U-2 spy plane
On October 27, 1962, an American U-2 spy plane on a reconnaissance mission to look for nuclear missiles, along with its pilot, United States Air Force Major Rudolf Anderson Jr., was shot down by a Soviet surface to air missile (SAM) in Cuba.
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"Destroy Target Number 33." |
The Soviets were determined not to let top-secret information fall into the enemy's hands. In addition, communication was not possible due to the urgency of the situation. Therefore, it was decided that the U-2 spy plane would be shot down.
"...all our missile starting positions had been uncovered, and we must not allow that the secret information to fall into the hands of the Pentagon. Stepan Naumovich (Commander of Soviet Anti-Aircraft Forces) several times tried to get in touch with our commander [Gen. Issa Pliyev] but we did not succeed in finding him in the crucial minutes. It was also impossible to get in touch with Moscow in such a short time."
-Gen. Leonid Garbuz
Deputy Commander of Soviet Forces in Cuba
This was the first of two events (the other being USS Cony's confrontation with B-59) that brought the world to the brink of nuclear war on October 27, 1962, otherwise known as Black Saturday.
"Dean, given the current state of affairs, I'm not sure we'll see tomorrow morning."
-Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara to Secretary of State Dean Rusk,
shortly after midnight on Black Saturday