◆ SpookStack

strike to complete the destruction of Castro's combat air capability. Thorsrud has stated: We were at this time, however, more concerned with eliminating the remaining T-33's that U-2's had also confirmed were operational at Havana. We therefore proposed a strike ••. during daylight, coming out of the sun, and we talked all day Saturday [15 April] on this, and said ••• how can we do this. We all got to- gether in the operations room, and they said -- these pilots flew out of Havana -- they said that sun is just big and golden and that you could come out of the sun and no one will see you coming We had it planned to .•• come in off the coast of the western tip of Cuba •.. skimming right out of the sun, where you've got the sun shining down on those T-birds ••. We had U-2 photos clearly depicting where they were. They weren't in bunkers, or they were half bunkered. Six aircraft were going after those two T-birds and not coming back until'they got them. They turned the plan down. Not only did they turn that down, then they turned down the next request .•• We said, "O.K., we were turned down. It's maximum effort this morning ••• we've got to get them,"; and then they wiped that out. They might just as well have closed the whole operation right there and calied off the landing on the beach, because that decision wiped out the whole operation right there. 62/ Thorsrud was referring to his cable of 16 April 1961 in which he recommended B-26 strikes against both the Libertad and San Antonio airfields. His request - 223 -