whiteman June 15, 1966

Occurred : 6/15/1966 21:00 (Entered as : 06/15/66 2100CDT)
Reported: 7/30/2001 20:14
Posted: 8/5/2001
Location: Whiteman AFB, MO
Shape: Disk
Duration:2 hours

Military sighting of saucer like object in Missouri

I was in the air force, stationed at Whiteman AFB, working in the command post. At approx. 2100 hours, I received a call from the Wing Security controller asking me to tune my radio to the base frequency. I did and started listening to a series of events that began with a missile site losing power and a strike team being dispatched to the site only to see this saucer shaped device hovering over the site. When the team was ordered to advance onto the site, the device backed away and power returned as soon as it was away from the site.

This happened in the southernmost flight area OF THE MISSILE COMPLEX. THE DEVICE BEGAN A SLOW NORTHERLY ROUTE, TRACKING OVER MISSILE SITES AS IT WENT. EACH TIME IT WOULD CROSS A SITE, THE POWER WOULD BE LOST AND RETURN AS SOON AS IT PASSED AWAY. THE DEVICE CAME NEARLY OVER THE BASE AND WAS VISUALLY SIGHTED BY THE WEATHER OBSERVERS AND CONTROL TOWER PERSONNEL. IT CONTINUED NORTH OUT OF THE WING AREA WITHOUT INCIDENT EXCEPT FOR THE POWER OUTAGES.

I turned all information into the AF Project Blue Book and never heard of the situation again.

(NUFORC Note: We have attempted to telephone this witness, in order to obtain more details, but have been unsuccessful in reaching him, to date. PD)

On June 14, 1961, the US Government announced

that Whiteman would serve as a support base for

the fourth Minuteman strategic missile wing. After

the announcement, there were second thoughts

about the choice as original plans called for launchers

to be spread into the Lake of the Ozarks region. Due

to the terrain inaccessibility and the high water table,

these plans were scrapped. Consequently, when the

final approval came on January 17, 1962, the launchers

were placed in the vicinity of Whiteman, making this

the smallest Minuteman base with regard to area.

In February 1962, the Los Angeles-based Corps of

Engineers Ballistic Missile Construction Office established

a resident office at Whiteman. Meanwhile, the Real

Estate Division of the Corps of Engineers Kansas City

District set up an office in Sedalia to acquire the needed

land. The the firm of Morrison, Hardeman, Perrini, and

Level submitted a low bid of $60.6 million and was

awarded the contract on March 20, 1962. Although

construction commenced on April 2, official groundbreaking

ceremonies occurred on April 14, 1962, with several

congressmen and Governor John Dalton joining military

officials at the event.

The contractors used 168,000 yards of concrete, 25,355

tons of reinforcing steel and 15,120 tons of structural

steel for construction of hardened, underground launch

facilities and 15 launch control centers. The project

called for the excavation of 867,000 cubic yards of earth

and rock. In addition, the project called for the installation

of a vast underground intersite cable network. If laid end to

end in a straight line, this cable would stretch from

Whiteman AFB to 100 miles beyond Los Angeles.

Construction of the complex was officially completed in

June 1964.

The enormity of the ensuing construction effort

encompassed not only installing 150 silos and 15 launch

control complexes but also constructing/reconstructing

numerous roads and bridges throughout rural western

Missouri. The ‘Hardened Intersite Cable System,” measuring

some 1,777 miles, connected the launch control centers

and required land rights-of-entry from more than 6,000

landowners.

During construction, management-labor relations were

described as “excellent.” With the exception of ironworkers,

the local region supplied the project’s manpower needs.

There were five work stoppages, of which three involved

union jurisdiction disputes. The Federal Mediation and

Conciliation Service resolved one dispute while the others

were handled at lower levels. In addition, there were only

11 “time-lost” injuries; no fatalities.

On June 10, 1963, the Army Corps of Engineers and

civilian construction contractors turned the first flight of

silos over to the Air Force Site Activation Task Force

(SATAF). Over the next 5 months SATAF received

responsibility for making final installations on the rest

of the silos in preparation for final turnover to SAC. The

keys to the final flight of silos were turned over to SATAN

and the integration contractor (Boeing) on November

26, 1963.

The first Minuteman I missile arrived from the Boeing

plant at Hill AFB, Utah, on January 14, 1964. Soon the

holes dotting the Missouri landscape were filled with

ICBMs. By June 29, 1964, the last flight of missiles went

on alert status, making the 351st a fully operational

strategic missile wing.

Beginning on May 7, 1966, and throughout the rest of

1966 and into 1967, the Air Force replaced the

Minuteman I “B’s” with Minuteman 11s. The completed

transition in October 1967 gave the 351st SMW the

distinction of being the first wing to complete the Force

Modernization Program. One of the retired Minuteman Is

eventually found its way to a Bicentennial Peace Park

located on base.

Before completion of the construction, SAC activated the

351st Strategic Missile Wing at Whiteman on Feb. 1, 1963.

The 340th BMW gradually phased out operations during

the same year with its remnants transferring to Bergstrom

AFB, Texas, on Sept. 1, 1963.

After the mission change in 1963, life on Whiteman remained

relatively stable throughout the 1960s and 1970s. Still, there

were programs to continually update and improve the base's

weapons systems. Whiteman initially employed the

Minuteman I weapons system until the mid-1960s when a

force modernization program converted the Minuteman I to

the Minuteman II.