Bay Of Pigs B-26 Invaders

[zorro9]

The W/Robins AFB sample. AAF 44-35732. A poss Bay of Pigs Vet. Any ideas of previous schemes?? Other angles welcome. Photo via Wix. Tks in advance.

Last edited by zorro9 on Sat Aug 22, 2015 2:54 pm, edited 2 times in total.

[Hudicourt]

A CIA page with list of missions. You can see duplicate registrations:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/el0lzv05cq5ju ... 0.png?dl=0

[zorro9]

Hcourt:

Good Day! Nice data tks.

I'm unable for now to access the Flypast Forum of the UK. Plz ask 'em if you can about the whereabouts of the Cayman Islands Admin guy Mr. Jack Rose & some poss additional info/photos that he or relatives may still have of that era. An X RAF pilot himself perhaps had some interest in taking a few pics or making some notes.

The pic below looks more like Boca Chica/Key West area. The automobile looks diff than the one at Miami area & so does the background area. (I may be wrong). Perhaps some K/West folks may shed some light in the subject.

[Hudicourt]

I happen to have Mr Rose Testimony. He never mentioned pictures. However, the Tower Controller of the time, Mr Leslie Hines took pictures of the Brigade B-26s while they were on the ground in Grand Cayman. In an interview he gave around 1997, he stated he still had the pictures. Mr Hines and Mr Rose have since both passed on.....

Looking at chocks on the wheels of this 933, , they are identical to the chocks from the Miami 933. I think its just another view of the same aircraft. What I suspect these guys are doing is looking at the absence of plot leads from the rockets that were never hung under this wing......

Also notice how clean the nose is. The Key West 933 used its guns, the Miami one didn't.

[zorro9]

Hcourt:

Good Day!

Good points! I was also looking at the 1st B-26 FAEC that landed at Miami c. Dec 1958 & also looks pretty clean. Including some poss re-painted nose FAEC numbers.

p.s Any chance to upload some notes of the interview with Mr. Leslie Hines? Posted a few notes in Flypast Forum for a poss contact in the area & some poss pictures in a box/attic somewhere in the U.K.

[Hudicourt]

Leslie Hines interview. He was the Grand Cayman tower controller when the Brigade B-26s landed there.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/jd3joiqjntso1 ... s.xps?dl=0

[zorro9]

Hcourt:

Good Day!

Hi! plz resend it in PDF. I'm unable to get it at DrpBox att. They a bit fuzzy! Tks

p.s now we have to find those negs & pics. Any idea as to who the interviewer was or a poss Magazine article in the UK/World??!! Tks -)

[eLaReF]

I thought I had linked this LAAHS page, but I can't see that I did!
http://www.laahs.com/content/19-Bay-of- ... rce/view/1

[Hudicourt]

According to this website, the aircraft at the Museo del Aire in Havana was moved to San Antonio de los Baños Air Base after the museum closed in 2010.
http://www.sbap.be/museum/cuba/cuba.htm

As for the derelict A-26, here is a larger version of the photo zorro9 posted.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/elaref/8083277365/
Here is the photo of the A-26 nose referred to in the above photo.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/elaref/8083272070/

Interesting anecdote about the Nicaraguan A-26. Hagedorn/ Hellström's Foreign Invaders book do note that the first four A-26s the FAN received were ex- Operation Pluto airframes. It also appear that several stayed behind when Dave Tallichet bought some ex- FAN airframes around 1977. I guess whether or not the derelict at the Museo del Aire in Havana is the one depends on when they got it from Nicaragua. The above photo is from May 1998.

That leaves the airframe you mention being at San Antonio. Was this claim made before or after the move of the Museo del Aire from Havana? If it is later, could it be a mix- up, as the Havana based 26 also has a six- gun nose? If not, there might just be another Invader present in Cuba!

T J

I am now convinced that the fuselage and nose section seen in these pictures are an original Brigade B-26B left behind in Nicaragua by the Brigade and donated to the Cubans. A Cuban source told me that some years ago he had a Brigade B-26 dismantled in Nicaragua and shipped to Cuba. This most likely is it. Ever since this museum was closed, there are chances that this aircraft no longer exists......

In the last page of his book "Operation Puma', Eduardo Ferrer, the author, has a couple pictures of him visiting a derelict Brigade B-26 abandoned in Nicaragua in 1971.