30 July 1952
(Walla Walla Union-Bulletin, Washington)
Source: NICAP.org
The whole article (text written by NICAP.org):
“Flying saucers which hovered over the Great Falls area and then
took off at ‘a tremendous rate of speed,’ were reported Tuesday [29
July 1952] by a sergeant at the Great Falls Air Force
Base.
Sgt. Charles Boden said he was listening to a direct communications system with
McChord Air Force Base in Washington and
learned that saucers were sighted over that Air Force Base ‘heading toward Great Falls.’ Boden said
he immediately began scanning the skies, about 2:30 p.m. M.S.T.
Objects Sighted
About four and a half minutes after hearing the McChord report, he said he
sighted the objects. He reported that two of the saucers appeared stationary at
first, then another came ‘whipping going West’ and the two stationary objects
then appeared to take off, following the third.
(A McChord spokesman said Tuesday night there were several flaws in Boden’s
story. He denied there had been any conversation between McChord and Great Falls bases about
2:30 p.m. concerning flying saucers over McChord. And also pointed out that
saucers would not be ‘going west,’ as Boden reported, if they were traveling
from McChord, in Washington, state, to Great Falls.)
Contradiction?
(‘I can say categorically we logged no unusual sightings over McChord this
afternoon,’ the spokesman declared. ‘Two unusual objects at high altitude and Montana traveling at
great speed were sighted in the morning, but a check showed definitely they were
jets from our own base.’)
Later in the afternoon Boden said he sighted four traveling in the opposite
direction. He described the objects as circular in shape and not thick and
added they gave off no sound or left no vapor trails.
If the saucers over McChord and the ones Boden reported were the same, a rough
estimate of the speed would be 3,360 miles an hour.
Other persons in Great Falls also said they saw saucers.”
Wikipedia article: “Malmstrom Air Force Base”:
“Malmstrom Air Force Base is a United States
Air Force base and census-designated place (CDP) in Cascade County, Montana,
United States, adjacent to the city of Great Falls. It was named in honor of
World War II POW Colonel Einar Axel Malmstrom. It is the home of the 341st
Missile Wing (341 MW) of the Air Force Global Strike Command (AFGSC). As a
census-designated place, it had a population of 3,472 at the 2010 census.[2]
Malmstrom
Originally named Great Falls Army Air Base, later
Great Falls Air Force Base, the facility was renamed Malmstrom Air Force Base
on 1 October 1955 in
honor of Colonel Einar Axel Malmstrom (1907–1954).
Air Defense Command
Great
Falls (later Malmstrom AFB) played a
major aerial defense role in North American air defense mission. Although the
base was not assigned to Air Defense Command, the attached 29th Air Division
was activated at Great Falls AFB in early 1950, bringing with them command and
control authority of fighter interceptor squadrons, an aircraft control and
warning squadron, and ground observer detachments in Montana, Idaho, Wyoming,
and parts of Nevada, Utah, and Colorado as part of the Air Defense Command
Western Air Defense Force. The 29th Fighter Interceptor Squadron was activated
in 1953 and remained at Malmstrom until 1968, initially flying F-94C Starfire and later F-101
Voodoo interceptors.[3][9]
Great
Falls was reassigned to the Central Air
Defense Force at Richards-Gebaur Air Force Base in 1953. The 29th Air Division’s
area of responsibility changed to include Montana,
North and South Dakota and Nebraska. The 29th supervised the training
of its units, and participated in numerous training exercises. On 1 July 1961,
the 29th AD was relocated to Richards Gebaur AFB, Missouri.[10]
By 1954, several aircraft control and warning (radar)
squadrons had been formed at the base. The 903d Aircraft Control and Warning
Squadron was one of them, and operated an AN/TPS-1D (termed a ‘gap-filler’).
This radar was used probably for training purposes. The 903rd AC&W Squadron
subsequently relocated to Gettysburg AFS, South Dakota.
In 1957, under the control of the 801st Aircraft
Control and Warning Squadron, the Malmstrom AFB radar station became
operational with AN/FPS-20 search and AN/FPS-6 height-finder radars. A second
AN/FPS-6 series height-finder radar was added in 1960, and subsequently was
upgraded to an AN/FPS-90 set. In 1959 Malmstrom was performing
air-traffic-control duties for the FAA, and joined the Semi Automatic Ground
Environment (SAGE) system on 1 March 1961, the squadron being redesignated as
the 801st Radar Squadron (SAGE). In 1964 Malmstrom received an AN/FPS-24 search
radar, replacing the AN/FPS-20.”
Wikipedia article: “McChord Field”:
Quote from the Wikipedia article:
“McChord Field (IATA: TCM, ICAO: KTCM,
FAA LID: TCM) is a United States Air Force base in the northwest United States,
in Pierce County, Washington. South of Tacoma, McChord Field is the home of the
62d Airlift Wing, Air Mobility Command, the field’s primary mission being
worldwide strategic airlift.
The McChord facility was consolidated with the U.S.
Army’s Fort Lewis on 1 February 2010 to become part
of the Joint Base Lewis-McChord complex.[2] This initiative was driven by the
Base Realignment and Closure Round in 2005 and is designed to combine current
infrastructure into one maximizing war fighting capability and efficiency,
while saving taxpayer dollars.[3]”
Related posts:
realtvufos.blogspot.com/search?q=McChord
Aerial view of Malmstrom Air Force Base,
(wikimedia.org photo)
USGS orthophoto of
McChord Air Force Base (Washington State)
