More than sixty years ago, Cold-War games halted all civilian air traffic—long before September 11 did the same.

Did “Operation Skyshield” work, and why was it forgotten in history?

After the terrorist attacks in September 2001 all civil aircraft in the U.S. and Canada were grounded, with devastating effects on commerce and travel. The media said this was the first such grounding in history. But in fact, it was not.

Follow along with retired Smithsonian researcher Roger A. Mola as he tells the forgotten story of "Operation Skyshield," held once each fall from 1960 to 1962 by the North American Air Defense Command, U.S. Air Force, along with British and Canadian allies to test our national defense against a simulated aerial attack. During Skyshield all airlines and private aircraft in the continental U.S. and Canada were grounded as a quarter-million military personnel took control of the skies and airports. “Operation Skyshield” affected nearly all facets of travel and commerce and was front-page news, yet its results and lessons were censored and eventually forgotten, and its procedures and methods largely reinvented on the fly during the actual air attacks of 2001.

Your speaker, Roger A. Mola (HUMEC '83) is a researcher and video editor retired from Smithsonian/Air & Space Magazine. He has more than 1,000 published articles in aviation and aerospace spanning history, technology, and business. In 2002 Roger was honored as Aviation Journalist of the Year in the category of Breaking News, for his coverage of the National Airspace System after the attacks of September 2001 with an historical comparison to the 1960s exercise Operation Skyshield.

Questions: Contact Roger Mola. OperationSkyshield@yahoo.com

This event is not sponsored by Arlington Public Library, and is limited to the Cornell Club of Washington and to the maximum room capacity of 15 persons.

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