of anticipated it to be honest with you. When we began to stall, I noticed a drop in airspeed and a drop in turbine pressure. The vertical speed indicator didn’t even budge. The altimeter reading also had a lag in it. This all added up to one thing. The air we flew through had just become instantaneously much thinner. It was like we were flying in a vacuum. We had hit thin air.”
Boop continued, “What we’re going to do is simple. We’re going back out there. However, we need a good reason to launch the bird. A medical emergency or some other reason is what we need to get back out there ASAP. Dave, can you contact DYE-3 and push the envelope a little for us? See if they’d be willing to give us the Bat Signal or something. Maybe they need a critical part or something. On second thought, a medical emergency would raise too many red flags. Maybe if their tropo antenna went down for a few hours. That happens all the time up there. Their equipment is antiquated and spare parts are flown in all the time, right?” Dave responded, “Yes. I’ll figure something out. When do you want to get airborne?” Boop replied, “Give us an hour to refuel. Put the call in straight over to Ops. We’ll be there ready to go.” Dave said, “Okay, but I’m going along for the ride.” Boop smiled and said, “Wouldn’t have it any other way.”
Dave then asked Boop what he meant when he said this has happened before. Was he talking about aircraft stalling or the presence of UFOs? Boop grinned again and simply said, “Both. Let me show you something. See these walls in this lounge. Look at all the graffiti, signatures, and words of wisdom. People have been leaving their mark up here on these walls for over forty years. It is a tradition. This is part of the base history and legacy. It would be a crime to paint over these walls. I’ll give you a hint. There are thousands of signatures and words on this wall. See if you can find any with the spiral symbol next to their name. I’m part of a group of flyers that have encountered the thin air phenomena. Others have as well.” Boop got up. He only had to walk a couple of feet. “Check out this one.” It read, “Balls to the wall with thinning hair – DJC – 11/17/65. There was a sketch of Kilroy looking over a wall with a single spiral curl of hair on his head." Boop explained. “See how the last three letters of hair are underlined. I don’t think that is coincidental. There are at least a couple dozen sayings and initials with reference to thin air. They all put the spiral symbol in somewhere to signify a spin or other “sightings.” Let me show you one of the more famous.”
Boop walked behind the bar and pointed to a prominent framed spot on the wall over the cash register. “This is a shrine, so to speak, for Colonel Bernt Balchen. He had once been chief pilot for Admiral Byrd in the Antarctic. He built this base and was its first commander. Let me read the inscription.
‘Today goes fast and tomorrow is almost here. Maybe I have helped a little in the change. So I go on to the next adventure, looking to the future but always thinking back to the past. Remembering my teammates and the lonely places I have seen that no man ever saw before.'This also is inscribed on his tombstone at Arlington.”
Boop turned the frame over, “Speaking of Admiral Byrd, does this sound familiar to you?" On the back of the frame was taped a piece of paper.
0830 Hours: Turbulence encountered again, increase altitude to 2900 feet, smooth flight conditions again.
0910 Hours: Vast Ice and snow below, note coloration of yellowish nature, and disperse in a linear pattern. Altering course for a better examination of this color pattern below, note reddish or purple color also. Circled this area two full turns and return to assigned compass heading. Position check made again to base camp, and relay information concerning colorations in the ice and snow below.
0912 Hours:Both Magnetic and Gyro compasses beginning to gyrate and wobble, we are unable to hold our heading by instrumentation. Take bearing with Sun compass, yet all seems well. The controls are seemingly slow to respond and have sluggish quality, but there is no indication of Icing!
0915 Hours: In the distance is what appears to be mountains.
0949 Hours: 29 minutes elapsed flight time from the first sighting of the mountains, it is no illusion. They are mountains and consisting of a small range that I have never seen before!
0955 Hours: Altitude change to 2,950 feet, encountering strong turbulence again.
1000 Hours: We are crossing over the small mountain range and still proceeding northward as best as can be ascertained. Beyond the mountain range is what appears to be a valley with a small river or stream running through the center portion. There should be no green valley below! Something is definitely wrong and abnormal here! We should be over Ice and Snow! To the portside are great forests growing on the mountain slopes. Our navigation Instruments are still spinning, the gyroscope is oscillating back and forth!
Dave asked, “Is that what Colonel Balchen was referring to in his epitaph? Strange events and places that no man has seen before.”
Boop shrugged. “No one knows, but this is a copy of a page ripped out of Admiral Byrd’s log book from a flight he made to the pole in February, 1947.”
It took a few seconds for all this to click and sink in. “Damn, you’re right, Major. This has happened before. We’ve seen the open water and hit the thin air. We’ve got to get back out there and figure this out.”
Boop put his hand on Dave’s shoulder, “Want to hear another strange coincidence? Colonel Balchen also flew German rocket components and scientists to Alamogordo, New Mexico after the war. It is also rumored that he was one of the pilots called upon to haul the Roswell aliens from New Mexico to Wright-Patterson.” With that one, Dave took a big swig of his Carlsberg beer, swallowed, and then got up and left the bar.
Boop took a swig of beer himself and then asked an interesting question, “The Russians and us have been putting men in space for nearly three decades now. How come no one has put anyone into a polar orbit? Makes you wonder, doesn’t it?”
Dave went over to his office and made a phone call. He dialed up DYE-3 on the tropo line. He dialed directly into Vince Beach’s office. Vince picked up the phone, “DYE 3, Beach here.” Dave responded, “Yeah, Vince, Dave Sheridan here. Just wanted to let you know we made it back to Sonde in one piece. We had an interesting flight though.” Vince responded, “Yeah. We heard. We were monitoring your radio traffic in and out of Sonde. What did you see up there?” Dave was surprised at the breach in protocol. Vince was kind of blunt. He chose his next words carefully; he knew the tropo line was not the most secure voice communications in the world. “Not much Vince, just the ice spiraling up in my face. We hit some thin air.” Vince caught on quick. “Glad to hear everything turned out fine. I’ve flown with Rick Boop for years. He’s one hell of a pilot. Not many can kick a C-130 out of a half turn spin and recover in 1500 feet, especially when you’ve got a ten ton dozer strapped to your ass. Must have had the plane balanced perfectly.” Dave replied, “Yeah, he’s one cool customer.”
He now fed Vince the bait and hoped he’d bite. “Just thought you’d like to know that Klystron tube you ordered is in the warehouse here. It came in on the last C-141. I know that you’re down to the last one and it’s kind of flaky. You must have a problem with your signal conditioner to keep burning out the tubes the way you are.” Vince took the clue, “Yeah, funny you should mention it. Dan is in the radar equipment room doing a diagnostic now. If we lose this one, we’ll be offline for half a day. I better put in a priority MICAP request to get that tube out here.” A MICAP request meant mission capability is impaired if the equipment or material is not delivered ASAP. If the radar went down, there would be a hole 150 miles wide in the NORAD early warning system. Dave responded back, “Roger, MICAP for a Klystron spare.”
“I’ll start drawing up the paperwork here and contact base ops,” Vince said. “Thanks Dave,
