U-2 HIT BY SOVIET SAM OVER CUBA, PILOT IS KILLED
Washington, D.C. (JFK+50) On October 27, 1962, a U-2 reconnaissance aircraft piloted by Major Rudolf Anderson* was shot down by a Soviet SAM** (Surface to Air Missile). The U-2 was returning from a mission over Cuba.
It was the 12th of the 13th day Cuban Missile Crisis. President John F. Kennedy was given the bad news by Secretary of Defense Bob McNamara. The 35 year old pilot lost his life when his pressure suit was punctured by shrapnel from the missile explosion.
Christopher Klein writes...
"For Kennedy and Khrushchev, Anderson's death crystallized the realization that the (Cuban Missile) crisis was...spiraling out of...control."
Klein argues that the death of Major Anderson thus "prevented a nuclear war."
When President Kennedy was told that Major Anderson was married and had two sons, ages 3 & 5, he said to aide Dave Powers...
"He had a boy about the same age as John."***
SOURCE
"How the Death of a U.S. Air Force Pilot Prevented a Nuclear War," by Christopher Klein, October 28, 2019, www.history.com/
*Major Rudolf "Rudy" Anderson (1927-1962) was born in Greenville, SC & graduated from Clemson University in 1948. His was the only combat death during the Cuban Missile Crisis. RA was posthumously awarded the Air Force Cross, Distinguished Service Medal, Purple Heart & Cheney Award.
**SAM (Surface to Air Missile) is designed to be launched from the ground to destroy aircraft or other missiles. It is either a radar or infrared guided missile.
***JFK was referring to his own son, John F. Kennedy, Jr., who was sometimes called "John John."
