Kincheloe: North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) The Demise of ISIS Brothers in Combat

By Monte Quist

Based on real events, the story begins during the Cold War era, with the Cuban Missile Crisis and the Northern Air Defense Command (known as NORAD), the primary deterrent to a Russian bomber attack. Sabotage nearly disables NORAD. One man, Marty, discovers the sabotage and restores NORAD, possibly preventing World War III.

The second part of the story is about the Mideast war and ISIS, the known terrorist radical Muslim outlaw army. ISIS arose in a part of the world that was a center of enormous oil-based wealth. Despite the increased efforts of those who opposed ISIS, the outlaw army did not fail. ISIS then did the unthinkable and shoot down a civilian Russian airliner with a super weapon.

Two Fighters, one Russian and the other American, are also shot down by the ISIS super weapon. The two pilots meet, hide in a cave, and, risking their lives, find vital information about the ISIS weapon. This information allowed Russian and US forces to find and capture the ISIS weapon.

The free world comes together and eliminates ISIS and other rogue religious radicals. The two pilots become lifelong friends and, allowed by their governments, tour the free world. With the true story of the Cuban Missile Crisis, they find and introduce to each other the major players of both the Russian and the American sides of the missile crisis.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Covenant Books, Inc.
• Release date: Oct 29, 2021
• ISBN: 9781638143192

Book preview

1962: Marty

Marty

Driving his Harley down M-129 toward Kincheloe Air Force Base

Marty thought, Third shift sucks. I fixed all defective units in the MA-1 Weapons Control Systems last night. The planes didn’t fly today so that no MA-1 unit could be defective. There won’t be a damned thing to do tonight but stay awake and wait for nothing to happen. The line crew got off, so why in the hell do they want Weapons Control Mockup operational! Marty had no answer but just the wind over his helmet.

When arriving at the security gate, Marty stopped to say hello to the gate guard. The guard said, Marty, have you heard the latest? The Russians put missiles in Cuba, and the whole world is going nuts!

Marty said, No, I spent the day in the Munuscong Swamp with my Native buddies. Thanks for the tip. I’ll get the news at the shop.

Marty thought, Only base maintenance crews show signs of activity. The flight line is not active. Only the alert hangars housing twenty-four-hours-a-day, seven-days-a-week, combat-ready fighters showed signs of life.

Marty passed the maintenance hangars and proceeded to the temporary building that housed the complete MA-1 weapons control systems mock-up.

As he entered the building, he was surprised to find the lights on and the MA-1 System running. The factory technical representative, Roy Francois, was intently adjusting a missile control unit and didn’t see Marty come in.

Marty said, Roy, what are you doing here? I thought all you civilian types went home at five o’clock.

Roy was startled and stammered, A-ah, I couldn’t sleep, so I thought I’d come down and check some things.

Marty said, Such dedication. I’m impressed.

As Marty walked away, he noticed the spare missile control units stacked on the table. He mumbled to himself, This isn’t right. Highly irregular. Roy knows that boxes marked NRTS, Do Not Open means Not Reparable This Station. Only the factory could open and repair the units. Roy has the authority to open the box; but he doesn’t have the necessary tools, test equipment, or data to test that unit. Marty thought, He’s up to something.

Marty went to the coffee station, made coffee, poured a cup, and returned to the mock-up. The mock-up was off, and there was no sign of Roy or the missile control boxes. There was also no sign that Roy had been there. Marty said, This is odd.

Marty thought, I do not trust Roy Francois. Twice now, I’ve caught him sabotaging Weapons Control Systems. During my assignment at Selfridge Air Force Base, I had issues with him. The F-86 Fighter Aircraft assigned at Selfridge maintained pilot and aircraft currency firing rockets, called Mighty Mouse Rockets, at airborne targets called Delmars. The pilots flew under combat conditions to qualify themselves and the aircraft. The 2,200 miles between Selfridge and the firing range located at Vincent AFB, Yuma, Arizona, involved logistic problems. Cargo aircraft transported all required spare parts for the fighters. The spare parts were limited and carefully selected.

During one of these qualification missions at Yuma, the commanding officer called Marty to his office and said, We are out of radar antennas. I know they are complex units, but why are they all failing now? If we have to abort this exercise, I’ll be handing my ass to the Selfridge Base Commander.

Marty replied, Sir, I don’t know, but I assure you I will find out. Marty went to Supply and saw seven antennas on the floor. He asked the Supply sergeant, What are these antennas doing here?

The sergeant replied, The tech rep Roy Francois had them brought in and red-tagged with instructions that no one was to touch them.

