It’s Christmas Eve, and kids all over the world anxiously await a visit from Santa Clause.

When Santa flies over Oregon- he'll have some help.

The 142nd Fighter Wing and the 173rd Fighter Wing of the Oregon Air National Guard has a very special assignment tonight: they will protect and escort Santa over Oregon skies.

Major Melinda Leport with the Guard says every Christmas Eve they begin getting reports from the Western Air Defense Sector at McChord Air Force Base about erratic blips on their radar screen.

Because the F-15's are on continuous alert, they may be ordered airborne to investigate anything they can't positively  identify on radar. 

But once airborne, they realize it's St. Nick and in fact the reindeer have become accustomed to flying formation with F-15's.

You can watch Santa's progress by logging onto: WWW.NORADSANTA.NET