◆ SpookStack

flurry of activity regarding the risk of capture briefing materials that were forwarded for the Cuban crews. There were instructions that this information also be passed on to the American crews in case they were used in the combat areas; and there was an on- going hassle over the number of aircraft that would be involved in the initial strike at the three air- fields Libertad, San Antonio, and Santiago. Ini- tially it was planned to use a total of six B-26's, two at each of the three fields. As will be noted later, when the plan matured/Headquarters did agree to assign three B-26's to attack both Libertad and San Antonio, with the remaining two aircraft being sent to Santiago. An additional B-26 was assigned as a spare in case of mechanical failure of one of the eight attacking aircraft, and a tenth B-26 was assigned to the "defector" operation which will be discussed later. There also was a deception aspect built into the planned attack on the Libertad and San Antonio air- fields. Two of the three B-26's assigned to Libertad and two of the three assigned to San Antonio would bear identical tail numbers. At each airfield, two - 189 -