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One
day in March, 1967, the Spanish-speaking intercept operators
of Detachment “A” located at Key West Naval Air
Station in Florida heard Cuban air defense radar controllers
report an unidentified “bogey” approaching Cuba
from the northeast. The unidentified aircraft entered Cuban
air space at a height of about 10,000 meters (about 33,000
feet) and sped off at nearly Mach 1 (nearly 660 mph). The
Cuban air force scrambled two MIG-21 jet fighters to intercept.
The jets were guided to within five kilometers (three miles)
of the UFO by Cuban ground control intercept radar personnel.
The flight leader radioed that the object was a bright metallic
spheroid disc with no visible markings or appendages. When
a try at radio contact failed, Cuban air defense headquarters
ordered the flight leader to arm his weapons and destroy
the object.
The
leader reported his radar was locked onto the bogey and
his missiles were armed and ready to engage. Seconds later,
the wingman screamed to the ground controller that his leader’s
jet had exploded. When he gained his composure, the wing
man radioed there was no smoke or flame, that his leader’s
MIG-21 had disintegrated in mid air. Cuban radar then reported
the UFO quickly accelerated and climbed above 30,000 meters
(98,000 feet). At last report, it was heading south-southeast
towards South America.
Within
hours, Personnel of the Detachment received orders to ship
all tapes and pertinent data to NSA and to list the Cuban
aircraft loss in squadron files as due to “equipment
malfunction.” At least fifteen to twenty people in
the Detachment were said to be fully informed of the incident.
Presumably, the data sent to NSA included direction-finding
measurements that NSA might later combine with other sites'
data to triangulate the location and altitude of the MIG-21
flight paths. If the AFSS equipment in Florida was sensitive
enough, the UFO could have been tracked by its reflection
of the Cuban ground and airborne radar.
A
CAT AND MOUSE GAME
On
March 31, 1967, William (Bill) Schroeder was stationed at
the B Battery 6/65th of the US ARMY AIR DEFENCE COMMAND
on the Florida Keys. Him and his cousin Denis Force who
was serving at the time at the 644th Radar Squadron of the
US AIR FORCE on Richmond Air Force Station in Florida tracked
multiple UFOs over South Florida and the Gulf of Mexico.
Denis was working a twelve-hour shift from 7 pm to 7 am.
He was speaking with his cousin Bill over the phone about
10 pm, when he received a priority telephone call from NORAD
Headquarters. They advised that four unidentified aircraft
had been picked up on Canadian radar passing over mid Canada
and heading south along the east coast of the United States
at a very high rate of speed. He quickly notified the duty
officer and waited for his radar to paint the four unidentified
aircraft. The radar showed four aircraft coming into range
at approximately 5000 mph and decelerating to approximately
1500 mph. He had Bill on the telephone and advised him as
the situation developed.
Based
on the testimony given by Bill to MUFON of the incidents,
he recalled…
My
cousin called me one night on the net and advised me that
something unbelievable was happening in South Florida. He
opened the net so I could monitor the traffic regarding
the incident taking place. I pulled my headset to my ears
as I listened to various NORAD stations tracking a UFO just
off the coast of Miami. At the time, Homestead was a SAC
(Strategic Air Command) base, and any such traffic was a
great concern to the Air Force. Although I was about 100
miles from the target under discussion, I had the capability
to observe activity in the area with my own radar. I had
only to take it off standby. As I was bringing up my antenna,
the chatter continued, and referred to three more objects
in the sky near Miami. It was also noted that civilian observers
had now sighted the objects and the sighting was being reported
on local commercial radio.
As
my scope came up, the first thing I noticed was three Marine
fighters departing from Boca Chica Naval Air Station, heading
North. The UFOs were clearly visible just Southeast of Miami.
They appeared to be moving just East of North, skirting
the Florida Coast. They then turned sharply West, crossing
the Keys near Everglades National Park on the south tip
of the Florida mainland. It only took the Phantoms a few
minutes to reach the area of the bogies. I have no idea
if the pilots sighted the targets visually, or electronically.
The air channel was not part of the NORAD net. As the phantoms
approached the targets, they disappeared off the scope.
Now there is only one way to disappear when being observed
by a PAR (pulse acquisition radar). You must go straight
up, or straight down. This cat and mouse game went on all
night. Much too much to type in this report. Visual observations
in Miami reportedly included the observation of one large
object and three small ones. This I cannot verify, although
I imagine the Miami Herald would have some record of it.
To me, they appeared to be flying a search pattern. The
way the Coast Guard would search in grids.
After
about four hours (around 2:00 am), one of the unknowns began
moving South directly towards my location. The target was
really moving, probably twice the speed of anything I had
ever tracked, around 1100 miles an hour. This would provide
me with an excellent opportunity to lock onto the target
with a different type of radar. This other type of radar
has the capability of bringing back actual sounds of the
target. Turbo prop, jet engines, or the thud of rotary aircraft
could clearly be heard with this system. As the target approached,
it decelerated but was still super sonic. I brought the
targeting radar into alignment with it and brought the unit
on line. For a short moment, a very short moment, I could
hear a high pitched whine, similar to a jet engine, but
smoother and much higher pitch.
At
this point, the target obviously detected my lock and hit
my sight with some type of electronic countermeasure [EMP].
It appeared to reverse the polarity of every piece of equipment
on the sight, although I was never able to verify that.
Needless to say, this caused an instant shutdown of the
system and erased a great many taxpayer dollars. As I was
exiting the control center, the launch crew stated that
they had seen the object pass over. It was moving so fast
that one of the guys swore it was a meteorite, but was flying
level. When last seen, the object was headed South towards
Cuba. It was many years later that I read newspaper articles
about a two-week flap in the Miami area. I would also later
learn about a Cuban MIG-21 that was allegedly destroyed
during an encounter with a UFO in March 1967.
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