◆ SpookStack

Similarly the comment made by one of the members of the committee that: "You {Hawkins] mentioned before lunch that you knew the T-33s were armed with .50 caliber machine guns; however, in the Air Annex of the field order they were listed as trainers. Would you say that the importance of getting these T-33s was appreciated?" The inference that because the T-33 had been listed as a trainer meant that it was unarmed was naive beyond belief. Air operations personnel had verified from Department of Defense records that the T-33 trainers the US sold to Cuba carried two .50 caliber guns, and there was no question in the pilots' minds that B-26s would be at the mercy of both T-33s and Sea Furies. In response to the question of why no US fighters had been acquired by the brigade in order to combat the T-33s, Hawkins pointed out that the restriction on the use of us bases precluded the use of T-33s from the USAF inventory. Because of their limited range, the planes would have had to operate from US bases--thus blowing the plausible deniability facade. Despite contrary opinion from at least one unidentified member of the Taylor Committee, Hawkins insisted that considering Castro's limited inventory of combat aircraft, it would have -been possible to eliminate 100 percent of that capability. Strangely, however, Hawkins made no specific reference to the fact that cancellation of the D-Day strike eliminated this possibility. 175 ...... _~ I.~lr