MISSILE STOLEN

Press, Volume CVII, Issue 31519, 6 November 1967, Page 13

MISSILE STOLEN

(N.Z.P. A.-Reuter—Copyright) ZELL (West Germany), November 5. The theft of an air-to-air guided missile from a West German air base a fortnight ago was discovered by a sergeant who went to pick parsley in his garden, it was disclosed yesterday. The disappearance of the American-built Sidewinder missile—from a German Air Force unit stationed near Neuburg on the Danube, according to informed sources—leaked out and was officially confirmed on October 26. There is still no clue to the rocket’s whereabouts. The garden, where the German Air Force sergeant went to fetch parsley for his wife adjoins the sheds where the top-secret missiles were stored. He found a three-foot hole in the wire security fence and a smashed window in the shed through which the 1541 b rocket had apparently been taken. So far there has been no official explanation of how the solid-fuel rocket, which can be fitted to West Germany’s American - designed supersonic Starfighter jets, could have disappeared from a depot, which has guards who are reported to have orders to shoot on sight.