Mystery boom mystery widening now to 11 booms

At least eleven military explosions have occurred Monday and Tuesday, a minimum of ten large-caliber ammunition ground-rattling explosions from a Louisiana Military Department bomb recycling plant in the northwestern Louisiana forcing evacuations of at least 600 students, over 400 prisoners and 800 residents of Doyline, and one militaryexplosion injuring a man in Alabama.

"[C]itizens were shaken out of bed and windows were shattered during the late night hours Oct. 15," according to Accuweather.

Jesse Ferrell with Accuweather pulled 3D radar images from GRLevelX software this morning of the "mystery object."

The blast and resulting fire at the underground Explo Systems site at Camp Minden resulted in authorities asking residents of the eastern section of Doyline to leave the area, according to AP.

After the initial blast, more explosions followed about every 10 minutes as the fire was allowed to burn, AP says.

The units where the explosions reportedly cam from are self-contained, partially underground and designed to send any blast upward and not outward to minimalize damage.

Windows shattered in Dixie Inn and Minden.

Sheriff Gary Sexton said home video surveillance cameras as far as 25 miles away captured the sound of the explosion and a glow in the sky.

Officials say they have no idea what caused it to blow.

Explo Systems opened its site in January with a military contract to disassemble bombs and recycle bomb components. It has had other recent explosions at Camp Minden.

The National Guard oversees Camp Minden, its newest military training site.

Camp Minden is a former Louisiana Army Ammunition Plant that produced large-caliber ammunition for the military until closing in 1994.

The facility says on its website:

In 1941, the Federal Government acquired 15,868 acres of farms, farmland and private lands for construction of The Louisiana Army Ammunition Plant (LAAP). In January 2005 the entire area that formally belonged to the U.S. Government as LAAP totaling 14,995 acres was deeded over to the State of Louisiana under the control of the Louisiana Military Department.

"Louisiana took the site over from the federal government last year and it is now occupied by several businesses," says AP.

According to many residents, something come down instead of something blow up.

Louisiana mystery boom identified as military bunker

Click to enlarge

A bunker at a northern Louisiana military compound exploded late Monday, briefly prompting speculation that the loud boom and shaking ground had been caused by meteorite .

Webster Parish officials confirmed Tuesday that the mysterious incident was a “contained” explosion at Camp Minden, a north Louisiana National Guard training site.

“The bunker did exactly what it was designed to do," said Webster Parish Sheriff's Chief Deputy Bobby Igo, Jr. "There were no injuries - nobody hurt. We don't know the cause at this point,” he told the Minden Press-Herald.

Residents had been scrambling to figure out what caused the massive boom, which broke windows and rattled homes and businesses around 11:30 pm CST. The blast shook a five mile area from Minden to Dixie Inn, about 30 miles from Shreveport.

Witnesses also reported seeing a flash of light.

The U.S. Geological Survey had no reports of earthquakes in the area and natural gas plants in the region said they had not suffered any explosions.

Some local officials guessed the incident could have been caused by a meteorite, noting that the Earth is currently being peppered by a meteor shower spawned by the famous Halley’s Comet.

But a NASA official told the Daily News the space agency was doubtful a meteorite caused the damage and did not expect to investigate.

“They hit everywhere, all the time,” NASA spokesman Steve Cole said of meteorites.

Finally, by Tuesday morning, Camp Minden confirmed they had been the source of the blast, which is still under investigation.  The bunker belongs to a company called Explo, officials said.

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/military-explosion-shakes-louisiana-article-1.1184633#ixzz29Tv0eQx5

Mystery flash and boom rocks western Louisiana

WEBSTER PARISH, LA (KSLA) - Webster Parish Sheriff Gary Sexton tells us they "definitely had something happen" in Webster Parish Monday night.  Sheriff Sexton confirms all of the explosion manufacturing facilities and natural gas facilities in Webster Parish have been ruled out as the source.

Sheriff Sexton adds that there is a "possibility that a meteor did hit the ground" in the area, but deputies have not pinpointed an exact location.  He does suspect it happened in a secluded area between Minden and Dixie Inn.

Sheriff Sexton said, first thing Tuesday morning, he will dispatch helicopters in the air to look for any damage.

