Missle crisis not withot tragedy

  • Published
  • By Jim Spellman
  • 60th Air Mobility Wing Public Affairs
TRAVIS AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. --  The Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962-dramatically documented in the 1974 ABC-TV teleplay "The Missiles of October" and the 2000 motion picture "Thirteen Days"-proved the importance of aerial reconnaissance by the Lockheed U-2 Dragon Lady and other airborne assets.

For 13 days, the United States and the former Soviet Union - today's Russian Federation - held everyone on the edge of their seats. The high-stakes political brinksmanship between the U.S. and USSR played out on a world stage which could have ended life as we know it by nuclear annihilation.

On Oct. 14, 1962, two U.S. Air Force U-2s photographed portions of the pro-communist island nation of Cuba, revealing Soviet offensive nuclear missiles based only 90 miles from the shores of the U.S. eastern seaboard. As President John F. Kennedy placed his military forces on high alert, - including Travis - U-2 and RF-101 Voodoo reconnaissance flights over Cuba continued, with the latter aircraft sometimes flying at treetop level.

Kennedy publicly announced details of the critical situation to the nation and the world in a televised address Oct. 22 and ordered a naval blockade of Cuba. Meanwhile, U. S. Air Force aircraft kept the island nation and surrounding waters under constant surveillance, providing the U.S. Navy with data on scores of ships at sea apparently en route to Cuba.

On Oct. 27, U.S. Air Force Maj. Rudolf Anderson Jr. took off on one such reconnaissance mission in a U-2F from a forward-operating location at McCoy Air Force Base, Fla. A few hours into his mission, he was shot down by a Soviet-supplied S-75 Dvina surface-to-air missile near Banes, Cuba.

"The loss of the U-2 over Banes was probably caused by intercept by an SA-2 from the Banes site or pilot hypoxia, with the former appearing more likely on the basis of present information," said a declassified CIA document dated Oct. 28, 1962. Anderson was killed when shrapnel from the exploding proximity warhead punctured his pressure suit, causing it to decompress at high altitude.

By now, the two superpowers were edging close to all-out nuclear war. The shoot down and loss of Anderson and his U-2 aircraft were actions that could have resulted in immediate retaliation from the Kennedy crisis cabinet, according to Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara's testimony. Kennedy stayed his hand and the negotiations continued as news of Anderson's death was withheld by the media and the public at large.

The next day, Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev, faced with U.S. resolve to prevent Soviet strategic weapons being placed so close to the U.S., agreed to remove the offensive missiles as well as medium-range bombers being assembled in Cuba. U.S. Air Force U-2s and RF-101s then monitored communist compliance in removing this threat to American security.

Acting United Nations Secretary U Thant returned Oct. 31 from a visit with Cuban Premier Fidel Castro and publicly announced that Anderson was dead. Anderson's body was returned to the U.S. and interred with full military honors Nov. 6, 1962 in his hometown of Greenville, S.C. at Woodlawn Memorial Park.

By order of Kennedy, Anderson was posthumously awarded the first Air Force Cross, which was created in 1960, as well as the Air Force Distinguished Service Medal, the Purple Heart, and the Cheney Award. On July 26, 2011, Anderson was inducted into the Air Force Reserve Officer Training Corps Distinguished Alumni in a ceremony at Maxwell AFB, Ala., officiated by Lt. Gen. Allen G. Peck, Air University commander.

Anderson and other Strategic Air Command and Tactical Air Command pilots provided pictures that gave U.S. leaders crucial information and proved to the world that offensive nuclear missiles were being placed in Cuba.

Although Anderson was the only combat-related death of the crisis, three reconnaissance-variant RB-47 Stratojets of the 55th Strategic Reconnaissance Wing crashed between Sept. 27 and Nov. 11, 1962, killing a total of 11 crewmembers. Seven more Airmen died when a C-135B Stratolifter delivering ammunition stalled and crashed on approach to Guantanamo Bay Naval Base Oct. 23.

Their ultimate sacrifice in connection with military operations against an armed enemy during those 13 days in October should always be remembered and honored.