BAY OF PIGS CUBA

[S&W ucla]

The two threads about flying over Cuba reminded me of the Alabama Air Guard connection. Link Below.
The Alabama Air National Guard still had B-26Cs.....
Bay of Pigs Invasion and the Alabama Air National Guard | Encyclopedia of Alabama

One of my late shooting buddies got his Degree from the University of Fidel's reeducation camp along with 1,100 friends who were captured. His family's land was repurposed and they escaped to US in 1959. He was recruited to join the invasion force. He was not a fan of Kennedy.

 

[Retired W4]

The two threads about flying over Cuba reminded me of the Alabama Air Guard connection. Link Below.
The Alabama Air National Guard still had B-26Cs.....
Bay of Pigs Invasion and the Alabama Air National Guard | Encyclopedia of Alabama

One of my late shooting buddies got his Degree from the University of Fidel's reeducation camp along with 1,100 friends who were captured. His family's land was repurposed and they escaped to US in 1959. He was recruited to join the invasion force. He was not a fan of Kennedy.

I was lucky enough to be in Dayton a few years back when there was a B-26 fly-in at Grimes Field, Urbana, OH. What a sight. My favorite was the ground attack version with all those 50 cal machine guns! Lots of other A/C to look at, but the B-26 was the head liner that day. i was in grade school (AF brat) during the botched invasion.

 

[ordnanceguy]

The Bay of Pigs event was tragic in so many ways, but especially because JFK waffled and then cancelled the planned support by the US Navy fleet located just over the horizon from the beach. The Cuban exiles of Brigade 2506 were left high and dry and, as history records, were then mopped up by the Communist forces and the survivors taken into captivity. In Miami to this day JFK remains deeply unpopular among the exile community.

There are several memorials and museums in Miami dedicated to the remembrance of the Bay of Pigs fighters and their cause. Perhaps the most striking is the B-26 memorial located at Tamiami Airport, as seen below. It is painted in the colors of one of the aircraft that participated in that ill-fated Cold War battle.

Regards,
Charlie

 

[TX-Dennis]

I remember a local air show some years back when the last flyable B-26 crashed shortly after take off killing 5 local men. I remember reading that the B-26 was one of the most difficult planes to fly and required a very experienced pilot. The pilot was the owner of the aircraft, if I remember correctly, and had something over 500 hours of flying time in that aircraft.

 

[charlie sherrill]

The Bay of Pigs invasion was another one of our political screw-ups, and there have been many. What should have been an easy romp over a bunch of backwards communist was turned into an utter failure by patriotic people who were basically abandoned by politicians in Washington. Very similar to the capitulation in Viet Nam. We had it (and Cuba) won and and our own leftists gave it to both of them. We will never recover from either.

 

[SteveA]

I remember a local air show some years back when the last flyable B-26 crashed shortly after take off killing 5 local men. I remember reading that the B-26 was one of the most difficult planes to fly and required a very experienced pilot. The pilot was the owner of the aircraft, if I remember correctly, and had something over 500 hours of flying time in that aircraft.

That was the original B-26 Marauder. The B-26 used in the Bay of Pigs was originally designated the A-26 Invader, later designated the B-26 when the Marauder was withdrawn from service.

 

[steelslaver]

Kid I went to school high school with father was in Cuba prison over that

 

[jrm53]

I was getting free movies from Dish Network last month and I ran across one called "JFK Revisted" if you see it watch it, there is a lot of undisclosed information in it. I was 23 back in 1963 and I doubted a lot of what we were told. Jeff

 

[djohns6]

I know I told this story before , but I think it's fascinating .. I have a cousin that was Navy UDT back in the day . He told me that they went ashore right before the invasion with the mission to locate Castro , and wait for the order to take him out . He said that they literally had him in their sights but the order never came . I wish I had picked his brain on the details .

 

[Old_Cop]

JFK was a figment of the media's imagination. Camelot indeed.

 

[SMSgt]

Womanizing was an honored Kennedy tradition.

 

[H Richard]

I was stationed in England at a nuclear AFB, and the atmosphere was very nervous at the time. If I recall correctly we were on 24/7 alert, and all passes were cancelled for about a couple of weeks. The Russian relationship got a little touchy.

 

[nodpete]

I was stationed in Germany when it happened and then the Berlin Wall went up in Aug 61. My Mother wrote and asked if I was OK because the invasion in Cuba could get bad. I told her not to worry, I'm staying right here watching the Russians on the other side of the street. She didn't realize what was happening in Berlin at that moment. Then she really got worried.