DVIDS – News – The Storm Earlier than the Calm – October, 1962 Half 3: The Cuban Missile Disaster

Portland, Ore.– At Portland Air Drive Base, Oregon, the month of October, 1962 started with a nasty storm which occurred simply because the ANG RIO Faculty started operations. By late October when the Cuban Missile Disaster developed, the month proved to be comparatively calm within the Pacific Northwest even because it regarded like nuclear warfare between the superpowers would possibly happen as a result of state of affairs in Cuba.

Air Protection in Oregon

For Portland Air Drive Base (PAFB), a base then below the Air Protection Command (ADC), the prospect of a superpower battle meant being able to defend in opposition to the Soviet Union’s Lengthy Vary Aviation strategic bomber plane carrying atomic weapons, such because the early variations of the Tu-95 BEAR (100 plane) and M-4/3M BISON (60 plane), about 160 in quantity in 1962. These bombers may carry about 270 nuclear weapons altogether.

A warfare between the superpowers would doubtless not confine itself to the Cuba-Florida space and would escalate – due to this fact air protection forces’ readiness throughout the nation was necessary, as Soviet bombers have been then the predominant nuclear risk to North America. In 1962, the Soviets solely had roughly 40 intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBM), every with a single warhead, and no sea-launched ballistic missiles with intercontinental vary.

To defend in opposition to the bomber risk, Portland in 1962 had the Oregon Air Nationwide Guard’s 142nd Fighter Group (Air Protection), outfitted with the two-seat Northrop F-89J Scorpion all-weather fighter-interceptor. The Oregon F-89s have been primarily postured with a pair on daytime air protection alert, 14 hours a day, seven days every week since October of 1958. The group was well-established within the function. See “Sixty Years of Redhawk Alert,” at: https://www.142wg.ang.af.mil/News/Article-Show/Article/1665129/sixty-years-of-redhawk-alert/

Westward on the ADC energetic responsibility ramp of PAFB was the USAF’s 337th Fighter Group (Air Protection) which operated the single-seat Convair F-102A Delta Dagger fighter-interceptor. The group lined each day and evening alert necessities. Energetic responsibility jet fighter-interceptor models had been based mostly in Portland since 1952, so the mission was well-practiced. On this time interval, the group usually maintained eight F-102s on 15-minute alert standing, with the opposite 19 Delta Dagger plane assigned to the unit then being obtainable for normal coaching sorties and scheduled upkeep work as required.

Each fighter teams got here below the command and management of the Portland Air Protection Sector (SAGE), based mostly at Adair Air Drive Station (AFS), Oregon. There at Adair, the Semi-Computerized Floor Setting (SAGE) Path Heart (DC-13 within the ADC community) had been operational for over two years with its gigantic twin AN/FSQ-7 computer systems to allow its command and management of air protection operations. Portland Air Protection Sector (POADS) was chargeable for a geographic space encompassing western Oregon and northwestern California and out into the seaward approaches over the Pacific Ocean.

POADS itself was below the management of twenty fifth Air Division at McChord AFB, Washington, after which ADC itself, which was the USAF element of the joint Continental Air Protection Command (CONAD), the primary US element of the joint US-Canada North American Air Protection Command (NORAD) in Colorado. NORAD exercised operational management and fielded a sturdy pressure of command and management amenities, sensors, interceptor plane and in some places, surface-to-air missiles to defend in opposition to Soviet nuclear bombers.

A yr earlier than the Cuban disaster, in October, 1961 NORAD performed Train Sky Defend II, an enormous, nation-wide air protection train. Classes realized from that might be utilized within the upcoming Cuban Missile Disaster. See “Remembering Operation Sky Defend II” at: https://www.142wg.ang.af.mil/News/Article-Show/Article/2810282/remembering-operation-sky-shield-ii-october-14-15-1961/

Cuba

On the heels of the damaging Columbus Day storm that hit the Pacific Northwest in 1962, a brand new drawback, the Cuban Missile Disaster, started to quickly develop on October 16, the primary day of the 13-day disaster.

It was a disaster that was really someday within the making in the course of the peak of the Chilly Conflict, from the failed Bay of Pigs invasion in April, 1961; the tense Vienna Summit assembly between President John F. Kennedy and Soviet Premier Nikita S. Khrushchev of June, 1961; the Berlin Disaster of June to November, 1961; the US deployment of Jupiter nuclear missiles to Italy and Turkey in 1961, subsequently adopted by a secret settlement between the Soviet Union and Cuba in July, 1962 to base Soviet nuclear ballistic missiles in Cuba. Superpower brinkmanship was being pushed to the restrict.

