UFOs Buzzed Michigan SAC Base in 1975
USAF vectored Stratotanker to investigate unknown target snooping around nuclear weapons, B-52 bombers at Wurtsmith Air Force Base.
On the evening of November 1, 1975, a UFO buzzed Wurtsmith Air Force Base in Oscoda, Michigan. The encounter was one event in a wave of UFO reports from Strategic Air Command facilities across the United States that fall.
Officers and airmen of the US Air Force encountered odd lights and strange objects maneuvering near nuclear-armed aircraft, nuclear weapons storage areas, and other sensitive locations at four SAC bases across the country. Unidentified objects were reported over Loring Air Force Base in Maine, Minot Air Force Base in North Dakota, Malmstrom Air Force Base in Wyoming, and Wurtsmith Air Force Base in Michigan.
American aviators also saw them flying outside the windows of their aircraft. The events were related by Mr. Bill Konkolesky in his presentation, “UFOs over Michigan,” June 9, 2025 at the Ferndale District Library. Mr. Konkolesky is State Director of MUFON — the Mutual UFO Network, an international volunteer organization investigating the phenomenon since 1969.
More detail follows from the records of NICAP, the National Investigations Committee on Aerial Phenomena, an American volunteer organization established in 1956. Like MUFON today, NICAP gathered and analyzed UFO reports, working to share information about the phenomenon and to convince the government to release information. NICAP disbanded in the early 1980s.
KC-135 Investigates UFO over Michigan
The following statement on the KC-135 encounter with the UFO was given to the 379th Bomb Wing Historian, Staff Sergeant Paul J. Cahill, by Captain Taylor in a "Memo for the Record" dated January 18, 1979:
We were returning from a refueling mission and during our first approach into the traffic pattern, RAPCON vectored us to check out a reported UFO in the area of the Wurtsmith Weapons Storage Area. As I recall, this activity occurred between 10:30 and 11:00 in the evening around the 1st of November.
I remember seeing lights similar to strobe lights which were flashing irregularly. We followed the lights north out over Lake Huron and then the UFO swung south still over the lake toward the Saginaw Bay area of Michigan.
At first it was difficult to determine whether there were two different objects because of the irregular flashing of the lights. But, after observing the lights we determined that there were in fact two objects and the irregular flashing appeared to be some sort of signal being passed from one to the other in an effort to maintain the same position.
We were able to maintain visual contact most of the time and I was only able to paint an object on the radar scope for about 10 seconds. I would estimate that our altitude was about 2,000 feet and our speed approximately 200 knots.
Shortly after turning south in pursuit of the UFO, we called Approach Control and received blanket clearance to follow the UFO at all altitudes and at all vectors.
Occasionally, RAPCON would pick-up the UFO and help us by giving us vectors to the UFO's position.
I would guess that we stayed close to the UFO most of the time, approximately one mile away, and each time we attempted to close on the object it would speed away from us.
We followed the UFO down to Saginaw Bay and started across the Bay when we lost it because of all the fishing boat lights. At first we thought it had landed on one of the large oil tankers but later decided that we had been wrong.
We continued to search the Bay area but didn't see it so we changed our heading for Wurtsmith. On the way back, we picked the UFO up again at our eight o'clock position.
We turned away, and it proceeded to follow us. Finally, we turned back in the direction of the UFO and it really took off back in the direction of the Bay area. I know this might sound crazy, but I would estimate that the UFO sped away from us doing approximately 1,000 knots.
We continued in the direction of the Bay until RAPCON called us again and said they were painting a UFO four to five miles over the coast traveling in a westerly direction. They vectored us to the position of the UFO and we proceeded but at that point we were low on fuel and were forced to return to Wurtsmith.
I remember that while on final approach we saw the lights again near the Weapons Storage Area.
Following the mission we discussed the incident and about a week later, Captain Higginbotham was questioned by the OSI and cautioned not to discuss the incident.
(The preceding report was edited to create paragraphs from the original single block of text. All copy is included from the original, without other change.)
A KC-135 Stratotanker leads a trio of A-10 Thunderbolt II attack fighter jets in formation over Lake St. Clair, near Selfridge Air National Guard Base, on Wednesday, May 13, 2020. The special fly-over by the Michigan Air National Guard cheered people in Detroit and throughout Southeast Michigan during the COVID pandemic.
50 Years On, UFOs Still Buzzing Military
The NICAP Records of the UFO incursions at Wurtsmith are evidence of an ominous and amazing time in our nation’s history. The information they contain also stand as proof that we must take the UFO phenomenon most seriously.
The Wurtsmith KC-135 mission was part of a series of UFO sightings at US military bases with nuclear weapons during in October and November 1975. Wurtsmith Air Force Base stayed on ready alert as a SAC facility until June 30, 1993, when it was ordered to stand down at the end of the Cold War.
Yet 50 years since the Wurtsmith encounter, crews manning vital US military installations, ships at sea, and planes in the air still report encounters with UFO phenomena. And we still don’t know what UFOs are. Moreover, going from recent Congressional hearings and its limited and slanted news coverage, there seems little will be done about the incursions and encounters.