Patrick D. McCaslin Interview, 11 November 2000

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PMI have no idea... I don't know what SSO stands for.
JKYeah... I don't know [either]... it's from AFSSO Foreign Technology Division, Wright-Patterson AFB, which is where Blue Book was at to SSO SAC, and it's from Lt Col Quintanella who was the head of the Project Blue Book at that time. And it says: [reading from TELEX]

"Reference our TELECON with regards to Minot AFB UFO's. It is my feelings, after reviewing preliminary information submitted by Monot [sic], that UFO painted by B-52 on radar and also observed visually by IP and personnel on ground is most probably a plasma of the ball-lightning class. Plasmas of this type will paint on radar and affect some electronic equipment at certain frequencies. Plasmas are not uncommon."

But then they go on to say that even though the reports are very clear that, you know, fourteen different missile security guys were watching you fly around and seeing you, some of them saw you and the object at the same time.

PMWell, I was told that the Air Police did too.
JKRight, their handwritten reports are in this stuff. It says they're reporting that they see the B-52 and the object, and they see this object descend, and they can see a glow from the ground at the position that you guys flew over, so these guys at one of the missile silos, they'd been sent out to a missile silo or seen a glow just over the horizon, and it's the same position you guys flew over, and then they're looking at Venus.
PMWell, after the debriefing, I can remember comments of some of the other crewmembers, there was always an explanation that it was something other than what we thought we saw, you know, and I remember commenting, "Boy, I'd like to see them explain this one because there was just so many independent sightings of this thing all at the same time," and I can't wait to see what they say. You've got radar, visuals from the same aircraft, AP's and Missileers all at the same time watching this thing, and that's why until you called, I hadn't thought about it in years and years, but initially I thought: "boy this is going to be quite a story" because I don't know how you can explain it, and it just kinda went away, I mean, nothing ever happened.

Well, you know, years after this happened, and again it's come up in my memory from time to time, but less so as the years went on. I was at the Pentagon, and ran into my Radar Navigator after years of never seeing him, Chuck Ritchie. He was on his way to be the DO at a Wing out in California, and subsequently became a Commander down in San Antonio.

JKThat's Lackland?

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