[PPRAANet] BMEWS Communication Failure

[Paul Signorelli]

Any one remember this failure?
November 24, 1961: BMEWS Communication Failure
On the night of November 24, 1961, all communication links went dead between SAC HQ and NORAD. The communication loss cut off SAC HQ from the three Ballistic Missile Early Warning Sites (BMEWS) at Thule (Greenland,) Clear (Alaska,) and Fylingdales (England,). There were two possible explanations facing SAC HQ: either enemy action, or the coincidental failure of all the communication systems, which had redundant and ostensibly independent routes, including commercial telephone circuits. All SAC bases in the United States were therefore alerted, and B-52 bomber crews started their engines, with instructions not to to take off without further orders. Radio communication was established with an orbiting B-52 on airborne alert, near Thule. It contacted the BMEWS stations by radio and could report that no attack had taken place.
The reason for the "coincidental" failure was the redundant routes for telephone and telegraph between NORAD and SAC HQ all ran through one relay station in Black Forest, Colorado. At that relay station a motor had overheated and caused interruption of all the lines.
See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ballistic_Missile_Early_Warning_System
For BMEWS Details.
Paul   w0rw