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April 18, 1962, National Air Defense Alert
From New York to Las Vegas - A Ten-State Incident 



Updated: 8 Oct. 2006
The Air Defense Command was alerted after the object was tracked by NORAD and ground witnesses as it traveled for 32-minutes from Oneida, New York across the midwest, through Kansas & Colorado, Utah, and the disapeared from Nellis AFB radar at 10,000 feet. Jets had been scrambled from two locations. Power outages were reported and the object made a turned toward the east and landed. There is quite a bit of information from numerous sources concerning this major incident, including Project Blue Book documents, and now possible confirmation by a radar man at ATIC. The case is also NOT explained in a BB monthly sighting listing for April 1962.

It is very interesting that every one of these states except Utah, has or was in the process of obtaining ICBM Bases: New York, Plattsburg AFB;  Kansas, Forbes AFB, McConnell AFB; Utah, Minuteman production at Air Force Plant 77 at Hill AFB; Idaho, Mountain Home AFB; Montana, Malmstrom AFB; New Mexico, Walker AFB; Wyoming, F. E. Warren AFB; Arizona, Davis Monthan AFB; California, Beale AFB.

On the very same day as the incident, the first Titan-I wing became operational at Lowry AFB (in Colorado). The Titan-I carried a 4 Megaton warhead. The Titan-I was deployed in 6 squadrons of 9 missiles each at Lowry (2 squadrons), Beale AFB (CA), Mountain Home AFB (ID), Ellsworth AFB (SD), and Larson AFB (WA). Titan I's stayed in service until 1966.

Francis Ridge
NICAP Site Coordinator


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