Dyess AFB weapons storage incident (1973)
From the UAP Encyclopedia, the open encyclopedia of UFO and UAP history · 🗓️ Event
Contents 8
| Date | October 1973 |
|---|---|
| Topics | Crashes & retrievals (topic), Beings & bodies (topic), Nuclear & missile sites (topic) |
| People | Michael Jenkins, Robert Hastings |
| Testimony | Shellenberger testimony, p. 76 |
| Year | 1973 in UFO history |
| Timeline | 1973 on the UAP Timeline |
| Sources | 4 |
The Dyess AFB incident is an account by former Air Force security policeman Michael Jenkins of a glowing object that hovered over the nuclear weapons storage area at Dyess Air Force Base in Abilene, Texas, in about October 1973, and was fired on. It was published by researcher Robert Hastings; no official record of it has been found.[1]
The base
Dyess was a Strategic Air Command base housing nuclear-armed B-52 bombers. Its weapons were kept in bunkers ("igloos") in a weapons storage area run by the 96th Munitions Maintenance Squadron. Jenkins, then an E-4 sergeant in the 96th Security Police Squadron, worked at a secondary security control centre nearby.[1]
Jenkins's account
Jenkins said the munitions area became much brighter than usual. He heard a second-hand description of a large ball of light hovering about 150–200 feet above the igloos, and three dog-handler teams on the perimeter reported their dogs frightened and were pulled back. Over the radio he heard about a dozen armed security police sent to the area and an order — which he understood came from SAC headquarters at Offutt Air Force Base — to fire on the object. Seconds later he heard gunfire across the base and saw a bluish-white light streak away to the southwest over the end of the runway. A C-130 crew was reportedly diverted to fly over the area.[1]
Aftermath
According to Jenkins, the object left a fibrous substance like "angel hair" Christmas decoration on ropes and buildings from the weapons area to the southwest perimeter, which dissolved after rain three days later. He said he saw a classified message the next day saying the Texas Department of Public Safety had taken samples, and recalled a later message calling the material "not of this world". Personnel were told to tell no one, under threat of court-martial.[1]
Reporting
Jenkins left the Air Force in 1974. He contacted the Center for UFO Studies in 1977, which took no action, and in 2015 sent the account to MUFON. At Hastings's request he provided his discharge papers to confirm his assignment and named others involved, whom Hastings said he would try to find. Much of the account is second-hand, and no documentation has been published. It is one of many nuclear-site stories Hastings has gathered, several of which were presented at a 2010 press conference in Washington.[1][2]
People and topics
- Unidentified anomalous phenomena — The U.S. government's current term for unidentified objects in the air, in space and underwater.
- Michael Jenkins — Air Force security policeman who described a 1973 incident at Dyess AFB.
- U.S. Air Force — The U.S. military service that ran the official UFO projects from 1947 to 1969.
- Strategic Air Command — The Air Force command that controlled U.S. nuclear bombers and missiles.
- Robert Hastings — Researcher who has collected accounts of UFOs at nuclear weapons sites, author of UFOs and Nukes.
- Center for UFO Studies — The research center founded by J. Allen Hynek in 1973.
- MUFON — The largest civilian UFO organization in the United States.
On the Timeline
- Great Lakes shoot-down claim (1973) (June 1973) — A Navy instructor claims a UAP was shot down by a missile and secretly moved by rail to Great Lakes.
- Pascagoula abduction (11 October 1973) — Charles Hickson and Calvin Parker say they were taken aboard a craft near Pascagoula, Mississippi.
See every 1973 event on the UAP Timeline →
References
- Robert Hastings, "UFO fired upon as it hovered over nuclear bomb storage facility" · ufohastings.com · archived copy
- "UFOs visited nuclear weapons sites, former Air Force officers say", History News Network (Sep 2010) · historynewsnetwork.org · archived copy
- 579th Strategic Missile Squadron Atlas F sites, Walker AFB · atlasmissilesilo.com · archived copy
- ufohastings.com · ufohastings.com · archived copy
Further reading
- U.S. congressional hearings on UFOs — Wikipedia · en.wikipedia.org · archived copy
This page was last edited on 29 October 2026. Articles are written in our own words from the sources listed under References; disputed claims are attributed to the people who made them.
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