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This Black Vault release contains the Air Force's 2001 response from the 341st Space Wing FOIA office at Malmstrom AFB, Montana, to a request about the 16 March 1967 Echo Flight missile shutdown, with excerpts from 341st Strategic Missile Wing histories covering 1967 to early 1968. The histories say all ten Echo Flight launch facilities lost strategic alert almost simultaneously. Investigators could not find a logical cause and found rumors of UFOs near Echo Flight to be unfounded.
Read from the scan by GLM-OCR; expect the odd misread word.
VZCZCNIA278 PTTS JAH RUCSAAA0196 0762315-SSSS...RUNNBOA. ZNY 8888 P 17225 MAR 57 FM SAC TC RUWMHBA/OCAMA HILL AFB UTAH INFO RUN BKNA/15 AF KUWMBOA/341SMU MALMSTROM AFB MONT JS 2342 19 C-208 RUNNBAA/AFPRO BOEING CO SEATTLE WASH RUWJABA/BSD NORTON AFB CALIF BT 9 E O R P 2 D7 32752 MAR 67。 ACTION: OCAHA (OONCT/OONE-GOL DAVENPORT). INFO: 15AF (DM4C), 341SMW (DCM), BOEING AFFRO (D.J. DOWNEY, MINUTEMAN ENGINEERING) BSD (BSS, BSQR) SUBJECT: LOSS OF STRATEGIC ALERT, ECONO FLIGHT, MALSTROM AFB. (U) REF: MY SECRET MESSAGE DH73 62751, 17 MAR 61, SAME SUBJECT. ALL TEN MISSILES IN ECHO FLIGHT AT NALNSTROM LOST STRAT ALERT WITHIN TEN SECONDS OF EACH OTHER. THIS INCIDENT OCCURRED AT 6845L ON 16 MARCH 67. AS OF THIS DATE, ASS MISSILES HAVE BEEN RETURNED TO STRAT PAGE 2 RUCSAAAG196 ALERT WITH NO APPARENT DIFFICULTY. INVESTIGATION AS TO THE CAUSE OF THE INCIDENT IS BEING CONDUCTED BY MALKSTROM TEAT. TWO FITTS HAVE BEEN RUN THROUGH TWO MISSILES THIS FAR. NO CONCLUSIONS HAVE BEEN DRAWN. THERE ARE INDICATIONS THAT BOTH COMPUTERS IN BOTH G&C'S WERE UPSET MOMENTARILY. CAUSE OF THE UPSET IS NOT KNOWN AT THIS TIME. ALL OTHER SIGNIFICANT INFORMATION AT THIS TIME IS CONTAINED IN ABOVE REFERENCED MESSAGE. FOR OOAMA. THE FACT THAT NO APPARENT REASON FOR THE LOSS OF TEN MISSILES CAN BE READLY IDENTIFIED IS CAUSE FOR GRAVE CONCERN TO THIS HEADQUARTERS. WE MUST HAVE AN IN-DEPTH ANALYSIS TO DETERMINE CAUSE AND CORRECTIVE ACTION AND WE MUST KNOW AS QUICKLY AS POSSIBLE WHAT THE IMPACT IS TO THE FLEET, IF ANY. REQUEST YOUR RESPONSE BE IN KEEPING WITH THE URGENCY OF THE PROBLEM. WE IN TURN WILL PROVIDE OUR FULL COOPERATION AND SUPPORT. FOR OGAMA AND 15AF WE HAVE CONCURRED IN A BOEING REQUEST TO SEND TWO ENGINEERS, MR. R.E RIGERT AND MR. W. M. DUTTON TO HALMSTROM TO COLLECT FIRST HAND KNOWLEDGE OF THE PROBLEM FOR POSSIBLE ASSISTANCE IN LATER ANALYSIS. REQUEST COOPERATION OF ALL CONCERNED TO PROVIDE THEM ACCESS TO AVAILABLE INFORMATION, I.E., CREW COMMANDERS LOG ENTRIES, MAINTENANCE FORMS, INTERROGATION OF KNOWLEDGEABLE PEOPLE, ETC. SECURITY CLEARANCES AND DATE AND TIME OF ARRIVAL WILL BE SENT FROM THE AFFRO BY SEPARATE MESSAGE. FOR 15AF. OOAMA HAS INDICATED BY TELECON THAT THEY ARE SENDING ADDITIONAL ENGINEERING SUPPORT. REQUEST YOUR COOPERATION TO INSURE MAXIMUM RESULTS ARE OBTAINED FROM THIS EFFORT. GP74. BCASmc-67-4
Document, cited by the archive. The PDF is mirrored here; the original link is above. The text was read from the page images by GLM-OCR; expect the odd misread word. 88 pages are in the text index: search them above, or from the library's search.