mysilentfury

On the morning of December 24th, 1955, Continental Air Defense Command (CONAD) Director of Operations Colonel (AF) Harry Shoup feared the worst when he heard the red phone suddenly ring to life.

THE red phone.

The red phone that is only to be used in top secret contingency reporting was ringing and no one had any idea why. Col. Shoup instantly grabbed up the phone, praying that the call didn’t mean that the Russians were invading the US (which was a pretty big fear back then).

Instead of hearing the expected crisis report, the good Col. was greeted with a little boy’s voice that simply asked, “Is this Santa Claus?”

Thinking that it was some kind of prank, Col. Shoup rather harshly demanded to know who was calling the ‘red phone’, only to receive another rather vexing reply.

“Is this one of Santa’s elves, then?” the boy said. The boy then started to rattle off his Christmas list.

Strange call to be placed with the organization charged with the monitoring and protection of US and Canadian air space.

Evidently, a local Colorado Springs Sears Roebuck had placed an ad in the papers that day telling children that they could talk to Santa with a special phone  number. What they didn’t realize is that the phone number was off by one digit and would inadvertently ring CONAD’s crisis hotline.

After the second call, Col. Shoup had figured out the mistake and sent a young airman to field any more of the calls they might receive. He had asked the young man to tell the children that he was helping the big guy out and that he could give them Santa’s RADAR ‘position’ if they wanted to know where he was.

It was that Christmas Eve that a tradition was born and continues to this day with NORAD (North American Aerospace Defense), who replaced CONAD in 1958, with literally hundreds of volunteers that help make tracking Santa on his fantastic voyage across the world that much easier.

From the official NORAD Tracks Santa website:

“NORAD uses four high-tech systems to track Santa – radar, satellites, Santa Cams and fighter jets.

“Tracking Santa starts with the NORAD radar system called the North Warning System. This powerful radar system consists of 47 installations strung across the northern border of North America. On Christmas Eve, NORAD monitors the radar systems continuously for indications that Santa Claus has left the North Pole.

“The moment that radar indicates Santa has lifted off, we use our second detection system. Satellites positioned in geo-synchronous orbit at 22,300 miles from the Earth’s surface are equipped with infrared sensors, which enable them to detect heat. Amazingly, Rudolph’s bright red nose gives off an infrared signature, which allow our satellites to detect Rudolph and Santa.

“The third tracking system is the Santa Cam network. We began using it in 1998, which is the year we put our Santa Tracking program on the internet. Santa Cams are ultra-cool, high-tech, high-speed digital cameras that are pre-positioned at many locations around the world. NORAD only uses these cameras once a year on Christmas Eve. The cameras capture images and videos of Santa and his reindeer as they make their journey around the world.

“The fourth system is made up of fighter jets. Canadian NORAD fighter pilots flying the CF-18 intercept and welcome Santa to North America. In the United States, American NORAD fighter pilots in either the F-15 or the F-16 get the thrill of flying alongside Santa and his famous reindeer: Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Donner, Blitzen and, of course, Rudolph.”

You can log on to www.noradsanta.org to track Santa’s movements on Christmas Eve via Google maps/Earth or you can e-mail NORAD at noradtrackssanta@gmail to get updates on his location. For those of you who won’t have access to the web on Christmas Eve, you can also call NORAD at 1 877 HI-NORAD (1 877 446-6723) for tracking information as well.

I think that it’s great that the people involved do this. I’m sure kids from all over the world have a lot of fun with it. And so this Christmas Eve, while you’re sitting at home sipping on eggnog, watching A Christmas Story and baking Santa some cookies, check the site out, even if you don’t have kids. I know I plan to.