JFK Assassination Mystery Solved

[BIAD]

On November 23, 1993, Robert G. Vinson told his strange story to news anchor Larry Hatteberg on Wichita’s KAKE-TV
Channel 10 News. His revealing account was due to Congress passing the JFK Records Act in 1992, which mandated
the disclosure of government records on John Robert Kennedy's assassination.

After Vinson consulted with his member of Congress -Representative Dan Glickman of Wichita, he was relieved that
the new law freed him from his secrecy agreement when it came to assassination information. This agreement was
due to his alleged unwanted affiliation with the Central Intelligence Agency.

True or just another trick of the CIA..? You decide.
....................................

U.S. Air Force sergeant Robert G. Vinson of the North American Air Defense Command was known by his NORAD
commanders as a mild-mannered subordinate who could be counted on not to raise troublesome questions. The
34 year-old had enjoyed a sixteen-year military career and even though he felt his current position at Ent Air Force
Base was satisfiable, Vinson's concern was growing on why his overdue promotion had somehow been delayed.

Sergeant Vinson had done sterling work where he served as Administrative Supervisor of the electronics division
and held a crypto security clearance, he and his wife Roberta could see no reason why his superiors had stalled
on his advancement. Parting from his usual amenable relationship with his commanders, Robert decided to take
matters into his own hands.

On the 20th of November 1963, Vinson flew to Washington D.C from Colorado Springs and met with a Colonel
Chapman in a basement office of the Capitol Building to sort out his deferred upgrade in rank. Robert recalled that
during their conversation, the telephone rang and Chapman -a liaison officer between Congress and the Pentagon,
answered it.

Colonel Chapman told the person on the other end of the line he “would highly recommend that the President not
go to Dallas, Texas, on Friday and cancel the trip because there had been something reported.” Unknown to the
Sergeant standing nearby, Chapman had already coordinated an advance group of Congressmen and they had
left the capital.

Vinson did not hear what the “something” was that moved Colonel Chapman to urge the last-second cancellation
of President Kennedy’s Dallas trip, but considering the discovery of a four-man sniper team in Chicago less than
three weeks earlier, one could suggest the liaison officer was being prudent -to say the least.

After repeating that the President should cancel his Dallas trip and finishing the call, Colonel Chapman returned
to Robert Vinson’s promotion query and referred him to an office at the Pentagon where he felt confident that a
a personnel officer there would check Vinson’s records. After offering a similar puzzlement to Robert at why
the Sergeant hadn’t been promoted, the personnel officer assured him their office would look into the situation.
....................................

Early on November 22, Sergeant Vinson took a bus to Andrews Air Force Base, where he planned to hitch a ride
home on the first available flight going to Colorado Springs or its vicinity. After discovering that there was nothing
scheduled that day for the Denver area from the airman at the Check-In counter, Vinson wrote his name and serial
number on the check-in sheet and asked the airman to let him know if any aircraft not on his list might be going
westwards.

Adding that he was going for breakfast in the cafeteria, Vinson left the counter with a slim hope that he'd be home
some time in the near future. Fifteen minutes later that ambition was strengthened when the Base's loudspeaker
paged him to return to the Check-In. Hurrying past the pointing airman and thanking him, Robert was informed
that a Douglas C-54 was about to depart for Lowry Air Force Base in Denver.

Racing towards the stationary propeller-driven cargo plane, Vinson noticed the C-54 bore no military markings or
even a serial number. Nearing the open door, he glanced at the odd identification emblazoned on the plane's tail.
A rust-brown graphic of an egg-shaped earth, crossed by white grid marks.

Inside the four-engine Skymaster was empty and taking a seat over the right wing, Sergeant Vinson observed
two men in olive drab coveralls walking around under the plane. After a short time, this pair of individuals who
sported no markings on their garments boarded the plane without speaking to their only passenger and took
their positions in the cockpit. The C-54's engines roared to life, the cockpit door was closed and Robert watched
as the big transport plane took to the air as he deliberated on the strange design on the tail outside.

In the few rides he had hitched a lift with the Air Force, a Crew Chief had always asked him to sign the log or
or some type of manifest. This flight had neither. Now flying the C-54 due west, Vinson wondered if his day
could possibly become more confusing.

Somewhere over Nebraska, Robert Vinson heard an unemotional voice relate a statement over the intercom that
would warrant the Sergeant's wondering of his time away from Denver “The president was shot at 12:29.”
Immediately after the passionless announcement was given, the unmarked C-54 banked left and headed south.
Unknown at that moment, Robert of Colorado Springs was going to Texas.
....................................

Robert had been to Dallas before during his career and recognised its skyline. It was about 3:30 P.M. Central
Time when the big plane turned and came in over the city in a southeast direction. President Kennedy had been
pronounced dead one-and-a-half hours before and Lee Harvey Oswald was in the Dallas Police headquarters for
well-over an hour.