Okay, Sergeant, you’ve done your job. But let me look at them to see the ‘write-ups.’

No problem, Marty. Have at it. But remember, red tags mean ‘condemned, not reparable.’ It is a court-martial offense to install a red-tagged part on an aircraft.

Marty nodded in agreement and looked at the antennas. All were written up for minor discrepancies.

Marty returned to the commanding officer and said, Sir, Tech Rep Roy Francois red-tagged the radar antennas. They all have minor subassembly defects. We may have to cannibalize a couple, but the weapons control specialist can most likely fix them all. But I don’t know how to handle Francois. He is either very stupid or has a separate agenda. I could go to jail for a long time if found responsible for installing ‘red-tagged’ items on a fighter aircraft.

The commanding officer (CO) looked at Marty for a long time. He said, Marty, I will call Supply and have those antennas released to you. If you can repair and return those antennas to service, I will owe you. You will have saved my ass.

Marty said, One more thing, Sir, I need all of my men released from all extra duty. They will be working day and night to repair and mechanically boresight them on the aircraft.

The CO replied, You’ve got it, Marty. Get your people to work.

Marty and his crew repaired and installed the antennas onto the aircraft. The exercise in Yuma was very successful and broke several accuracy records.

Marty listened on his radio to early reports of Russia installing missiles in Castro’s Cuba. Marty heard the radio play a tape of newly elected President John F. Kennedy upgrading the United States Military to class-one alert. The president advised the country to take precautions.

Marty thought, Damn, this is serious. Marty listened attentively to the radio during his entire shift. Commentators speculated that under no circumstances would the US allow missiles in Cuba. However, forcing the removal of or invading Cuba would risk World War III.

Pundits and commentators offered many opinions. But all admitted that decisions for the US response relied solely on the new president, John F. Kennedy.

After completing his shift, Marty drove his Harley home. The actions and demeanor of the Tech Rep Roy Francois went ’round and ’round in his head. Marty did not sleep well. Something inside was gnawing at him. Something is seriously wrong. Could Roy’s actions and the Cuban Missile Crisis be somehow connected?

*****

The next morning, Marty’s phone rang. The voice on the phone stated, The base commander’s office has ordered all personnel assigned to Kincheloe Air Force Base to report to base operations immediately. All leaves are canceled. This is not a drill.

Marty acknowledged the call, thinking, This could be a serious event. He put on his uniform, fired up his Harley, and made the twenty-minute ride to Kincheloe.

At base operations, Marty found the parking lot already filled, so he parked the Harley in the space designated for motorcycles. Taking a seat next to the weapons control specialists, he asked the brains of the shop, Sergeant Waddle, What the hell is going on?

Sergeant Waddle replied, All air defense bases in the Northern Air Defense Command lost their MB-1 Atomic Rocket capability, except for Kincheloe. The F-106s at all the other bases failed the missile tracking test. All F106s must pass this test to be airworthy. They will be here Monday to inspect us.

Marty was silent. He knew then why Tech Rep Roy Francois was tampering with the missile control boxes when he surprised him the night before. Marty said to himself, No one will believe me if I report what I saw Roy do last night, and I cannot afford to lose time if I am to undo what Roy intends to do. Kincheloe losing their atomic weapons capability is not an option. I will tell no one and formulate a plan. Today is Thursday. That gives me four nights to keep the sabotaged missile control boxes out of the F-106s. Roy will order all missile control boxes presently installed in the fighters to be replaced with the sabotaged units in Supply before the scheduled inspection on Monday. Removing the missile control boxes believed to be defective with boxes believed to be good will make perfect sense. I do not have the instrumentation or technical data to perform the missile control boxes’ complex repairs. I did learn enough theory at Hughes MA-1 Factory School I attended to repair the sabotage Roy did. I have the mock-up all to myself, so if I can locate the proper test equipment, I think I can do this.

Marty was alone with the mock-up when he arrived that night. The Communications and Computer sections had gone for the day at the end of their shifts. Marty collected the Hughes Aircraft MA-1 weapons control manuals. Studying the manuals, he learned all that he needed to know to correct what Roy did to sabotage the weapons control units. He set the MA-1 radar system to standby to start the warm-up sequence.

Marty said under his breath, I’ll need a frequency counter out of Test Equipment. Normally, those guys in Test Equipment leave it open for me. Don’t fail me now, guys.

Marty found the door to Test Equipment unlocked. He retrieved the frequency counter and returned to the mock-up. He thought, This will be tedious. I will use the missile control unit in the mock-up as the control. I need to record frequencies as they change from the first radar lock-on each step of the way until the missile firing sequence. Depending on how extensively Roy detuned the units, this could