Cuban Missile Crisis: U-2 Shot Down

Above, U-2 wreckage pieces displayed at Fortaleza de San Carlos de la Cabaña. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

During my recent visit to Havana, Cuba, our tour bus passed near some of the wreckage of the U-2 spy plane that was shot down during the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis.

The wreckage pieces are on display at Fortaleza de San Carlos de la Cabaña

How did the shoot down transpire? History.com (the History Channel website) posted details on it at their website.

Here's a snippet:

On October 27, 1962, Rudolf Anderson Jr. streaked through the stratosphere, 14 miles above a planet tied up in knots. Twelve days before, the Air Force major had flown one of the first top-secret reconnaissance missions over Cuba that confirmed the existence of Soviet missile sites just 90 miles from the American mainland. Anderson was not originally scheduled to fly on this day, but he lobbied hard for the assignment when the mission was added to the schedule. Mission 3127, Anderson’s sixth foray over Cuba as part of “Operation Brass Knob,” would be his most dangerous yet, with Soviet SA-2 surface-to-air missiles (SAMs) now operational and war seemingly imminent. 

Shortly after Anderson entered Cuban air space, his unarmed, high-altitude U-2 spy plane appeared as a blip on Soviet radar. As the Soviet military tracked the intruding aircraft, their concern mounted that the pilot was photographing secret locations of tactical nuclear weapons positioned near America’s Guantanamo Bay Naval Base. “Our guest has been up there for over an hour,” Lieutenant General Stepan Grechko told a deputy. “I think we should give the order to shoot it down, as it is discovering our positions in depth.” With the commanding general, the only man authorized to order a surface-to-air missile launch, nowhere to be found, Grechko gave the order himself: “Destroy Target Number 33.” 

Two surface-to-air missiles rocketed into the sky near the eastern port city of Banes. One exploded near the U-2. Shrapnel pierced the cockpit along with Anderson’s pressurized flight suit and helmet, likely killing him instantly. The U-2 plunged 72,000 feet to the tropical island below. Target number 33 was destroyed.

To read more, go here.