Bay of Pigs Invasion

The Bay of Pigs Invasion (also known in Cuba as La Playa Girón after a beach in the Bay of Pigs where the landing took place) was a United States-planned and funded landing by armed Cuban exiles in Central Cuba in an attempt to overthrow the Cuban communist government of Fidel Castro in 1961. US-Cuban tensions had grown since Castro had overthrown the US-backed regime of General Fulgencio Batista on January 1, 1959. The Eisenhower and Kennedy administrations had made the judgment that Castro's shift toward the Soviet Union could not be tolerated, and moved to overthrow him. However, the invasion failed miserably and proved to be a major international embarrassment for the Kennedy administration. The resulting fiasco of the invasion attempt has been studied as an ideal case of 'groupthink' and poor decision making.

Invasion

On the morning of April 15, 1961, three flights of Douglas B-26B Invader light bomber aircraft displaying Cuban Fuerza Aerea Revolucionaria (FAR - Revolutionary Air Force) markings bombed and strafed the Cuban airfields of San Antonio de Los Baños, Antonio Maceo International Airport, and the airfield at Ciudad Libertad. Operation Puma, the code name given to the offensive counter air attacks against the Cuban Revolutionary Armed Forces, called for 48 hours of air strikes across the island to effectively eliminate the Cuban air force, ensuring Brigade 2506 complete air superiority over the island prior to the actual landing at the Bay of Pigs. This, however, failed because the Cubans had previous knowledge of the invasion and had moved the airplanes out of harm's way.

Related Topics:
April 15 - 1961 - Douglas - B-26B Invader - Fuerza Aerea Revolucionaria - San Antonio de Los Baños - Ciudad Libertad - Operation Puma - Offensive counter air attack - Cuban Revolutionary Armed Forces

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Of the Brigade 2506 aircraft sortied on the morning of April 15th, one was tasked with establishing the CIA cover story for the invasion. The slightly modified two-seat B-26B used for this mission was piloted by Captain Mario Zuniga. Prior to departure, the engine cowling from one of the aircraft's two engines was removed by maintenance personnel, fired upon, then re-installed to give the appearance that the aircraft had taken ground fire at some point during its flight. Captain Zuniga departed from the exile base in Nicaragua on a solo, low-level mission that would take him over the westernmost province of Pinar del Rio, Cuba, and then northeast toward Key West, Florida. Once across the island, Captain Zuniga climbed steeply away from the waves of the Florida Straits to an altitude where he would be detected by US radar installations to the north of Cuba. At altitude and a safe distance north of the island, Captain Zuniga feathered the engine with the pre-installed bullet holes in the engine cowling then radioed a mayday call and requested immediate permission to land at Boca Chica Naval Air Station a few kilometers northeast of Key West, Florida. Once on the ground, Captain Zuniga declared before base personnel and the press that he was a Cuban Air Force officer requesting asylum and reported that an uprising had begun in Cuba and that defecting pilots were bombing Cuban military installations.

Related Topics:
Captain - Mario Zuniga - Nicaragua - Pinar del Rio - Key West, Florida - Florida Straits - Boca Chica Naval Air Station

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By the time of Captain Zuniga's announcement to the world mid-morning on the 15th, all but one of the Brigade's Douglas bombers were back over the Caribbean on the three and a half hour return leg to their base in Nicaragua to re-arm and refuel. Upon landing, however, the flight crews were met with a cable from Washington ordering the indefinite stand-down of all further combat operations over Cuba.

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On April 17, about 1,500 exiles armed with US weapons landed on the southern coast of Cuba at the Bay of Pigs. They hoped to find support from the local population, intending to cross the island to Havana, but it quickly became evident in the first hours of fighting that the exiles were not going to receive such support and were likely to lose. Kennedy decided against giving the faltering invasion US air support (though four US pilots were allegedly killed or captured in Cuba during the invasion) because of his opposition to overt intervention and the fact that nothing short of US ground troops would save the operation. Kennedy also canceled several sorties of bombings (only two took place) on the grounded Cuban Airforce, which might have crippled the Cuban Airforce and given air superiority to the invaders. U.S. Marines were not sent in, even though there were support ships off the coast ready to land at a moments notice. By the time fighting ended on April 19, ninety exiles were dead and the rest were captured.

Related Topics:
April 17 - Havana - U.S. Marines - April 19

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