The Day(s) Nobody Flew
10 Sep 2010, 15:42 UTC
You hear it all the time, even from people who should know better: September 11, 2001 was the only time in history that all air traffic in the United States was halted.
Wrong. Sigh.
Air & Space researcher Roger Mola was the first to point out that it wasn’t the first time. That distinction goes to Operation [...]
An F-106A takes off from Andrews AFB in Maryland during the first Skyshield in September 1960.
You hear it all the time, even from people who should know better: September 11, 2001 was the only time in history that all air traffic in the United States was halted.
Wrong. Sigh.
Air & Space researcher Roger Mola was the first to point out that it wasn’t the first time. That distinction goes to Operation Skyshield, a training exercise conducted 50 years ago today (see Mola’s article from our Feb/Mar 2002 issue). A NORAD-run test of defenses against Soviet air attack, Skyshield was the largest aviation exercise ever held. On three occasions from 1960 to 1962, all U.S. commercial air traffic was canceled while thousands of military aircraft pretended to go on bombing runs over major cities including New York, Chicago, and Washington.
Mola ...
