Cold War (The Cuban Crisis 1962)

I happened to be flying my B-47E Stratojet for the Strategic Air Command (SAC) the day the Cuban Crisis began to boil. After landing, as I pulled into my assigned parking spot, I saw my squadron commander pull up in his staff car. I thought: “Goodness! What did I do now?” Instead of a chewing out, however, he briefed us on the latest goings on. My crew and I were taken aback when he said we were in DEFCON 2 (Defense Condition 2). We had never been at a DEFCON that high before and have never been since. This was truly a serious situation.

As we had just landed, we were sent home for twelve hours crew rest before being recalled. Almost to the minute, the phone rang and we were recalled to the base. We reported as directed to the vault for a briefing and targeting information. Upon arrival, we found the whole ball game had changed. The Lt. Col briefer stated because we were latecomers, there were no tankers available to refuel us along our assigned tracks. We would have to wait until the tankers could re-cycle (fuel up) and meet us along our assigned routes to our targets. The briefer indicated what we all knew, that the fly time of a Russian missile to the U.S. was approximately 15 minutes - and unfortunately it would take much longer than 15 minutes for the tankers to recycle. Therefore, they had decided to deploy us to a non-SAC location as all SAC bases were primary targets. This was all news to us. We had studied our targets for months and months and had never discussed this deployment option.

There were a total of six crews, including us, who were latecomers and would deploy. I was selected to be the flight leader for the six B-47E bombers. The Colonel left the room and came back with what appeared to be two Samsonite suitcases? He opened the suitcases, and lo and behold, they were HF (high frequency) radio sets. Upon arrival at our deployment base, we were to set up the HF radios and antennas and report back to the Command Post at our home base of Shilling AFB, Kansas for further orders. Now we were all well -disciplined crews, knew our airplanes, bombs, targets, routes, enemy defenses, etc., but none of us had ever heard of anything quite like what we were being told. It was never mentioned, even as a contingency.

The Lt. Col pulled out a chart to show us our route to the deployment base. I almost fell off my chair! We were deploying to Detroit Wayne International Airport, Michigan. Wahoo is me! Six bombers, each loaded with four Mark-28 1.1 megatons nuclear weapons, landing at a Detroit Wayne International Airport amongst civilian airline traffic. All the planning and training over the years to develop one of the most disciplined and trained organizations, the Strategic Air Command (SAC), just went to hell. For us it was a whole new ball game and we did not have the time to study, question, or plan for contingencies.

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Jerry Tonini was a member of EAA 430 for many years. His bio was in a previous newsletter. The following is one of the many short stories he wrote about his time in the USAF. He also wrote a book titled Trash Haulers about his year in the Vietnam war. He passed away May 12, 2020.

The flight to the deployment base was not very long and all went well. We flew a one-mile in-trail formation with one-thousand-foot vertical separation. A tight-wing formation definitely would have been inappropriate with the aircraft carrying a total of 26.4 megatons of weapons. The bombs, however, are extremely safe, but the publicity of even a non-nuclear event would have generated great embarrassment for the USAF.

The B-47 normally carries a crew of three: aircraft commander, co-pilot and navigator. There is a step below and to the left of the copilot’s position with a seatbelt for a fourth person to be carried if necessary. Each of the bombers on our mission carried an air policeman to establish a security perimeter upon arrival at our destination.

All six aircraft landed at our destination one by one, with the previous aircraft clearing the runway before the trailing aircraft touched down. Minimum time was spent on the runway. As the aircraft cleared the active runway, they were directed by ground control to the Michigan Air National Guard ramp on the field. The Michigan National Guard was the only organization pre-notified of our arrival and mission. Air Route Traffic Control and the Control Tower received only standard flight plan data concerning our route and arrival time. Though some might have guessed what we were doing at Detroit Wayne - not one questioned our presence.

As soon as we were parked, the security policemen set up a perimeter cable with guards spaced appropriately around the aircraft. A code word for the day was distributed to the flight crews who would require it for subsequent access to the aircraft. My crew took the two suitcases to the National Guard offices, set up the radios, and established communication with the Shilling AFB Command Post.

Our home-base staff had, prior to our arrival, made arrangements at a nearby motel for the flight crews, and the National Guard provided each crew with a station wagon. With our initial mission completed, we departed the airport for the motel and bedded down for the night.

Prior to departure from our home base, we were instructed that our location was classified and we were not to tell anyone, including our families. Each day of our stay we had breakfast and watched TV to get the latest news on Soviet missiles headed for Cuba. We would then drive to the airport and preflight our respective aircraft and weapons. On occasion we would have to start a couple engines and move the aircraft forward just a little to alleviate flat spots on the tires and pressure on the asphalt ramp. This routine continued for over a week.

The civilians we encountered at the motel seemed completely oblivious of how close we were to having a nuclear exchange with the Russians. They followed their daily routine: a coffee and donut in hand as they hustled to their vehicles, totally oblivious of the importance of the exchange occurring between President Kennedy and Mr. Khrushchev over Soviet missiles in Cuba. When we were asked why we were staying at the motel (our greenish flight suits a giveaway that we were Air Force), we merely stated we were conducting military exercises with the Michigan National Guard. No one ever questioned us any further.

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It was roughly two weeks before the Russians turned their missile-laden cargo ships and war ships back and promised to remove all missiles already installed from Cuba. The U.S. Naval blockade worked. It worked in great part however, because of Navy, Air Force, and Army readiness. All were prepared to force the Russians to retreat from Cuba should Mr. Khrushchev decided to not go willingly.

Once the all clear was sounded, we were ordered to return to our home base. The flight home was un-incidental. We landed, parked, and were happy to turn the aircraft and weapons over to the ground crews. The Schilling staff had already alerted our wives of our expected arrival time and they were there to meet us. My wife and my baby daughter Susan Marie were there to give me big kisses and a lot of hugs. Our wives were also oblivious as to what had just happened. They, like the populace, did not realize how serious the standoff this was and the potential consequences of the Kennedy /Khrushchev exchange.

We didn’t talk much about the Cuban Crisis after that. We just continued our lives, like the civilians in our community. The Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962 was the closest threat ever of a nuclear war. Let’s hope it never comes any closer. It was the highest state of readiness (DEFCON 2) that the United States has ever experienced up till then, and to the present day. Thinking of the consequences is scary. However, we were ready to go. That was what we were trained and paid to do.

The End