Larry King interviewed Cpt Robert Salas (UFO Disclosure Project witness)
- a nuke missile operator who experienced shutting down of 20 nuke
minuteman missiles in 1967, in a time period Vietnam War transit from
escalation to peace talk, leading to 1st nuclear disarmament talk
between america and Russia
Professor Robert Jacobs (UFO Disclosure Project witness) describes the
test launch of an ICBM missle which was subsequently "intercepted" by a
UFO
Sci-Fi Channel - UFO switches off nuclear dummy warhead
Into the USA territory, lots of UFO sightings occure around nuclear
facilities and weaponery, like in this story of Montana
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The Malmstrom AFB UFO/Missile Incident
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This is the story of extraordinary events that happened in 1967 to US
Air Force Strategic Air Command Missile Combat Officers and other
enlisted personnel; Missileers assigned to operate, maintain, and
protect the Minuteman Intercontinental Ballistic Missile , an essential
part of America's Cold War strategic nuclear deterrent
This Web page presents an abbreviated version of the events of 16 March
1967
... by Jim Klotz and Robert Salas - 27-Nov-1996
Updated - 15-May-2000 - *please note that in previous versions of this
presentation, we stated that Robert Salas was on duty in the
November-Flight LCC.
Later research and witness testimony has revealed that it was actually
Oscar-Flight*
ECHO-FLIGHT
In central Montana, Thursday morning March 16 1967, Captain Eric Carlson
and First Lieutenant. Walt Figel, the Echo-Flight Missile Combat Crew,
were below ground in the E-Flight Launch Control Center (LCC) or
capsule.
The Echo Flight LCC was located between Winfred and Hilger, about
fifteen miles north of Lewistown
Missile maintenance crews and security teams were camped out at two of
the Launch Facilities(LFs), having performed some work during the
previous day and stayed there overnight. During the early morning hours,
more than one report came in from the security patrols and maintenance
crews that they had seen UFOs. A UFO was reported directly above one of
the E-Flight (LF) or silos.
It turned out that at least one security policeman was so affected by
this encounter that he never again returned to missile security duty
Around 8:30 a.m., Figel, the Deputy Crew Commander (DMCCC), was briefing
the Carlson, the Crew Commander (MCCC), on the flight status when the
alarm horn sounded. One of the Minuteman missiles they supervised had
gone off alert (become inoperable) It was one of the two sites where
maintenance crews had camped out on site.
Upset, thinking that the maintenance personnel had failed to notify him
as required by procedure when maintenance work is done on a missile,
that the missile was going 'off-alert' status, Figel immediately called
the missile site
When Figel spoke with the on-site security guard, he reported that they
had not yet performed any maintenance that morning. He also stated that
a UFO had been hovering over the site. Figel recalls thinking the guard
must have been drinking something. However, now other missiles started
to go off alert in rapid succession! Within seconds, the entire flight
of ten ICBMs was down! All of their missiles reported a "No-Go"
condition. One by one across the board, each missile had became
inoperable. When the checklist procedure had been completed for each
missile site, it was discovered that each of the missiles had gone off
alert status due to a Guidance and Control (G&C) System fault.
Power had not been lost to the sites; the missiles simply were not
operational because, for some unexplainable reason, each of their
guidance and control systems had malfunctioned
Two Security Alert Teams (SAT, "strike teams") were dispatched from Echo
to those sites where the maintenance crews were present. Figel had not
informed the strike teams that one of the on- site guards had reported a
UFO.
On arrival at the LF’s, the SAT reported back to that UFOs had been seen
hovering over each of the two sites by all of the maintenance and
security personnel present at each site
Captain Don Crawford's crew relieved the Echo Flight crew later that
morning. Crawford recalls that both Carlson and Figel were still visibly
shaken by what had occurred.
Crawford also recalled that the maintenance crews worked on the missiles
the entire day and late into the night during his shift to bring them
all back on alert Not only had missiles been lost to our deterrent
forces, but had remained out of service for an entire day!
