Word: 26s
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...score of B-26s was indeed the only air cover contemplated for the invasion, then the U.S. planners, including the Joint Chiefs of Staff (who reportedly okayed the plan), stand convicted of incompetence. They knew that Castro had a force of T-33s, and they also knew that after the long flight from Puerto Cabezas the B-26s would have only enough fuel left to keep aloft for 40 minutes over the target area...
...aircraft are picked with equal care for reliability and ease of repair under primitive conditions. The T-28s fly slowly (top speed: 346 m.p.h.) and low enough for pilots to sight and attack elusive guerrilla targets in the jungle. The transports can land on short, rough airstrios. The B-26s haul men, rockets and bombs, and ferret out enemy hide outs with ultramodern cameras...
...Kennedy and his strategists became alarmed. About noon on Monday, Bissell was told that the B-26s could attack Castro's airfields at will. But the orders came too late. Most of the pilots had been in the air for upward of 18 hours in an unavailing effort to keep Castro's planes off the troops and the remaining ship. That night a small force was scratched together. It was over Cuba at dawn, only to find the fields hidden by low, impenetrable...
...Burke vouched for the worth of Bissell's proposition. The outcome of the meeting was a singular compromise. Jets from Boxer would provide cover next morning for exactly one hour, long enough for the ships to run into the shore and start unloading and for the remaining B-26s to get in a hard blow...
Next morning, through an incredible mischance, the B-26s were over Cuba half an hour ahead of schedule. Boxer's jets were still on the flight deck. But Castro's jets were ready. Two of the B-26s were shot down; others were hit and forced to abort. That was the melancholy...