On April 12, 2026, NUFORC received a report from an 80-year-old retired US Air Force radar maintenance technician describing an event he witnessed at Fortuna Air Force Station in spring 1967. The object moved at approximately 5,000 mph — faster than any documented aircraft operating in 1967. Within 24–48 hours, a team from Malmstrom Air Force Base arrived and told every witness they hadn’t seen anything.
The Equipment and the Station
Fortuna AFS was located in the far upper northwest corner of North Dakota, near the Canadian and Montana borders. It was part of the 78th Air Defense Command and the SAGE (Semi-Automated Ground Environment) network — the Cold War radar infrastructure linking stations and computers to detect incoming Soviet bombers. The station operated the AN/FPS-35 search radar, with a dish 128 feet across, and the AN/FPS-26 height finder. The witness had been trained specifically to operate and maintain the FPS-26 and arrived at Fortuna in October 1966.
The Event
The witness was off duty, playing cards with radar operators in the Operations Center. A call came in from Minot AFS to the southeast. Radar operator Lenny Kemp looked at the scope and called out. The target was crossing the scope at a speed no conventional aircraft could produce — the witness estimated approximately 5,000 mph based on the scope display. The object moved in a north-northwest direction. The witness attempted to acquire it on the height finder but could not track it because it was moving too fast. Multiple personnel in the Operations Center witnessed the radar return.
The Malmstrom Response
Within one to two days of the sighting, a team from Malmstrom AFB arrived at Fortuna and interrogated the witnesses. Their message was explicit: “they basically told us we didn’t see anything.” The witness stated: “We all knew what we saw.” The Malmstrom team’s arrival is significant context. Malmstrom AFB in Montana is the site of the March 1967 Echo Flight incident — when ten nuclear-armed Minuteman ICBMs were simultaneously disabled in their silos while UFOs were observed near the launch control facilities. The Fortuna event occurred in spring 1967, placing it within weeks of the Malmstrom missile silo shutdowns. Minot AFB, which initiated the call that triggered the Fortuna radar tracking, was the site of its own missile silo UAP incident in 1968.
NUFORC Investigation
NUFORC investigator Jim Clarkson, with 40 years of investigative experience, began communicating with the witness on April 16, 2026. The witness — now 80, a Michigan resident, with a four-year USAF enlistment from 1965–1969 followed by 42 years at General Motors in engineering positions — provided details that were independently verified as consistent and credible. The specific radar systems, unit designations, station locations, and operational context all checked out. The case is classified as previously unknown — distinct from the documented Malmstrom and Minot incidents despite the evident operational connection.
Source: nuforc.org/fortuna-radar-case. Published May 1, 2026. NUFORC investigator Jim Clarkson report.