Because of this unique incident, as an ex-Missileer describes it: "All
Hell broke loose!" Among the many calls to and from the E-Flight LCC one
was to the MCCC of Oscar-Flight which links to the equally dramatic
story of what happened in another LCC that same morning
OSCAR-FLIGHT
The Oscar Flight LCC was located a mile or two south of the town of Roy,
about 20 miles southeast of the Echo-Flight LCC
The following is as told by Robert Salas who was the DMCCC in O-Flight
that morning:
My recollection is that I was on duty as a Deputy Missile Combat Crew
Commander below ground in the LCC, during the morning hours of 16 March
1967
Outside, above the subterranean LCC capsule, it was a typical clear,
cold Montana night sky; there were a few inches of snow on the ground.
Where we were, there were no city lights to detract from the spectacular
array of stars, and it was not uncommon to see shooting stars. Montana
isn’t called “Big Sky Country” for no reason, and Airmen on duty topside
probably spent some of their time outside looking up at the stars. It
was one of those airmen who first saw what at first appeared to be a
star begin to zig-zag across the sky. Then he saw another light do the
same thing, and this time it was larger and closer. He asked his Flight
Security Controller, (FSC, the Non-Commissioned Officer (NCO) in charge
of Launch Control Center site security), to come and take a look. They
both stood there watching the lights streak directly above them, stop,
change directions at high speed and return overhead. The NCO ran into
the building and phoned me at my station in the underground capsule. He
reported to me that they had been seeing lights making strange maneuvers
over the facility, and that they weren't aircraft. I replied: "Great.
You just keep watching them and let me know if they get any closer"
I did not take this report seriously and directed him to report back if
anything more significant happened. At the time, I believed this first
call to be a joke.
Still, that sort of behavior was definitely out of character for air
security policemen whose communications with us were usually very
professional
A few minutes later, the security NCO called again This time he was
clearly frightened and was shouting his words:
"Sir, there's one hovering outside the front gate!"
"One what?"
"A UFO! It's just sitting there.
We're all just looking at it What do you want us to do?"
"What? What does it look like?"
"I can't really describe it.
It's glowing red What are we supposed to do?"
"Make sure the site is secure and I'll phone the Command Post"
"Sir, I have to go now, one of the guys just got injured"
Before I could ask about the injury, he was off the line. I immediately
went over to my commander, Lt. Fred Meiwald, who was on a scheduled
sleep period . I woke him and began to brief him about the phone calls
and what was going on topside. In the middle of this conversation, we
both heard the first alarm klaxon resound through the confined space of
the capsule, and both immediately looked over at the panel of
annunciator lights at the Commander's station. A 'No-Go' light and two
red security lights were lit indicating problems at one of our missile
sites. Fred jumped up to query the system to determine the cause of the
problem. Before he could do so, another alarm went off at another site,
then another and another simultaneously.
Within the next few seconds, we had lost six to eight missiles to a
'No-Go' (inoperable) condition
After reporting this incident to the Command Post, I phoned my security
guard. He said that the man who had approached the UFO had not been
injured seriously but was being evacuated by helicopter to the base.
Once topside, I spoke directly with the security guard about the UFOs.
He added that the UFO had a red glow and appeared to be saucer shaped.
He repeated that it had been immediately outside the front gate,
hovering silently
We sent a security patrol to check our LFs after the shutdown, and they
reported sighting another UFO during that patrol.
They also lost radio contact with our site immediately after reporting
the UFO
When we were relieved by our scheduled replacement crew later that
morning.
The missiles had still not been brought on line by on-site maintenance
teams
Again, UFOs had been sighted by security personnel at or about the time
Minuteman Strategic missiles shutdown
THE INVESTIGATION
An in-depth post incident investigation of the E-Flight incident was
undertaken Full scale on-site and laboratory tests at the Boeing
Company's Seattle plant were conducted
Declassified Strategic Missile Wing documents and interviews with
ex-Boeing engineers who conducted tests following the E-Flight Incident
investigation confirm that no cause for the missile shutdowns was ever
found. Robert Kaminski was the Boeing Company engineering team leader
for this investigation.
