The photos that prevented WW3

On October 23, 1962, a U.S. Navy commander named William B. Ecker took off from Key West at midday in an RF-8 Crusader jet equipped with five reconnaissance cameras. Accompanied by a wingman, Lt. Bruce Wilhelmy, he headed toward a mountainous region of western Cuba where Soviet troops were building a facility for medium-range missiles aimed directly at the United States. A U-2 spy plane, flying as high as 70,000 feet, had already taken grainy photographs that enabled experts to find the telltale presence of Soviet missiles on the island. But if President John F. Kennedy was going to make the case that the weapons were a menace to the entire world, he would need better pictures.

I lived through that mess. At the tender age of 16, I was a Civil Defense radio operator and Fallout Shelter manager. The photos exposed what was happening in Cuba. What prevented WWIII was Kruschev having the political courage to back down.

I was a seventeen year old Nike Hercules crewman. We thought we were going to war, and we saw it as necessary. We only scrambled once, and put our missiles at the ready, but that turned out to be a Canadian AF Brigadier who had apparently ended up in the wrong air space. It would have really been embarrassing if the first casualty of the war had been friendly fire against a fellow member of NORAD.

Tidbit: Research the 35th Black Cat U-2 Squadron. Taiwanese Nationalists flying for the agency and the ROCAF, in the 60's over the mainland PRC. When declassified documents became available in 98....not a word about these intrepid men. Several of whom were shot down, tortured and imprisoned. Still isn't a recognition of their work.

Edited by Centrix Vigilis - 10-Jan-2013 at 07:16

Originally posted by Centrix Vigilis   in Fortress Europa.