August 24, 1966 — SE of Norma, ND
10:00 p.m. Airman 3d Class Michael D. Mueller reports by base radio seeing a multicolored light high in the sky above the Minot AFB M-6 Minuteman launch site southeast of Norma, North Dakota. A team goes to his location and confirms the object and sees a second white object passing in front of clouds.
The base radar detects the object, which is tracked at about 100,000 feet (20 miles). The object rises and descends a number of times, and each time Maj. Chester A. Shaw Jr., in charge of the M-6 missile crew, finds his radio transmission interrupted by static, even though he is 60 feet underground.
The UFO gradually descends to ground level 10–15 miles south of the base. The Air Force sends a strike team to check on it. When they are within 10 miles of the site, static disrupts their radio contact. Five to eight minutes later, the glow diminishes and the UFO takes off. Another UFO is sighted and tracked on radar; the first object flies underneath this second one. The two objects disappear separately. The entire episode lasts about 4 hours and is confirmed by two other missile launch sites, M-4 and N-7 (near Mohall). Another report from the same time period mentions that some missiles went off alert for 24 hours after a UFO sighting at the N-1 missile alert facility. [Eberhart] Watch my in-depth lecture on this case on YT.
Record Card:
UFO Report:
Meyer Report:
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Sources:
“Minot Launch Control Center ‘Saucer’ Cited As One Indication of Outer Space Visitors,” The Minot (N.Dak) Daily News, December 6, 1966, pp. 1-2;
J. Allen Hynek, “Are Flying Saucers Real?,” Saturday Evening Post, December 30, 1966, p. 17;
Jay David, The Flying Saucer Reader, 1967, pp. 213-214;
Probe 4, No. 1 (Spring 1967): 28; [Quoting SatEvPost]
“Air Force sternly denies UFO Minuteman incident,” Christian Science Monitor, December 5, 1973, p. 8;
Edward Condon, Final report of the scientific study of unidentified flying objects conducted by the University of Colorado, pp. 274–277;
Raymond E. Fowler, UFOs: Interplanetary Visitors, Bantam Books, 1979, pp. 285-287;
Brad Sparks, Blue Books Unknowns Catalogue, Case 1691, p. 317;
Robert L. Salas and James Klotz, Faded Giant, BookSurge, 2005, pp. 4–11;
Robert Hastings, UFOs and Nukes, 2ED, pp. 238–240, 248–251; [1ED pp. 225-227,232-233]
Jacques Vallée, Passport to Magonia: A Century of Landings, p. 335; [Case 791]
“UFO at Minuteman site?,” Flying Saucers, Winter 1974, pp. 22-23;
R. Perry Collins, “UFO Intervention — The Possibility,” Pursuit 19, No. 2 (Whole No. 74, Second Quarter 1986): 68;
Aleksandr Kuzovkin, Aleksandr Semyonov, “UFOS AND SECURITY,” Australian UFO Bulletin (June 1991): 22; [Abridged translation of Russian article in SOVIET MIUTARY REVIEW, June 1989]
Raymond E. Fowler, UFO Testament: Anatomy of an Abductee, 2002, pp. 281-282;
Richard Dolan, UFOs and the National Security State – Chronology of a Cover-up 1941-1973, 2002, pp. 307, 413;
Robert L. Hastings, “Remarkable Reports from the Missile Field,” IUR 32, no. 1 (August 2008): 24-25; [David Schuur event]
NICAP, “Minuteman Site Jammed by UFO”;
“Former Missile Officer: UFO Whistleblower Demonstrates ‘Tremendous Courage,’” Minot (N.Dak.) Daily News, June 17, 2023;
“UFO Hovered Near Missile Launch Control Center at Minot AFB,” UFOs & Nukes, September 19, 2012;
“UFO Buzzes ICBM Launch Capsule at Minot AFB,” UFOs & Nukes, January 26, 2012; [Larry Manross ~1967 event, same as Fowler’s March 5, 1967?]
“Launch in Progress!,” UFOs & Nukes, July 15, 2008; [David Schuur Minot AFB event]
“Did a UFO Attempt to Launch Minot AFB ICBMs?,” Did It Really Happen? blog, December 3, 2010; [Reply to Hasting’s Launch in Progresss! about Schuur story]
NUFORC UFO Sighting 127339; [David Schindale event]
David D. Schindele, “It Never Happened”: U.S. Air Force UFO Cover-up Revealed, Volume 1, EdgarRock, 2017;
“The Mike-6 Incident | Jeff Knox (Ufos #10, August 18, 2024),” Ufo Sunset YouTube channel, August 27, 2024;
“Documentary Brings UFOs to a Close Encounter,” Minot (N.Dak.) Daily News, January 4, 2025;
C. S. Hagen, “1966 Encounter Prompts Challenge: ‘Come On Out and Tell the Truth,’” Detroit Lakes (Minn.) Tribune, February 5, 2025;