10-04-2016, 03:47 PM
This is a story of the first incident, prior to the Bay of Pigs attack. During the BOPs one of the A4-2 Skyhawk's got shot-down from Castro's army. Kennedy knew it, and still refused an invasion.
"They were both Brigade FAL B-26s, painted as FAR B-26s.
8 B-26s, armed with 8 5 inch rockets, bombs and 8 nose mounted .50 Cal machine guns took off from Puerto Cabezas, Nicaragua, to attack three Cuban airfields. A ninths B-26 took off from the same airfield but flew directly to Miami. The 8 that did the actual attack were to fly back to Nicaragua after completing their mission, whereas the ninth was to land in Miami and claim that it was a real FAR B-26 that had taken off from Cuba, bombed its own airfields and landed in Miami. That aircraft was painted as FAR "933'", supposedly the same that had defected to Miami in Dec 1958 when it was FAEC 933. Several of the Brigade aircraft shared the same registration to make it appear that less bombers were involved than actually were.
One of the aircraft that did the actual attack on Campo Libertad in Havana, was, for one reason or another unable to fly back to Nicaragua after delivering its ordnance and landed in Boca Chica NAS. As fate would have it, the real attacker that landed in Boca Chica had the same registration as the one that landed in Miami.
In a book called "Artillero de Cola" (tail gunner) a Cuban B-26 tail gunner writes that in Feb or March 1961 he was patrolling out of Santiago the Cuba in B-26 "931". He specifies that it was fitted with 6 nose guns, 4 under wing guns, and a top and bottom tail turret with two .50 Cal each. They had been sent to check out a large ship which had been reported some 30 nautical miles off the coast of Cuba, which turned out was a Soviet Tanker which was en route to Santiago de Cuba. On their way back, they were joined from the rear by a pair of A4 Skyhawks, probably from Guantanamo. One came right along the back side of the B-26, while the other stayed farther aft and higher. The one right behind was very close, where the tail gunner was able to keep him in his gunners sights. The B-26's captain, went to Max Continuous power, ordered the tail gunner to arm his guns, while attempting to communicate with his base, through the Santiago control tower. The pair of A4s followed. After a while the A4 moved over to the side where the B-26 was no longer in the A-4s' sights, but strayed very close, inside of 150 feet. It lowered its flaps and cycled its gear a few times to keep pace with the B-26. The other A4 maneuvered father away, so the gunner could not keep both in its sights at the same time. He could see the pilots eyes looking at him, with a red helmet and his oxygen mask. The aircraft was written NAVY in big black letters on the side, was gray, and the tail had a black and yellow checkerboard looking diagram and was registered 2747.
By then the B-26 was nearing Santiago and the A-4s were clearly inside of Cuban Airspace. The B-26 suddenly pulled back on the power, forced the two A4s to overtake it and as they did he fired in between them with all forward firing guns, some of which misfired. The A4 then pulled away and left.
After landing, the Captain of the B-26, Jacques Lagas, was blasted by Raoul Castro in person for almost causing a major incident with the Americans.........
'
The aircraft in which this incident occurred is supposed to be the one located today in San Antonio."
http://warbirdinformationexchange.org/ph...1&start=60
"They were both Brigade FAL B-26s, painted as FAR B-26s.
8 B-26s, armed with 8 5 inch rockets, bombs and 8 nose mounted .50 Cal machine guns took off from Puerto Cabezas, Nicaragua, to attack three Cuban airfields. A ninths B-26 took off from the same airfield but flew directly to Miami. The 8 that did the actual attack were to fly back to Nicaragua after completing their mission, whereas the ninth was to land in Miami and claim that it was a real FAR B-26 that had taken off from Cuba, bombed its own airfields and landed in Miami. That aircraft was painted as FAR "933'", supposedly the same that had defected to Miami in Dec 1958 when it was FAEC 933. Several of the Brigade aircraft shared the same registration to make it appear that less bombers were involved than actually were.
One of the aircraft that did the actual attack on Campo Libertad in Havana, was, for one reason or another unable to fly back to Nicaragua after delivering its ordnance and landed in Boca Chica NAS. As fate would have it, the real attacker that landed in Boca Chica had the same registration as the one that landed in Miami.
In a book called "Artillero de Cola" (tail gunner) a Cuban B-26 tail gunner writes that in Feb or March 1961 he was patrolling out of Santiago the Cuba in B-26 "931". He specifies that it was fitted with 6 nose guns, 4 under wing guns, and a top and bottom tail turret with two .50 Cal each. They had been sent to check out a large ship which had been reported some 30 nautical miles off the coast of Cuba, which turned out was a Soviet Tanker which was en route to Santiago de Cuba. On their way back, they were joined from the rear by a pair of A4 Skyhawks, probably from Guantanamo. One came right along the back side of the B-26, while the other stayed farther aft and higher. The one right behind was very close, where the tail gunner was able to keep him in his gunners sights. The B-26's captain, went to Max Continuous power, ordered the tail gunner to arm his guns, while attempting to communicate with his base, through the Santiago control tower. The pair of A4s followed. After a while the A4 moved over to the side where the B-26 was no longer in the A-4s' sights, but strayed very close, inside of 150 feet. It lowered its flaps and cycled its gear a few times to keep pace with the B-26. The other A4 maneuvered father away, so the gunner could not keep both in its sights at the same time. He could see the pilots eyes looking at him, with a red helmet and his oxygen mask. The aircraft was written NAVY in big black letters on the side, was gray, and the tail had a black and yellow checkerboard looking diagram and was registered 2747.
By then the B-26 was nearing Santiago and the A-4s were clearly inside of Cuban Airspace. The B-26 suddenly pulled back on the power, forced the two A4s to overtake it and as they did he fired in between them with all forward firing guns, some of which misfired. The A4 then pulled away and left.
After landing, the Captain of the B-26, Jacques Lagas, was blasted by Raoul Castro in person for almost causing a major incident with the Americans.........
'
The aircraft in which this incident occurred is supposed to be the one located today in San Antonio."
http://warbirdinformationexchange.org/ph...1&start=60