Through the window, Sergeant Vinson watched as the C-54 landed abruptly in a rough, sandy area alongside the
Trinity River and at once, he realised they hadn't used a regular runway. Beyond the right wing with its engines
still running, Vinson saw a tool shed of the type used by highway construction crews. Estimating the building to
be around four by six feet in size, he attempted to gather further information on where he exactly was.

It was a large open, sandy location with the Dallas skyline to the north. He could see low cliffs off to the distance
and then his surveyance was interrupted when he noticed two men running towards the C-54 away from a jeep.
This vehicle abruptly left the area as the pair of unknowns arrived beside the cargo plane and waited as one of
the pilots appeared and unlatched the passenger door.

It would only be later during Sergeant Robert G. Vinson's testimony to Wichita Civil Liberties Attorney, James
Johnston -after an interview with news anchor Larry Hatteberg on Wichita’s KAKE-TV Channel 10 News, would
he suggest that the makeshift airstrip was a flood plain between between Cadiz Street Viaduct and Corinth Street
Viaduct just south of downtown Dallas. James P. Johnston and journalist Jon Roe would go on and co-author the
book of Robert's experience that day, 'A Flight from Dallas'.


Red Circle: Dealey Plaza. Yellow Circle: Where Vinson believed the plane landed in Dallas.
Inset. Robert Vinson.

The two men entered the plane without a word to the only passenger, the pilot or each other and took a seated
position directly behind the cockpit. Wearing off-white, beige coveralls, a style used by highway workers, they
sat stoically as Robert covertly took in their appearance.

The taller of the two men -around six feet in height and possibly weighing one-hundred-and-eighty to one-hundred
-and-ninety pounds looked Latino and Sergeant Vinson believed this person was Cuban. The shorter man was
estimated to be about five-feet-seven to five-feet-nine and weighing about one-hundred -and-fifty to one-hundred
-and-sixty pounds. Vinson observed the man to be Caucasian and it would be the weekend after this strange trip
to Dallas that Robert -whilst watching the television about that fateful day with his wife, he would see his smaller
fellow-passenger on the plane. It was the arrested Lee Harvey Oswald.
....................................

Believing the aircraft's destination was still Lowry Air Base in Denver, Sergeant Vinson peered wearily out of the small
window at the waning light. Dusk was coming and not long after, the plane began a decent to what he hoped was the
beginning of the end of this weird roundabout trip home.

With a mild bump, the Douglas C-54 came to rest in the gloom and its noisy engines were quickly shut off. However,
it wasn't just the propellers that were making haste as suddenly, the two airmen from the cockpit emerged, opened the
door and fled without a word. The silent passengers were hot on the pilots heels and they two exited the plane, leaving
Vinson alone in the empty darkness.  “That was strange, very strange...” Vinson said years later in an interview.
“...I couldn’t understand why they were in such a rush. They just bailed out.”

Standing alone on the deserted air strip, Robert Vinson peered around in the darkness and felt his doubts increase that
he'd arrived at Lowry Air Base. Across the runway from the abandoned plane, he could see a building with lights in it
and sighing in his chagrin of being bounced across the country, the Sergeant hurried across the tarmac to see if anyone
was inside.

Surprised to find a solitary Air Policeman on duty in the illuminated structure, Robert introduced himself and asked
where he was. "You’re at Roswell Air Force Base in New Mexico” the AP said and brought forth more astonishment
from the man from Colorado Springs. “I thought I was going to Denver, Colorado. How can I get downtown and catch
a bus?” Vinson asked and breathed his annoyance through his nostrils. The Air Policeman informed the latest visitor
of the famous Air Base that he couldn’t go anywhere because the base was on alert. No one could come in or go out.

Initially confused that the C-54 had just landed without concern from those who had locked down the air field, Robert
wondered if the military's restriction of air traffic was due to the two pilots and the mute passengers of the plane he
had recently flown in and a need for them to arrive unseen. The AP advised the Sergeant that there was nothing for
him to do except take a seat in the waiting room until the alert was lifted. After a couple of hours, the same AP told
Vinson the alert was over and gave him directions to a bus stop

As Saturday November 23rd broke over the eastern horizon, Robert Vinson finally reached his original destination,
his home in Colorado Springs and the arms of wife, Roberta. It would be later in the day when the weary traveller
of the skies would tell his better-half about the strange excursion across the United States. After some deliberation,
they both agreed not to discuss it with anyone as the slaying of the President and the arrest of his murderer was
all over the newspapers and television.

That night, while they watched the coverage from Dallas on their little TV set, Robert suddenly shook his head in
disbelief. Turning to his wife, he said “That guy look just like the little guy who was on the airplane.” “Are you nuts?”
Roberta replied. “It couldn’t be him. He’s in jail.”



To be continued.