OCTOBER 1962 THE CUBAN MISSILE CRISIS:

I was eighteen years old and so pissed that the world was about to end - that I took the day off work.

- As I explained to my factory manager "If I am going to be fission fried .. I'd do it at home in comfort".

It's THAT Man Again
 .. Air Force Chief Of Staff General Curtis LeMay (centre)

- with President Kennedy. (discussing the Cuban U-2 Flights)

- I don't think that my little Kingsbury factory boss had any clue what I was talking about - as he gave me an odd look and shook his head before walking away - probably thinking about the loss of a days production of plastic "seltzer" syphon valves.

I molded tens of thousands of those on a manually controlled plunger injection molding machine .. earning decent bonuses from locking & opening the die (and it's cores) by hand - swinging a crowbar type lever over & over on 12 hour shifts .. the materials man brought me a pint of water (in a milk bottle) every hour.

What the general public recall of THE CUBAN MISSILE CRISIS will likely be vague - as even back then the inside facts were controlled for the public.

Basically Khruschev's USSR was ringed by more than 40 US & NATO bases - while Cuba was under repeated invasion threat from America .. So his idea was to both strengthen Cuba with missile capability and give the US a taste of having a fight-back capability close to it's territory ..

President Kennedy Signs Cuban 'Quarantine' Order.

 October 23, 1962.

The deadline from President Kennedy to Khruschev .. and USA's illegal 'quarantine' of Cuba came that . close to ending humanity for ever.

Soviet Foxtrot Class Submarine.

- But Did you know that the US Navy depth-charged THREE Russian submarines with "practice explosives" to make them surface - not knowing that they were armed with nuclear torpedoes AND their command officers were deciding whether to USE THEM after they came under attack?

- Did you know that the US had warned Russia that if any US plane was shot down they would attack USSR and invade CUBA ... Then a Lockhead U-2 plane WAS shot down over Cuba (against Soviet orders) and the pilot Major Rudolf Anderson was killed on October 27?

- Did you know that the Cuban military ignored Soviet orders and continued to fire anti-aircraft guns at low flying US surveillance aircraft with improving accuracy?

- Did you know that on that same day, October 27 1962, another U-2 spy-plane got lost over Russia AND then ran out of fuel? - At the height of the crisis .. this US spy plane went missing over Russia as they scrambled six MiG fighters to shoot it down?

The pilot Charles W Maultsby - at this time when nearly 3,000 US nuclear missiles were pointed on full alert at the USSR - became confused by the aurora borealis 'Northern Lights' and turned the wrong way. Despite then running out of fuel over Russia - eventually he glided home after a record duration flight of 10 hours & 25 minutes - and the Soviet MiGs failed to locate him.

Phwww ...

Lockhead U-2s could fly 12 miles high above the USSR ... Clever for sure - but intelligent?

Sensibly, Nikita Khrushev & John Kennedy did the right thing and didn't start the end of the world - instead they negotiated by direct phone line and backed-off before anyone turned their nuclear keys.

A good read if you have the time .. there are two chapters about the Cuban Missile Crisis - is Daniel Ellsberg's 'THE DOOMSDAY MACHINE'.

Marty K.

 Doomsday Clock Moved Forward to The Closest Setting Ever 2018

 - 2.5 Minutes to Midnight.

M.K.