Belt / Frenchman’s Coulee UFO Report

“Hastings describes the March 24/25 Belt report, notes contemporary Great Falls coverage, and cites a declassified Air Force telex confirming that the Cascade County Sheriff’s Office notified Malmstrom.”

“Jamison later told Hastings that command-post radio traffic about a canyon UFO and Air Force vehicles near Frenchman’s Coulee occurred on the same night his team responded to Oscar. Klotz cautioned that decades-old memories might have compressed separate events; Salas later considered March 24 plausible.”

“Williams reportedly described a bright dome-like object descending into a deep ravine near Belt, later rising silently, moving, and apparently landing again before departing.”

“Faded Giant reproduces Kenneth C. Williams's April 7, 1967 NICAP report. Williams said that at about 9 p.m. on March 24 he saw a large dome-shaped or headlight-like luminous object near Belt, Montana, watched it pace his truck, later hover low over a gully, descend to within what he believed were a few feet of the ground, flare brightly several times, depart rapidly, reappear farther away and apparently descend again.”

“Williams stated that officers later told him there were freshly broken tree limbs and branches in the area where he first saw the object. The chapter does not present an authenticated field report, photographs, chain of custody or analysis of those alleged traces.”

“The chapter cites Highway Patrolman Bud Nader as arriving during the object's reported second appearance and seeing a light near the top of the hill that then went down and out of sight.”

“Salas and Klotz reproduce a report by Lt. Col. Lewis D. Chase, Chief Operations Division at Malmstrom, recording that the base Command Post received a reported UFO landing near Belt at 2205, checked aircraft movements, coordinated with Cascade County authorities, sent Chase, a helicopter officer and an alert photographer to the scene, planned a daylight ground/helicopter search, and prepared notifications under AFR 80-17 including the Air Force Chief of Staff.”

“Chase's reproduced chronology records numerous additional sightings between 0230 and 0340 and states that the sheriff's ground search and Malmstrom aerial survey were completed by 0800 with negative results.”

“The chapter cites a Great Falls Leader report stating that early on March 25 Airman Richard Moore plotted an unidentified object on radar northeast of Malmstrom, that FAA radar also detected a target, that Airman Warren Johnson visually reported a bright object with orange lights, and that Moore later personally saw another object after a Security Alert Team report. The newspaper account describes radar tracking from roughly 0310/0345 until 0426 at a slow southeastward speed.”

“The authors state that a later FOIA request sought 341st Strategic Missile Wing and related records, including messages and alert-photographer images concerning the March 24-25 activity, and that the Air Force Historical Research Agency replied that it could locate no such records.”

“Salas and Klotz conclude that the reports from February 8 through March 25 form a continuum showing UFO presence around Malmstrom and its missile facilities during the period of the shutdowns. The chapter does not demonstrate that all reported objects were identical or that the Belt/March 25 activity caused any missile malfunction.”

“Appendix E reproduces the Project Blue Book record for the March 24 Belt report. Its brief summary records Williams's claim of a bright dome-shaped object descending into a ravine but states that attempts to locate a landing site were inconclusive, that ground and air searches were negative and that no evidence was discovered indicating a craft had landed; the record nevertheless lists the case conclusion as UNIDENTIFIED.”

“Appendix E reproduces Lt. Col. Lewis D. Chase's investigation chronology: Malmstrom was notified of a reported landing, Chase traveled to the scene with a helicopter officer and alert photographer, numerous additional sightings were reported between about 0230 and 0340, notifications were prepared under AFR 80-17, and by 0800 the sheriff's ground search and Malmstrom aerial survey had been completed with negative results.”