Air Operations: Bay of Pigs

Описание: This is the play by play story of the air operations at the Bay of Pigs invasion in April, 1961 and is dedicated to the 4 American and 10 Cuban airmen that were lost in the operation. 12 were killed in combat and 2 were lost in an attempt to return a CIA B-26 from Boca Chica, Florida to the CIA airfield at Puerto Cabezas, Nicaragua (which went by the codename Happy Valley).

Links to the source material are below. I try no to pass judgments and just explain the vents as they unfolded.

Some air operations such as the supply drop by CIA Douglass C-54 cargo planes are not mentioned as I could not get sufficient information on them.


I failed to mention in the video that the flight from Happy Valley to the Bay of Pigs was 3 hours each way. This helps explain the crew fatigue.

Also, according to the late Col. L. Fletcher Prouty, it was McGeorge Bundy who called the CIA to stop the second air strikes despite what he [Prouty] claims was Kennedy's approval. He cites the book Zapata which is a copy of the follow up report about the failure of the operation.

   • A-26B "Bay of Pigs: Pilot Alfredo Maza  
http://nsarchive.gwu.edu/bayofpigs/ch...
http://www.encyclopediaofalabama.org/...
http://www.latinamericanstudies.org/b...