Air Force scrambles armed fighters after "bogeys" and subsequent cover-up (1976)
This event was for me a culmination of about 2 weeks of unusual activity during my duty as USAF personnel at Cannon AFB, NM. Preceeding this, there were reports of cattle mutilation near Gallup. I personally interviewed at least 20 witnesses. While minor details of the craft would vary - and a few of the descriptions were of a small red sphere - the basic description/behavior of the main sightings were virtually identical. I also spent an evening interviewing a family of 5 who spent the previous evening watching the "silver discs" hovering over the field behind their house in Clovis.
One of the more interesting episodes was when aircraft were launched near shift change. I worked swing shift and on Friday nights if aircraft land with avionics problems, swing shift worked over rather than calling in midnight shift from their weekend. As usual, we had verified sorties by Job Control and there were no scheduled training flights. When I heard the sound of F-111 afterburners, I ran to the loading dock to see if they were ours (not Nellis or Mountain Home F-111's) and saw the "CC" designation on the tail as two Cannon AFB F-111D models launched abreast. This was the first time I had seen 111's launch in that formation - it was definitely unusual.
Our shop dispatcher immediately called Job Control, upset that our weekend would likely be postponed as we waited for the aircraft to land and likely land with repairs needed. ((name and rank deleted)) hung up the phone and told us that the launch was no training sortie - it was a "hot scramble". This means the aircraft were launched with live ordinance!! When we inquired as to why, he said they were tracking bogeys.
Again, I ran out to the loading dock platform and began scanning the skies. I saw nothing. I went back into the A-shop waiting area and ((name deleted)) recalled that a buddy of his was the radar operator on duty. We called the "radar shack" and got him on the phone. He said he had never seen anything like this. The bogeys would appear and disappear, seemingly without cause and would occasionally move at incredible speeds over and near the base. We asked him if it could be a radar malfunction. He said "negative" - the radar was in perfect working order and he had run diagnostics. He also was a seasoned operator and I do not believe it was an error on his part (after all, we DID scramble two $26,000,000 aircraft after something). I jotted down the phone number to the radar shack - on the off chance....
The two aircraft landed about 90 minutes later and surprisingly, had no repairs that would require us to work over. I left the shop and went to the Airman's club on base, had a few beers and played some fooseball. I left for the barracks and arrived in the CQ (charge of quarters) area at around 02:00. I noted the phone on the desk and decided, what the heck. I dialed the number to the radar shack and here is my account of what transpired, with my comments: (ring-ring) VOICE (excited and loud): "This is Capt.((name deleted)) - IDENTIFY YOURSELF!" [OK, in the USAF you do not answer a phone that way. Even Generals do not answer phones that way - it could be the President. Everyone is taught protocol - "This is
This event was for me a culmination of about 2 weeks of unusual activity during my duty as USAF personnel at Cannon AFB, NM. Preceeding this, there were reports of cattle mutilation near Gallup. I personally interviewed at least 20 witnesses. While minor details of the craft would vary - and a few of the descriptions were of a small red sphere - the basic description/behavior of the main sightings were virtually identical. I also spent an evening interviewing a family of 5 who spent the previous evening watching the "silver discs" hovering over the field behind their house in Clovis.
One of the more interesting episodes was when aircraft were launched near shift change. I worked swing shift and on Friday nights if aircraft land with avionics problems, swing shift worked over rather than calling in midnight shift from their weekend. As usual, we had verified sorties by Job Control and there were no scheduled training flights. When I heard the sound of F-111 afterburners, I ran to the loading dock to see if they were ours (not Nellis or Mountain Home F-111's) and saw the "CC" designation on the tail as two Cannon AFB F-111D models launched abreast. This was the first time I had seen 111's launch in that formation - it was definitely unusual.
Our shop dispatcher immediately called Job Control, upset that our weekend would likely be postponed as we waited for the aircraft to land and likely land with repairs needed. ((name and rank deleted)) hung up the phone and told us that the launch was no training sortie - it was a "hot scramble". This means the aircraft were launched with live ordinance!! When we inquired as to why, he said they were tracking bogeys.
Again, I ran out to the loading dock platform and began scanning the skies. I saw nothing. I went back into the A-shop waiting area and ((name deleted)) recalled that a buddy of his was the radar operator on duty. We called the "radar shack" and got him on the phone. He said he had never seen anything like this. The bogeys would appear and disappear, seemingly without cause and would occasionally move at incredible speeds over and near the base. We asked him if it could be a radar malfunction. He said "negative" - the radar was in perfect working order and he had run diagnostics. He also was a seasoned operator and I do not believe it was an error on his part (after all, we DID scramble two $26,000,000 aircraft after something). I jotted down the phone number to the radar shack - on the off chance....
The two aircraft landed about 90 minutes later and surprisingly, had no repairs that would require us to work over. I left the shop and went to the Airman's club on base, had a few beers and played some fooseball. I left for the barracks and arrived in the CQ (charge of quarters) area at around 02:00. I noted the phone on the desk and decided, what the heck. I dialed the number to the radar shack and here is my account of what transpired, with my comments: (ring-ring) VOICE (excited and loud): "This is Capt.((name deleted)) - IDENTIFY YOURSELF!" [OK, in the USAF you do not answer a phone that way. Even Generals do not answer phones that way - it could be the President. Everyone is taught protocol - "This is
No
Yes
No
No
No
Yes
Yes
Off
No
No
Yes
No
No
No
No
Cannon AFB
USA
Weeks
Weeks
disk
NM
Occurred : 1/6/1976 01:00 (Entered as : 01/06/76 01:00) Reported: 8/7/2006 12:54:29 PM 12:54 Posted: 10/30/2006 Location: Cannon AFB, NM Shape: Disk Duration: Weeks Characteristics: There were lights on the object, The object changed color, There were aircraft in the vicinity or aircraft chasing the object, There were electrical or magnetic effects
Air Force scrambles armed fighters after "bogeys" and subsequent cover-up (1976)