Kinross UFO Incident — Avenger Black: The Second Aircraft and Post-Merger Response

Kinross UFO Incident — Avenger Black: The Second Aircraft and Post-Merger Response

Overview

A critical but frequently underreported element of the Kinross incident is that a second aircraft was airborne over Lake Superior during the same period as Avenger Red — and that at least one subsequent aircraft was also launched after the merger event. The existence of these secondary aircraft and their reported experiences adds important texture to the evidentiary record.

Avenger Black: Lieutenant Mingenbach

As documented in the original incident records, Lieutenant William Mingenbach*** was in the second five-minute alert aircraft at Kinross when Avenger Red launched at 6:22 PM. Shortly after the primary scramble:

• Mingenbach requested and received permission to go on a Combat Air Patrol (CAP) mission*** under the call sign Avenger Black***
• He was airborne by approximately 7:15 PM***
• At 7:18 PM*** he contacted NAPLES by radio and was directed to a heading of 330 degrees at 20,000 feet

The timeline places Avenger Black in the air in the same general area after Avenger Red had already launched but before the merger event. When radar contact was lost with Avenger Red, Avenger Black was redirected toward the last known position.

The Transmission Claim

According to records of the post-merger response, after radar contact was lost with Avenger Red, two more F-89Cs were deployed from Kinross — designated Avenger Black*** and Avenger Purple*** — to attempt raising Avenger Red on the radio and locate the aircraft.

In a particularly haunting detail reported in accounts of the search: approximately 40 minutes after the last radar contact***, one of the pilots and their radio operator allegedly heard a short transmission that was recognized as Moncla's voice***. No further contact was made. The content of this alleged transmission has not been publicly documented.

If this account is accurate — and it remains unverified — it represents the last possible communication from Moncla or from the aircraft. It also complicates the timeline: if Moncla's voice was heard 40 minutes after the radar merger, it implies the crew survived the merger event for some period before final loss of contact. This detail is consistent with neither a simple crash (in which no further transmission would be expected) nor with an immediate catastrophic event.

The Fuel Calculation

Ground controllers tracked the timeline carefully after the merger event. The record notes that 72 minutes after the last radar contact***, Avenger Red would officially have exhausted its fuel supply. At that point, whatever remained of the aircraft — if it had not already crashed — would no longer be airworthy.

This fuel calculation was the point at which hope of a mechanical survival (the aircraft circling beyond radar range, crew surviving but unable to communicate) was formally extinguished and the missing aircraft declaration became official.

Significance

The Avenger Black and Avenger Purple launches, the possible Moncla voice transmission, and the 72-minute fuel calculation collectively establish that the post-merger response was organized, documented, and executed according to standard Air Defense Command protocols. The absence of any successful contact or location of wreckage by these secondary aircraft — flying in the same area within a short time of the merger event — reinforces the absence of evidence as genuinely anomalous rather than simply the result of inadequate response.