And never solely nuclear missiles in Cuba, however below the Moscow’s “Operation Anadyr,” Soviet army personnel numbering as much as 50,000 have been to be stationed in Cuba. They might function the ballistic missiles, present models to protect them together with tanks, anti-aircraft batteries, tactical surface-to-surface missiles and rockets, tactical bomber (Air Drive and Navy each) and fighter plane and naval surface-to-surface missile boats. Soviet management calculated that Operation Anadyr would exert a major strategic risk in opposition to the US in addition to deter an American assault on Cuba.

Proof of a Soviet army pressure buildup on Cuba appeared quickly afterward. US Navy maritime patrol plane noticed Soviet-flagged vessels carrying weaponry to Cuba. Floor-to-air antiaircraft missiles and naval missile boats have been noticed by high-altitude US reconnaissance flights over Cuba upfront of the ballistic missiles’ arrival. On September 4, 1962 President Kennedy publicly warned in opposition to the basing of any offensive weapons in Cuba. Soviet diplomatic and army efforts at deception characterised their exercise as solely defensive in nature.

Ramping Up

On October 14, a USAF high-altitude U-2 reconnaissance plane of the Strategic Air Command’s (SAC) 4080th Strategic Wing obtained pictures of nuclear ballistic missile web site building for R-12/SS-4 SANDAL medium vary ballistic missiles because the Soviets continued their pressure buildup. (Be aware: R-14/SS-5 SKEAN intermediate-range ballistic missile (IRBM) launchers and missiles deliberate for deployment in Cuba by no means arrived earlier than the disaster ended, though nuclear warheads for these missiles did.) An actual strategic offensive nuclear missile risk to the US had all of the sudden materialized in Cuba regardless of Soviet assurances on the contrary – an SS-4 SANDAL MRBM carrying a 1 to 2.3 megaton thermonuclear warhead may attain Washington, DC from Cuba in 13 minutes.

The U-2 pictures have been analyzed by picture interpreters, annotated to establish key observations and forwarded to the White Home on October 15. At 8:45 AM on October 16, President Kennedy was alerted of the invention – as soon as operational, these nuclear missile websites may threaten American territory some 600 to 1,300 miles from Cuba for SS-4 MRBMs and about twice as far with SS-5 IRBMs. The Soviet ballistic missiles in Cuba may strike targets throughout the entire continental United States aside from a portion of the Pacific Northwest. Thus the Cuban Missile Disaster started. On today, POADS and assigned models performed a routine, beforehand scheduled air protection train inside its space of duty.

Per week later, on October 22, after a lot deliberation with key employees and advisors, President Kennedy determined to enact a naval “quarantine” of Cuba and diplomatic efforts continued to resolve the disaster. The president spoke on nationwide tv to the American folks and stated “It shall be the coverage of this nation to treat any nuclear missile launched from Cuba in opposition to any nation within the Western Hemisphere as an assault by the Soviet Union on america, requiring a full retaliatory response upon the Soviet Union.”

Because the president spoke, 22 ADC interceptors have been on airborne alert over Florida as a precaution in opposition to any sneak assault from Cuba. The US Joint Chiefs of Workers (JCS) introduced the putting of army forces on the readiness standing of DEFCON 3, a rise in pressure readiness above that usually required.

DEFCON 3

US naval forces deployed to ascertain the quarantine at sea to forestall further weapons from arriving in Cuba by ship whereas contingency plans have been developed for air strikes in opposition to army targets in Cuba. On October 23, US Navy VFP-62 RF-8A Crusader tactical reconnaissance jets (some flown by US Marine VMCJ-2 pilots) commenced low-level overflights to assemble extra detailed info on what the U-2s had detected. These flights additionally found nuclear-capable FROG-7 tactical rocket launchers. SAC positioned extra B-52s on airborne alert and CONAD started flying defensive patrols to cowl bases within the southeastern US. ADC deployed 161 nuclear-armed fighter-interceptors to 16 dispersal airfields in a nine-hour interval. About one-third of them have been positioned on 15-minute alert standing.

In Portland, the DEFCON change on the twenty second noticed the 337th Fighter Group (AD) direct its 460th Fighter-Interceptor Squadron (460th FIS) to position all plane on 5-minute alert. On the time, the squadron was assigned 27 F-102 Delta Dagger interceptors, together with at the least one two-seat TF-102A combat-capable coach.

No official unit historical past for the 142nd Fighter Group (AD) exists to explain how the DEFCON posture affected the unit. Further F-89J Scorpion interceptors of the group’s 123rd Fighter-Interceptor Squadron (123rd FIS) have been doubtless made alert-ready. It’s attainable the RIO Faculty (described in Half 2 of this collection) was affected by the disaster and that F-89J plane and USAF instructors from the varsity may have joined within the greater alert posture, however that’s unconfirmed.

