Cuba Crisis 1962
 

What was the RAF response during the Cuba Crisis of 1962?
I was a school boy in 62 but later when in V-force I heard a few tales. I have been contacted by a friend who is an author and a regular broadcaster on BBC Wales – Phil Carradice. He has written on many military topics and we have been friends since our first school days. For authenticity look at this page http://www.amazon.co.uk/Phil-Carradi...892&sr=1-2-ent .
Phil has asked for help with a book he is writing, on the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962.
Anyone who was flying etc (not just V-force) at that time or who has an interest or experience of the RAF response in 1962 who is willing to talk to Phil or to contribute through a thread on Pprune please contact me through a private message and I will connect you to Phil.

BEagle may have been there...








(Banter, banter, banter!)

CG, in shorts.

Seriously search for RAF Historical Society Journal vol 26.

My recollection is one of ignorance but of our Nav instructors preparing and updating the go bags for the Varsity SRMP mission. In particular the charts in the Nav bags were different from the current ones we used. Iirc they had red print whereas our were brown.

PN
Thanks but did you mean Vol 42?

W&D, no, 26 which is not to say 42 may have more. 26 is about RAF nuclear weapons 1960-98.

RAF Historical Society Journals | Collections | Research | RAF Museum

PN, could Journal 26 be the one?

It can't have been too serious, I was posted from Marham to Akrotiri in the middle of it all.

Ah, but maybe you were deemed too valuable to lose, hence getting you to safety! No?

CG

There are two papers in Volume 42, one on Bomber Command's reaction to Cuba and the other more specifically on Thor in the Cuba crisis. Volume 26 is mostly about general aspects of nuclear weapons in the RAF.

I as on leave in London staying with my cousins, (F)17&18 when the panic started. I tried to reassure them as being on the V Force, (90Sqn Valiant tankers) I hadn't been recalled from leave so it wasn't that serious. I hardly saw them, they were off to demonstrations in Trafalgar Square, CND marches and things like that.

Damned John Kennedy. He fouled it all up.

At the time of the Cuban missile crisis, I was in my final year at prep school - we weren't told anything...

Reflections on Memory and Archives: RAF Bomber Command During the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis might also be of interest (Hopefully the link does work and my access isn't because of a random cookie signing me in automatically)

Ive just finished reading Britain on the Brink by Jim Wilson. Interesting insight into how Bomber Command was involved in the tensions brewing in the Caribbean. Actually Harold Macmillan kept thing suprising close to his chest during the crisis and whilst american forces were at Defcon 2 operating from british soil it wasnt even discussed at cabinet level. British crews were at one stage in the cockpit engines running ready to launch 3 minutes notice. All the while it was kept pretty quiet as Macmillan didnt want panic.

Or maybe an exercise to see that Admin could still shuffle paper during times of great stress.

At the time, Michael Beetham the future MoRAF was a Group Captain at Bomber Command HQ, this was his take on the matter:

I recall posting this somewhere else on here some time ago, but Sir Michael's recollection is not backed up by the record in the 10 Sqn F540 for October 1962. If that is accurate - and it refers to Bomber Command and not simply squadrons at Cottesmore - there was only a partial increase in readiness, starting on Saturday 27 October. (President Kennedy's TV broadcast and the imposition of a naval quarantine on shipping to Cuba had been on Monday 22 October. A USAF U-2 was shot down over Cuba on 27 October.) On Monday 29 October a second aircraft and crew was brought to 15 minutes, with others held at 2, 3, 4, 5 and 12 hours readiness. That condition was held till the following Monday, 5 November, when it was relaxed to normal - but Khrushchev had agreed to withdraw the missiles on 28 October. So, since seeing this, it has seemed to me that Bomber Command was not moved to higher alert till the worst of the crisis was past, and it does not look as if all V-Force crews were at 15 minutes readiness. I was at University at the time and, whilst I recall a degree of concern on the day after Kennedy's broadcast, there was no sense of panic. Edinburgh was, of course, some distance from the V-Force bases! And as far as Cottesmore was concerned, the record also notes the "The normal flying programme continued uninterrupted where crew and aircraft availability allowed."

Having spoken to my Dad about this he said several things:

1. He was an RAF reservist at the time and had been warned that he may be called up again if it escalated (Although mobilization would have taken way to long in the event of a nuclear escalation).

2. People in the Country knew that the crisis was going on and it was covered on TV and Radio but were not aware of the level of readiness that the RAF was at.

3. That the people in the Country were aware of the seriousness of the position. He said that on Friday afternoon people went home from work having said goodbye to their work colleagues fully expecting that there may not be a 'Monday Morning'. He said that although there had been a few rumbles from various countries in the 50's and 60's about 'Armageddon' he felt this was the only time when it could really have happened.............

Glad I wasn't there...............

Arc

On Middleton St George, 33 Sqn were armed with live Firestreaks, and pointed across the airfield rather than towards the hangars. Weekend leave cancelled. A PR Canberra appeared from somewhere and sat around, but no V bombers.

Tuesday everything back to normal.

As far as calling up reservists was concerned, I guess the view would have been that if anything happened, there would have been no time to do anything except hide under a table.

I remember Richard Dimbleby on BBC's Panorama ( Mondays 20:00) remarking at the end of one edition words to the effect

" Hopefully we will be with you next Monday, if we haven't all in the week witnessed a very much bigger "Panorama" , that is ."

The weekend in question coincided with my 21st which was celebrated in Cambridge with fellow 5FTS (Oakington) students. Remember thinking at the time that the inevitable hangover Sunday morning was in the circumstances a bit of a bonus. :ok: