American U-2 pilot shot down over Cuba by Soviet surface-to-air missile in only combatant fatality of Cuban Missile Crisis 60 years ago this hour #OnThisDay #OTD (Oct 27 1962)

1960s, Cold War, U.S. Presidents


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(Saturday, October 27, 1962, around noon EDT, day twelve of the Cuban missile crisis, part of the Cold War) — U.S. Air Force Maj. Rudolf Anderson Jr. became the first and only combatant fatality of the Cuban Missile Crisis today when his U-2F Dragon Lady (the third CIA U-2A, modified for air-to-air refueling) reconnaissance aircraft was shot down by one of two Soviet-supplied S-75 Dvina (NATO designation SA-2 Guideline) surface-to-air missiles that were fired at his aircraft high over Banes, Cuba.


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Leaving McCoy Air Force Base in Florida just after 9:00 a.m. EDT, flew at the usual 72,000 feet as he crossed over Cuba at the northern coastal area of Cayo Coco.


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On the ground in Cuba, Soviet radar was tracking Anderson’s flight, labeling it Target 33.

General Stepan Grechko, deputy commander of Soviet air defenses, was the first to suggest that some action be taken against the intruder.

“Our guest has been circling above us for more than an hour,” Grechko told a comrade. “I think we should give the order for downing the plane.”


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A phone call was placed to the commander of all Soviet forces in Cuba but it went unanswered. Later, as Anderson’s U-2 entered the airspace over the Cuban city of Banes, the decision was made by Grechko and another Soviet general – “Target 33 is to be destroyed.”


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Anderson was killed when fragmentation from the exploding proximity warhead punctured his pressure suit, causing it to decompress at a high altitude.

Miraculously, Anderson would be the only combat death among the eleven U-2 pilots that flew over Cuba during the Cuban Missile Crisis.