KSLA News 12 viewer Shana Levick tells us she was driving on I-20 by Dixie Inn when she saw the sky light up a bright orange color.  She said she could see what appeared to be small fire sparks above the tree lines.

Another witness near Dixie Inn told KSLA News 12 photographer Cody Jennings that he saw something flash across the sky streaming from the west or southwest direction.  That witness also reported seeing a bright flash that lasted for a while.

Authorities are investigating a loud boom that shook homes across Northwest Louisiana Monday night.

We are getting reports that people heard an explosion just before 11:30 p.m. from areas including: Minden, Doyline, Haughton, South Bossier and Shreveport.  Callers are also reporting seeing a bright light flash in the sky when they heard the boom. Officials with the Webster Parish Sheriff's Office tell us they have crews searching for the source of the noise.

This story is developing. We will update this story as we learn more.

Copyright 2012 KSLA. All rights reserved.

Chuck celebrates 65th Anniversary of going supersonic - by going supersonic.

Sixty-five years after becoming the first human to fly faster than the speed of sound, retired Air Force Brig. Gen. Chuck Yeager is still making noise.

This time the 89-year-old Yeager, who was featured in the movie "The Right Stuff," flew in the back seat Sunday of an F-15 Eagle instead of the experimental rocket plane, Bell X-1, he piloted on the historic flight.

'He's in the back seat where the instructor pilot sits because he's the elder statesman.'

- Victoria Yeager, Chuck's wife

The F-15 took off from Nellis Air Force Base near Las Vegas and broke the sound barrier at more than 30,000 feet above California's Mojave Desert where Yeager achieved the feat on Oct. 14, 1947.

Asked by a young girl afterward if he was scared, Yeager joked, "Yeah, I was scared to death."

But the legendary pilot said he continues to fly all the time and it was just another flight to him.

The flight went smoothly, and Yeager flew the F-15 as it took off and landed, said Airman Timothy Young, a Nellis spokesman. The plane was piloted by Capt. David Vincent of the 65th Aggressor Squadron at Nellis.

The aircraft broke the sound barrier at 10:24 a.m. Sunday, exactly 65 years to the minute the then-Air Force test pilot made history. At the time, the F-15 was flying over Muroc Dry Lake in California where he accomplished the feat in 1947.

On that earlier flight, Yeager took off from the Air Force test center at Muroc Field, now Edwards Air Force Base, Calif.

Yeager told reporters on Sunday that he remains grateful for what his Air Force service allowed him to achieve. He has flown more than 350 kinds of planes around the world.

"It was a great honor to have him fly out of Nellis," Young said. "We pride ourselves on training fighter pilots and to have someone of his caliber here is such an honor."

Yeager's wife, Victoria, said he had been looking forward to re-enacting the historic flight.

"This is so cool. I'm excited," she told the Las Vegas Review-Journal. "He's in the back seat where the instructor pilot sits because he's the elder statesman."

On the anniversary of the historic flight last year, Yeager flew an F-16 to reach Mach 1, the speed of sound.

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/us/2012/10/14/8-year-old-chuck-yeager-flies-again-re-enacts-sound-barrier-flight-on-its-65th/#ixzz29KPSclzM

Sub & Aegis cruiser try and occupy same space at same time - collide

By The Associated Press

NORFOLK, Va. October 14, 2012 (AP)

The Pentagon said late Saturday that it is investigating why a Navy submarine collided with an Aegis cruiser off the East Coast.

The U.S. Fleet Forces Command said in a news release that the submarine USS Montpelier and the Aegis cruiser USS San Jacinto collided at about 3:30 p.m. during routine operations. No one was injured, and the extent of any damage to the vessels was not clear Saturday evening, said Lt. Commander Brian Badura of the Fleet Forces Command.

Navy officials said the collision was under investigation, but declined to offer specifics on what happens next or on where the incident took place.

"If we do have an incident that does take place, there are folks that swing into action... to help us make a better, more conclusive explanation of exactly what happened," Badura said.

The news release says "overall damage to both ships is being evaluated," and that the sub's propulsion plant was "unaffected by the collision." Both Navy ships are based at Norfolk, Va. and are operating on their own power, the news release says.