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/index/1953-08-05-ellsworth-afb-ufo-incident-rapid-city-south-dakota-usaMILITARY & RADAR

Ellsworth AFB UFO Incident

DATE5 Aug 1953
LOCAL TIME8:05 PM
LOCATIONRapid City, South Dakota, USA, United States
COORDINATES44.05°N, 103.31°W

Multiple military and civilian witnesses observed unusual aerial objects near Ellsworth Air Force Base. Radar stations tracked the objects, and an F-84 fighter was scrambled. Edward Ruppelt, director of Project Blue Book, described this as 'the best UFO report in the Air Force files.'

[ PRIMARY CITATION // COMPILED REFERENCE · CTD-0087 ]

WITNESSES & UNITS

Capt. Edward J. Ruppelt

SENSORS & EVIDENCE

Ground / airborne radar track
Archived investigative case file

## RELATED FILES

ls /index?cat=mil →
1953-11-23Kinross Incident (F-89 Disappearance)Lake Superior, Michigan, USA, United StatesCTD-0089 →1953-01-01Air Force Regulation 200-2: The 1953 UFO Reporting and Public-Release RuleLocation unrecordedCTD-0082 →1952-07-261952 Washington D.C. UFO Incident (Second Wave)Washington, D.C., USA, United StatesCTD-0079 →