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RedditIn the horror and confusion that followed the attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon five years ago, misinformation abounded. Among the many errors and rumors relayed by the press at the time was one that still persists today—that the cancellation of all civilian aviation flights on September 11, 2001 was the first such mass grounding in U.S. history.
It wasn’t. It wasn’t even the second. The first groundings occurred almost exactly 41 years earlier, on September 10, 1960, as part of Operation Skyshield, a NORAD-run test of continental defenses against Soviet attack. All U.S. flights were canceled again under Skyshield II, on October 14-15, 1961, and for a third time on September 2, 1962.
Operation Skyshield was the largest aviation exercise ever held, a massive drill involving a quarter million military personnel. On three separate occasions, the air forces of the U.S., Canada, and the United Kingdom flew and defended against simulated air attacks on civilian targets throughout the United States. Friendly aircraft acted as a Soviet strike force, flying 6,000 sorties to "bomb" major cities including New York, Chicago, and Washington. The idea was to see if our air defenses—particularly at the U.S.-Canadian border—were penetrable.
During Skyshield, every commercial airliner and private airplane from the Arctic Circle to the Mexican border remained parked for up to 12 hours—voluntarily. In 1961, the airlines accepted the groundings with grace, even holding open houses in what otherwise would have been empty terminals. At Los Angeles International Airport, Washington National Airport, and New York Idlewild (later renamed JFK) Airport, visitors by the tens of thousands enjoyed tours of the idle airliners, while military aircraft flew supersonic routes over major population centers.
The Federal Aviation Administration had enlisted the help of the U.S. media in alerting the public, pilots and the airlines to the massive coordination required for the groundings. President John F. Kennedy had also solicited the cooperation of the press in keeping the results of Skyshield secret. In an April 1961 speech to the American Newspaper Publishers Association that sounds exactly like statements coming from the White House today, Kennedy warned that "our way of life is under attack" and that the nation was engaged in a "long war against Communism."
The results of Skyshield remained classified until 1997. All military analysis was locked away, purportedly to prevent the Soviet Union from gaining knowledge it could use during an air attack. The secrecy had the added benefit of disguising serious holes in the nation’s air defenses revealed by the exercise. The Early Warning System had been penetrated by enemy cells of up to four aircraft, even though they’d been flying at the system’s optimal altitude for tracking. But exposing such weaknesses was in fact the purpose of the drill. And the price was a relatively short interruption in commercial airplane operations.
As a bonus, Sky Shield III, in September 1962, also included North America’s first—and still only—test to clear the live, national airspace on short notice. Hundreds of Air Force training jets, mimicking airliners, flew on scheduled routes so that traffic controllers could land them under attack conditions. Controllers soon stopped practicing for such an unlikely need, however, and the procedure was long forgotten when a real air attack came in 2001.
A researcher at Air & Space magazine, Roger A. Mola is working on a documentary film, Skyshield: This is Only a Test based on hisarticle published in the February/March 2002 of Air & Space. Mola can be reached at ramolair@pressroom.com.
Comments
I had just entered the active duty Air Force on 9 Sep 1960 and was at the Washington DC Airport with 8 other new Air Force recruits when Operation Sky Shield was activated. It was a very interesting night to say the least. The stand-down of civil air carriers was only in effect thru the night and normal operations resumed the next day (Sep 10th). We were flown to San Antonio on the 10th and I was required to explain why we had arrived nearly a day late. The airline had provided a letter of explanation, which I was unfortunately not able to keep a copy of as there were few copy machines in 1960. The Air Force Recruiting Service had not been made aware of the impending operation and continued recruiting operations as was the normal mode of operation. It was an uncomfortable time for the 9 of us as we were in a "strange" city, some distance from home, in the Air Force but "not quite", with little money and pretty much on our own to make decisions. The airline worked with us very well and we were quartered and fed at the airport but could not remain in the terminal nor leave the area of the "AIR-WAIT" Hotel facility, which was still under construction, until transported back to the terminal first thing the next morning (the 10th). It was years later that I learned of the full impact and had the operation, it's purpose and outcome, explained to me. I continued on to serve 22 years in the Air Force and was on active duty during both of the ensuing operations in October 1961 and September 1962. William Fell
Posted by William Fell on October 7,2009 | 07:25PM