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Guatemala, they had pe·rfected landing their B-26s, including down field roll, within the 4,000 foot markers which ~~ir instructor had marked off on the runway.* General Wheeler also got bogged down in questions about the suitability of Zapata for the anti-Castro forces to go to guerrilla status~ and he was queried very specifically as to whether the JCS had actually made a study of the Zapata area. As with previous witnesses, about all that the General could say was that the Zapata had a reputation for being the base for guerrilla operations of one sort of another. General Wheeler finally did concede that no such study had been made, but he noted that CIA had informed JCS that a group of possibly 100 guerrillas were operating in the region. Following this statement by General Wheeler, someone, probably one of the committee members and most likely the At.LoLU~.Y' General, made the following remark: Of course, a second point was that while it might have been usable as a guerrilla area at one time, this was before the time of helicopters. It would seem that some of these military experts should have been able to figure this out. 88/ The alternative of sea evacuation for the invaders also came up during the course of Wheeler's interview, and he reported that both he and L-1 lhad recognized the extreme difficulty of such an operation. This led one of the committee membe.rs to comment: "It would seem that the concept of falling back to the beaches should have been ruled * ~he asphalt surface runway at Trinidad measured 4,000 feet in 1960.