Ellsworth Air Force Base
LocationMilitary BaseEllsworth Air Force Base
LocationMilitary BaseEllsworth Air Force Base near Rapid City, South Dakota, is a B-1 bomber base and former Minuteman missile wing, tied to the disputed 1977 Ellsworth UFO incident.
Ellsworth Air Force Base near Rapid City, South Dakota, is a B-1 bomber base and former Minuteman missile wing, tied to the disputed 1977 Ellsworth UFO incident.
Ellsworth Air Force Base is a U.S. Air Force installation about ten miles northeast of Rapid City, South Dakota, near the town of Box Elder. Established in 1942 as Rapid City Army Air Base, it was renamed in 1953 for Brig. Gen. Richard E. Ellsworth, who was killed in the crash of an RB-36 reconnaissance bomber. Its host unit, the 28th Bomb Wing, has flown the B-1B Lancer since 1987 and now falls under Air Force Global Strike Command, and in 2019 the base was chosen to receive the first operational B-21 Raider stealth bombers, expected from 2027.
For three decades the base also controlled nuclear missiles. The 44th Strategic Missile Wing, activated in 1962, operated Titan I missiles and then Minuteman I and II missiles from launch facilities scattered across western South Dakota until the wing was inactivated in 1994. Security police patrolled those remote sites around the clock. The base itself survived a 2005 Pentagon recommendation to close it when the base-closure commission voted to keep it open.
Those missile fields are the setting of the 1977 Ellsworth AFB UFO incident. Former security airmen Mario Woods and Michael Johnson say that in November 1977, which Woods dates to the 18th, they responded to an alarm at a launch facility designated November-5, saw a large white object hovering near the silo, encountered figures near their truck, and lost hours of time. Parts of the account emerged under hypnotic regression, and no Air Force record of the event has been published. A separate document describing an intrusion at another site, Lima-9, two days earlier, is often merged with the story, though investigator Bob Pratt judged it a hoax in 1984.
The case returned to prominence in 2025 and 2026 through journalist Jesse Michels, who reunited Woods and Johnson for American Alchemy and discussed the case on the Joe Rogan Experience. Ellsworth's significance is as an active bomber base whose missile-era history anchors one of the most widely discussed claims of UAP activity near U.S. nuclear weapons, alongside the 1967 Malmstrom incident in neighboring Montana.
I was saddened to hear today that Mario Woods has passed away. My thoughts are with his family and everyone who knew him. In November 1977, Mario and fellow Air Force security policeman Michael Johnson said they responded to an alarm at a Minuteman launch site near Ellsworth. Mario described an enormous light descending over their truck, wider than the fence line. Their account includes at least five hours they couldn’t explain. They described being questioned separately afterward. They would...
Mario Woods was a great man RIP 💔🙏 https://t.co/VV78inDNNX [Quoted] Mario Woods & Michael Johnson were abducted by a UFO at Ellsworth Air Force Base in South Dakota 1977. Today they meet for the first time in almost 50 years. History is made https://t.co/KN1jKOwSkr
Mario Woods has tragically passed away. Retired U.S. Air Force Staff Sergeant Mario Woods was witness to the 1977 UFO and abduction encounter at Ellsworth Air Force Base in South Dakota. Our thoughts & prayers are with Mario Woods Family 🙏🫂 https://t.co/Xuc8mx2h2P
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[Retweeted] The Disclosure Foundation asks our community to join us in supporting Mario Woods as he battles acute myeloid leukemia. Mario is a U.S. Air Force veteran who has courageously shared his account of a profound 1977 UAP encounter while serving at Ellsworth Air Force Base. His willingness to speak publicly about his experience has made his voice familiar to many in the UAP community. Today, Mario and his family need our support. As he undergoes treatment, his family is facing the cost...
[Retweeted] The Disclosure Foundation asks our community to join us in supporting Mario Woods as he battles acute myeloid leukemia. Mario is a U.S. Air Force veteran who has courageously shared his account of a profound 1977 UAP encounter while serving at Ellsworth Air Force Base. His willingness to speak publicly about his experience has made his voice familiar to many in the UAP community. Today, Mario and his family need our support. As he undergoes treatment, his family is facing the cost...
Probed ingest of: Joe Rogan Experience #2560 - David Grusch
Mario Woods’ Shocking UFO Encounter at Ellsworth Air Force Base
RT @InterstellarUAP: 🚨 The 2nd witness to the Mario Woods 1977 Ellsworth AFB UFO Incident in South Dakota has been located. His name is M…