On October 23, the 337th Fighter Group’s alert dedication modified once more. Two jets have been to be maintained on five-minute alert, with 10 extra F-102s on fifteen-minute alert. The remainder of the jets have been to be mission prepared inside an hour’s time. The alert change enabled the squadron to have some plane obtainable in an effort to proceed to perform coaching sorties, albeit at a decreased charge.

In consequence, the 337th shifted all operations and upkeep work to a seven-day work week so as preserve the alert posture and to generate the coaching sorties to fulfill the month-to-month flying dedication. The unit maintained this schedule for over a month, till November 27 when DEFCON 3 in most of ADC was cancelled. No important points affected the unit’s capability to offer alert plane and conduct different routine coaching and upkeep actions. Of be aware, throughout this surge the workload of every aircrew elevated to 88 hours per week.

Within the month of October the common combat-ready charge for 460th FIS-assigned F-102s was 73.1 %. It rose barely to 74.1 p.c for the month of November, and elevated notably to 81.4 p.c in December, 1962 maybe reflecting the ripple results of the sustained surge exercise. The F-102’s datalink success charge within the interval was a stable 100%.

DEFCON 2

As tensions ratcheted up and the disaster continued, the world appeared poised on the brink of a nuclear holocaust. On October 24, SAC was ordered to raise its readiness standing to DEFCON 2 (armed forces able to deploy and interact in lower than six hours). SAC’s fleet of nuclear bombers and missiles remained at this readiness degree till November 21. On the peak of the alert SAC had 1,479 bombers, 1,003 tankers and 182 ballistic missiles prepared for retaliatory assaults – these forces may ship 2,952 nuclear weapons.

Round this time the 460th FIS was tasked to offer one TF-102A two-seat “tub” to ADC forces deployed in Florida. Two ADC pilots flew the combat-capable jet coach plane to Florida. The plane could have been used to assist ADC set up an intercept functionality in Florida in opposition to low, sluggish, propeller-driven plane. The TF-102A’s two-man crew may maybe higher make use of the plane in evening and low-level intercepts. Such plane have been armed with 2.75-inch rockets for this mission. The TF-102A returned to Portland in early December after the disaster eased.

Within the week prior, CONAD had 240 fighters on alert throughout the US. Inside a 48-hour interval, it postured 82 interceptors on alert in Florida (F-101 Voodoo, F-102 Delta Dagger, F-106 Delta Dart) and brough the whole variety of air protection alert plane as much as 520. By October 26, a complete of 1,044 plane have been deployed for air protection, with 589 on 5 to fifteen-minute alert and 446 on one to three-hour alert.

On October 26, USAF tactical reconnaissance plane of the 363rd Tactical Reconnaissance Wing, after getting some aerial digital camera points rectified, started low-level reconnaissance sorties over Cuba with RF-101A Voodoo jet plane.

U-2 Shootdown

Issues got here to blows on October 27, when a USAF U-2F high-altitude reconnaissance plane was shot down over Cuba by a Soviet surface-to-air missile. Maj Gen D.E.B. Ward, USAF (Retired), who commanded the Oregon ANG in the course of the early Nineteen Nineties, recollects “I used to be a T-33 IP at Laughlin AFB, Del Rio, Texas stationed with the SAC 4080th Strategic Reconnaissance U-2 Wing at the moment. We have been the one base to be at DEFCON 2 and I consider the remaining Air Drive and doubtless ANG models have been upgraded to DEFCON 3. The 4080th suffered the one fight casualty when Main Rudolf Anderson was shot down by a missile whereas overflying Cuba.”

Sadly, Main Rudolf Anderson, Jr. was killed. He was posthumously awarded the Air Drive Cross, the primary award of the USAF’s second-highest medal for valor.

SAC ordered greater than 60 B-52 Stratofortress strategic bombers to proceed on airborne nuclear alert, whereas Tactical Air Command (TAC) models deployed to Florida (e.g. F-84F Thunderstreak, F-100 Tremendous Sabre and F-105 Thunderchief squadrons) assumed a one-hour alert posture and ready to go to a 15-minute alert with pilots within the cockpit.

Air protection forces in Florida rose to 154 fighter-interceptors with 26 on five-minute alert, 35 on fifteen-minute alert and 55 on one to three-hour alert. From 4 to 11 interceptors have been saved on fixed airborne alert round Florida, which was filled with some 460 fighter-bombers from TAC prepared to hold out air strikes in opposition to the Cuban missile websites.

By this level within the disaster, some six to eight of the SS-4 SANDAL MRBMs in Cuba have been deemed operational. With nuclear warheads for them on the island, there was now a real offensive risk from Cuban soil in opposition to the continental US.

However on October 28, knowledge prevailed and diplomatic efforts yielded a manner out of the disaster. The Soviets introduced they’d take away their missiles from Cuba if the US pledged to not invade. And in a quid professional quo, the US eliminated Jupiter ballistic missiles from Italy and Turkey in early 1963.

