What happened
On the evening of October 27, 1975, personnel at Loring Air Force Base in Maine, home to B-52 bombers, noticed a low-flying object with flashing lights circling over the nuclear weapons storage area. Radar tracked it for about 40 minutes. The next night the phenomenon recurred, and witnesses described an object the size of several cars with colored lights hovering low over the base. The base was placed on heightened alert, but the object could not be identified. In the following weeks similar incidents were recorded at Wurtsmith Air Force Base in Michigan, Malmstrom in Montana, and Minot in North Dakota. The affair came to light only in the late 1970s, thanks to documents obtained under the Freedom of Information Act.
Witnesses
Security personnel, control tower staff, and radar operators at Loring and other Strategic Air Command bases.
Explanations and hypotheses
In declassified documents the military describes the objects as unidentified helicopters or aircraft of undetermined origin and considers the threat of sabotage. Skeptics suggest private helicopters, smugglers, or jittery sentries. Ufologists regard the series of incidents as evidence of UFO interest in nuclear weapons. The culprits were never identified.
Unexplained There is no convincing explanation.