Kaminski stated that after all tests were done, : “There were no
significant failures, engineering data or findings that would explain
how ten missiles were knocked off alert,” and “…there was no technical
explanation that could explain the event”
The most that could be done was to reproduce the effects by introducing
a 10 volt pulse onto a data line. Another Boeing Company engineer on the
team, Robert Rigert, came up with this pulse that repeated the shutdown
effects 80% of the time, but only when directly injected at the logic
coupler.
No explanation could be found for a source of such a pulse or "noise"
occurring in the field and getting inside the shielded missile system
equipment
Others on the engineering team checked other possibilities. Lightning
and problems in the commercial power system were acquitted as the source
of the problem.
William Dutton, another Boeing Company engineer, checked commercial
power interruptions and transients, and stated: “No anomalies were found
in this area”
Several military activities and other engineering firms participated in
the investigation, but no positive cause for the shutdowns was ever
found, despite extensive and concentrated effort. One conclusion was
that the only way a pulse or noise could be sent in from outside the
shielded system was through an electromagnetic pulse (EMP) from an
unknown source. The technology of the day made generating an EMP of
sufficient magnitude to enter the shielded system a very difficult
proposition, requiring large, heavy, bulky equipment.
The source of the actual pulse that caused the missile shutdowns remains
a mystery to this day
OTHER SIGHTINGS
According to articles from the Great Falls Tribune newspaper, on
February 8, 1967 Louis DeLeon saw two strange objects in the sky which
did not look like airplanes and they glowed an orange and red color
while driving east of Chester, Montana. Later, ten miles east of
Chester, Jake Walkman was awakened by a bright light at his home. From
his back yard he sighted a "flying saucer" shaped object. The next
evening, George Kawanishi, a foreman for the Great Northern Railroad,
saw a bright ball of light in the sky directly above the Chester train
depot.
These are but a few of the sightings which preceded the missile shutdown
incidents later in March
It was during this same period, according to Col. Don Crawford (USAF
ret.), that a two person SAT, assigned to Echo Flight, was performing a
routine check of the missile launch facilities a few miles north of
Lewistown, Montana. As they approached one of the launch facilities, an
astonishing sight caused the driver to slam on his brakes.
Stunned in amazement, they watched as, about 300 feet ahead, a very
large glowing object hovered silently directly over the launch facility
One of them picked up his VHF hand microphone and called then Captain
Don Crawford who was the DMCCC on duty that evening
“Sir, you wouldn’t believe what I’m looking at,” he said
He described what they were seeing. Crawford didn’t believe him at first
but the young airman insisted he was telling the truth, his voice
revealing his emotional state. Eventually Crawford took him seriously
enough to call the Command Post to report it. The officer on duty at the
Command Post refused to accept the report and simply stated, “We no
longer record those kinds of reports,” indicating he didn’t want to hear
about the UFO.
Crawford unsure of what to tell his shaken security guard, decided to
give the guard his permission to fire his weapon at the object if it
seemed hostile
“Thanks, sir, but I really don’t think it would do any good,”
A few seconds later the object silently flew away
There were sightings in the area before and after the missile shutdown
incidents by military personnel and civilians
NATIONAL SECURITY
During the events of that morning in 1967, UFOs were sighted by security
personnel at the Oscar Flight LCC and at one O-Flight LF, and by other
security and maintenance personnel at Echo-Flight LFs. These sightings
were reported separately to the capsule crews at both LCCs at or about
the same time Minuteman Strategic missiles shut down at both sites.
USAF has confirmed that all of Echo flights' missiles shutdown within
seconds of each other and that no cause for this could be found
For many years, the Air Force has maintained that no reported UFO
incident has ever affected national security. It is established fact
that a large number of Air Force personnel reported sighting UFOs at the
time many of our strategic missiles became unlaunchable. The incidents
described above clearly had national security implications.
In one previously classified message, SAC Headquarters described the
E-Flight incident as: loss of strategic alert of all ten missiles within
ten seconds of each other for no apparent reason and a "…cause for grave
concern…(to SAC headquarters)" (emphasis ours)
There is a great discrepancy between the United States Air Force's
public position relative to UFOs and national security, and the
established facts of this case
We hope that the Secretary of the Air Force will search for, declassify,
and release all information on this case