Portland Readiness

Because the instant focus of the Cuban Missile Disaster was on the southeast nook of america nearest Cuba, ADC models within the Pacific Northwest remained at their major working bases. At Portland AFB, it was unclear how the rising disaster would possibly have an effect on the models. The Commander of the 142nd Fighter Group (AD), Lt Col Patrick O’Grady, addressed this matter within the unit’s November, 1962 “Air Scoop” publication through which he wrote:

“I do know that lots of you, throughout this Cuban disaster, have proven concern about the opportunity of the 142nd Fighter Group being referred to as to energetic responsibility. So far, no indication of a call-up has been acquired and any assertion made by me right now could be nothing greater than conjecture.

The opportunity of a name to energetic responsibility is an inherent a part of the army obligation of each member of the Oregon Air Nationwide Guard. Clearly, this risk comes extra into the foreground when worldwide disaster engulfs because it has at the moment. Your concern is an comprehensible one, as nobody likes to face attainable disruption of civilian life, the leaving of alternatives and family members. Nevertheless, so long as a call-up is taken into account a part of our army obligation, and additional, so long as even the slightest risk exists that such an motion could also be pending, I consider that it behooves everybody in our group to think about to this risk, significantly within the mild as to how such a transfer would have an effect on him personally.

I once more wish to make it clear that no indication of a ‘call-up’ has been acquired. Nevertheless, ought to such a name come, I would like each man on this group in a state of readiness – – mentally, bodily and professionally – able to do the job we could also be referred to as to do.”

Ratcheting Down

On October 31, CONAD’s request to scale back the dispersal of its interceptor forces was accepted by the JCS, and went from 173 all the way down to 143.

On November 3, the command’s alert posture went from Charlie to Bravo, which decreased the 15-minute alert posture for defending fighter-interceptors from 50% to 33%. The difficulty of the 42 newly-arrived Il-28 BEAGLE jet bombers in Cuba, most of which had not been taken out of crates and assembled, nonetheless needed to be resolved. With a 700-mile fight radius, these nuclear-capable jet bombers may simply attain the southeastern US. The bombers have been in the end withdrawn as the 2 sides stepped again from the brink. By November 18 all of ADC’s dispersed plane returned to their homebases and as soon as once more assumed a one-third alert posture. The naval quarantine continued till November 20, when the final Il-28 bombers have been faraway from Cuba.

ADC sorties flown from October 22 to November 26 have been 13,047 with 2,800 flown in Florida. On November 29, CONAD went to DEFCON 5 (regular readiness) aside from the Florida space which remained at DEFCON 3 whereas long-range plans have been made to spice up air defenses within the space.

Though Portland’s air defenders weren’t closely concerned within the Cuban Missile Disaster at its level of origin other than one TF-102A, they did maintain a heightened watch via the weeks it transpired. They maintained a excessive readiness posture to scramble and intercept any enemy airborne weapons within the POADS space of duty below all situations of climate throughout daylight and darkness.

Oregon ANG Commander Brig Normal Gordon L. Doolittle wrote in regards to the disaster within the December, 1962 Air Scoop publication: “The recall of Air Nationwide Guard and Air Drive Reserve models in the course of the Berlin and Cuba crises supplies ample proof that these Prepared Reserve Forces are important components of this nation’s safety posture.” He added: “The president acknowledged when he put the Cuban quarantine into impact: “No man can foresee the results.” Despite the obvious easing of that state of affairs, I really feel that “No man can foresee the results” within the still-to-be-fought actions within the battle of the free world in opposition to totalitarianism.”

Oregon’s Governor Mark O. Hatfield addressed Oregon ANG members on the finish of the yr additionally when he wrote them: “The crises with which now we have not too long ago been confronted, each on the worldwide degree and domestically, introduced the function of the Air Nationwide Guard prominently to the general public consideration and appreciation. Oregon is pleased with the function of the Air Nationwide Guard. Its missions within the chilly warfare and in peace are broadly revered.”

This identical degree of professionalism and readiness proven within the Cuban Missile Disaster was demonstrated once more on September 11, 2001 when the 142nd Fighter Wing quickly achieved a most state of readiness in a brief time frame as that horrible day unfolded. Though the west coast was spared the dying and destruction inflicted on the east coast that chaotic day, the wing did scramble F-15 Eagle fighters to escort a suspicious airliner away from Seattle. See “The 142nd Fighter Wing Remembers 9/11” at: https://www.142wg.ang.af.mil/News/Article-Show/Article/438204/the-142nd-fighter-wing-remembers-911/

And this mission readiness continues at the moment, because the Citizen Airmen of Oregon’s 142nd Wing, Guardians of the Pacific Northwest, preserve and function F-15C Eagle fighter plane able to serving at an Aerospace Management Alert web site, in an effort to reply as required to potential airborne threats and aggression.