft as a UFO target at 1 o'clock position to the NW at 24 miles, then 15 miles at 3:35 a.m. At 3:52 a.m., Minot radioed the B-52H that base weather radar was also tracking target now at 1 o'clock position and 3 miles from the B-52H. At 3:58 Minot requested IFF transponder identification from the B-52H and the B-52H radio transmitter failed for 4 mins. B-52H crew saw and radar tracked bright red-orange object [?] at 9 o'clock position at 35 miles then 1.25-1.5 miles, traveling at 3,000 mph."
At one point of this complex sighting, the object was reported to land on the ground, where numerous observers actually observed it. Also occuring during this incident was apparent damage to a local Minuteman missile site complex.
Some key points of many extracted from the original unclassified message describing the sighting, at https://minotb52ufo.com/pdf/Basic_Reporting_Data.pdf :
Quote:"Description of the object(s): Shape was described by visual sighting as "just about round, a little oblong if anything". The shape on the airborne B52 radar scope was very sharp and irregular and at times rectangular. Visual sighting compared the object size to be equal to the sun, very large, too big for an aircraft. Radar sighting describes the size on the scope to be larger than that of a KC-135 tanker during aerial refueling. Color was a very bright red orange most of the time.
When viewed from above by the B-52 crew, the object had a faintly white oblong halo on one side with an orange spot on the other side, and the body appeared to be a bright white light.
When almost overhead, a low muffled jet engine sound was heard. This occured twice during the sightings. The ability to hover and to change direction and speed abruptly was also observed."
The following are just a few scattered quotes from the 145 page detailed Poher analysis which show its depth and exhaustiveness, and demonstrate that this is one of the best or perhaps the very best UFO sighting ever, with documented radar display images of the object, which are entirely and exactly consistent with the reports of the eyewitnesses. Aircraft radarscope photos have been preserved which unequivocally show the UFO. They are first-generation photographic prints from the original 1968 film-negatives. Calculations show that the UFO was highly supersonic during its entire observed flight, which should have produced a loud sonic boom time and again, though none was reported, as is generally the case with other reported supersonic UFOs. Nevertheless, these speeds are clearly beyond all aeronautical developments in 1968. It is especially interesting that an ionized cloud surrounded the UFO, as verified by visual observations and photogrammetric analysis of the radarscope photos.
Quote:"...at the 1.75 nm range ring the sweeping speed of the beam would be in the order of 24435 km / h (15190 mph). We should also consider the size of the target that was identified by the radar beam. According to the radar operator, the size of the echo was larger than a KC-135 Stratotanker (41 x 39 meters) and therefore the target could not have been an aircraft. For example, the size of the radar echo in Figure 16 measures in the order of 280 x 140 meters, compared to the size of the B-52 measuring 48 x 56 meters.
Taken together, we know of no human device this size that can fly at the measured speed. In most of the photos the intensity of the echo is considerable, and nearly at the same level as the echo of the ground below the B-52. The UFO echo also contains some photometric structure (i.e., limb to center radar albedo
increase), which further confirms that this echo could not have been an artifact."
.................................
"To underscore the importance of (the radarscope photographs), all successive echoes are inside the central zone referred to as the altitude hole, and therefore can only correspond to airborne targets. In addition, the B-52 speed was on average 460 km / h (285 mph), so that the radar target would have to maintain the same velocity in order to remain in the altitude hole (and high-acceleration when it changed position)."
.................................
...within 3 seconds, the echo made an abrupt turn and moved from the aft right to the left of the B-52, traveling 2.09 nm (3.9 km) at an apparent speed of 4600
km/h (2858 mph). The largest dimension of the echo is oriented approximately at right angles to the heading of the B-52.
.................................
...calculations show that the UFO was supersonic during all of its observed flight, which should have produced a loud sonic boom time and again, though none was reported, as is generally the case with other reported supersonic UFOs. Nevertheless, these speeds are clearly beyond all aeronautical developments in 1968.
.................................
The echo that recurs roughly one nautical mile to the left of the B-52 at ~40 degrees, is the only echo that consistently appears in the same place in eight of the photographs. This location of the UFO is also consistent with the documentary evidence, and the testimonies of the B-52 Navigator and Co-pilot."
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