Loring AFB overflights
- Date
- 27 Oct 1975
- Place
- Weapons storage area, Loring Air Force Base, Limestone, Maine, United States
- Record
- Curated case
- Assessment
- Unexplained
- Evidence strength
What was reported
On 27 and 28 October 1975 security police and tower personnel at Loring, a Strategic Air Command B-52 base, reported a low-flying, lit aircraft that penetrated the northern perimeter, came within 300 yards of the nuclear weapons storage area and was tracked on radar circling for about 40 minutes before leaving towards New Brunswick; the base stayed on a high state of alert until morning, and inquiries through the Maine State Police and others failed to identify it. Teletype messages to the National Military Command Center, the Air Force Chief of Staff and Strategic Air Command reported further visits and described an unidentified helicopter and an 'unknown entity'. The released records name no identification; an unauthorised helicopter is the explanation most often proposed.
What officials concluded
Unresolved
Unidentified helicopter (base messages); no identification made
Strongest ordinary reading
Unauthorised helicopter overflights, possibly for surveillance or smuggling; never identified
Evidence profile
- Yes: Visual
- No: Infrared
- Yes: Radar
- No: Video
- No: Photo
- No: Film
- No: Audio
- No: Night vision
- No: Other sensor
- No: Civilian
- No: Military aircrew
- Yes: Military ground
- No: Airline crew
- Yes: Sensor operator
- No: Law enforcement
- No: Scientist
- No: Astronaut
- No: Intelligence official
- No: Other
- Yes: Light only
- No: Orb or sphere
- No: Disc
- No: Triangle
- No: Cylinder
- No: Cube
- No: Other shape
- No: Physiological
- No: Physical trace
- No: Electromagnetic
- No: Sound
- No: Silent
Outside sources
- Wikipedia: Loring Air Force Base (1975 incursions)en.wikipedia.org
On the map
46.95° N, 67.89° W, plotted at the site
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