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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.
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FOR SAC/DM7B 15AF/DMAG BSD/BSS BSGR BSGM 41 SMW/DCM BOEING CO. J. DOWNING MINUTEMAN ENGINEERING AUTONETICS/MRH. R. HEATH AFLC/MCMC (COL MORRISON). INFO: AFLC WRIGHT-PATTERSON AFB OHIO BSD NORTON AFB CALIF. SUBJECT: MALMSTROM E FLIGHT: PROBLEM: WEEKLY STATUS: DURING TESTING AT BOEING, SEATTLE. A 30 MICRO SECOND PULSE TO 10 TORG VOLT SQUARE WAVE WAS PLACED ON THE SELF TEST COMMAND LINE AT THE C53 COUPLER LOGIC DRAWER INTERFACE (SELF TEST COMMAND LINE). FOR 7 OUT OF 10 SEPARATE APPLICATIONS OF A SINGLE PULSE, THE SYSTEM PAGE 2: RUNWBA9143 SECRET SHUT DOWN WITH CHANNEL 9 & 12. SUBSEQUENT TESTING AT AUTONETICS AS PERFECTED IN THE FOLLOWING EXPLANATION OF WHAT PROBABLY HAPPENS IN THE COUPLER LOGIC DRAWER. THE PULSE INSERTED IS LONG ENOUGH TO INITIATE THE COUPLER SELF TEST SEQUENCE WITH THE C53. HOWEVER, IT IS NOT OF LONG ENOUGH DURATION TO ENABLE CONTROL LINES TO THE COMPUTER TO PLACE THE COMPUTER IN A COUPLER TEST LOOP MODE. THIS CAUSES THE COUPLER TO ISSUE A SEQUENCE ERROR DUE TO LACK OF COINGIDENCE BETWEEN SAC AND COUPLER MODES. THIS SEQUENCE ERROR, TOGETHER WITH THE ACTION OF TWO OTHER FLIP FLOP OUTPUTS (N=17 & M=26), IS SUFFICIENT TO INITIATE THE COUPLER AND SAC NO GO SHUT DOWN. THE EFFORT NOW AT BOEING NRA IS TO DETERMINE THE SOURCE AND MOST LIKELY PATCH OF THE NOISE PULSE TO THE LOGIC COUPLER. THE RESULTS OF EMP TESTING AT NSTE AND VING IV, INDICATE THAT THE SUN LINES ARE SUSCEPTIBLE TO NOISE OF THE TYPE THAT COULD HAVE CAUSED THE PROBLEM. THE SUN LINES GO ONLY FROM THE LOOP TO ALL OF THE LEFTS IN THE FLIGHT WHICH WOULD EXPLAIN THE FLIGHT PERCULIAR ASPECT OF THE PROBLEM. THE BEST POSSIBLE SOURCE OF THE NOISE PULSE, SO AFTER IN OUR ANALYSIS, IS THE TRANSFORMER FAILURE WHICH OCCURRED AT A STOCK WATERING THROUGH IN THE E FLIGHT AREA. THE SHORTING TO GROUND OF THE SINGLE PHASE TRANSFORMER WAY HAVE UNBALANCED THE 3 PHASE FLAP CONNECTED SYSTEM ENOUGH TO CAUSE GROUND CURRENTS TO
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