Part Two: Development

Despite the Canadian government’s reluctance to approve blanket clearance for overflights in 1958, 1959 brought about a major policy shift. As noted in the introduction, the Air Alert programme was designed by the US to always keep part of its nuclear arsenal in the air, flying one of a few prescribed routes from the US over the Arctic Shield — which formed the northernmost parts of Canada— and Alaska, and then back to the continental US. This was to allow the possibility of a nuclear retaliation in the event of an attack on, and the potential destruction of, the American nuclear arsenal on the ground. 

These documents illustrate the development of the Air Alert programme by the USAF, and the subsequent blanket clearance policy by the Canadian government for these flights.