U.S. DEPLOYS A DOZEN NAVY FIGHTERS TO KEY WEST
Key West, Florida (JFK+50) On October 18, 1962, Associated Press reports that the Pentagon "has quietly shifted a squadron of 1,400 mile-an-hour Navy jet fighters to southernmost Florida."
Twelve F-4B Phantom 2* fighters are now "poised about 90 miles from Cuba."
The movement of U.S. Navy jets from Oceana Naval Air Station near Norfolk, Virginia is intended "to counter a build-up" of Soviet-built MIG fighters by Communist dictator Fidel Castro.
Three days earlier Under-secretary of State George W. Ball** reported to Congress that Castro would "eventually" have 25 to 30 of "the most modern Soviet-built jet fighters" which normally carry air-to-air missiles.
*F-4B Phantom was the USN's fastest, highest-flying & longest-range jet fighter in October 1962.
**George Wildman Ball (1909-1994) was born in Des Moines, Iowa & earned his BS & JD at Northwestern University. GWB served in the U.S. Department of State 1961-1966 & was U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. from June-Sept 1968. He was the only member of the cabinet during the JFK-LBJ years to oppose escalation of the Vietnam War.
SOURCE
"U.S. Sends Jets To Key West," The Evening Star, Washington, D.C., October 18, 1962, Chronicling America, Library of Congress, www.loc.gov/
