Fred Meiwald

Maintenance Technician, United States Air Force

Fred Meiwald served as a missile maintenance technician with the United States Air Force's 341st Strategic Missile Wing at Malmstrom Air Force Base. During the March 1967 missile shutdown incidents, Meiwald was among the maintenance personnel dispatched to investigate and restore the disabled Minuteman I missiles following the unprecedented Echo Flight outage.

According to Meiwald, maintenance crews found no obvious equipment failure capable of explaining why all ten missiles had entered a 'No-Go' condition almost simultaneously. The restoration process required technicians to inspect and reset each launch facility individually before the missiles could be returned to operational status.

Over the years, Meiwald has stated that the simultaneous failure of multiple independent missile systems was unlike anything he encountered during his Air Force career. While he has not claimed to have personally witnessed an unidentified aerial object, he has acknowledged hearing reports from fellow military personnel regarding unusual aerial activity during the incidents.

Meiwald has participated in interviews and documentaries examining the relationship between unidentified aerial phenomena and nuclear weapons facilities. His testimony is considered valuable because it provides a technical maintenance perspective on one of the best-documented missile failures in U.S. Air Force history, complementing the accounts of launch control officers and security personnel.