1945: Ernest Littlefield Goes Through the Gate
More than half a century before the Abydos mission, Ernest Littlefield became the first modern human known to pass through the Stargate. In 1945, a secret experiment led by Paul Langford used improvised equipment to activate the device and send Ernest through without a reliable method of return. This episode reconstructs that forgotten mission, the technical limitations of the early program, and the decision to conceal Ernest’s fate from Catherine Langford. Stranded on a distant world, he survived for decades inside a ruined meeting place once used by four advanced civilizations, recording what he could while waiting for rescue. His experience revealed both the promise and cruelty of Stargate exploration: extraordinary knowledge could be reached, but only through risks that early researchers barely understood. Ernest’s disappearance also shaped Catherine’s lifelong determination to solve the gate, making the failed 1945 experiment a hidden bridge between the Giza discovery and the eventual creation of Stargate Command. Visit ImaginedBattlefield.com for more military and science fiction.
