U-2 photographs reveal Soviet missiles in Cuba
1962 · Event
Major Richard Heyser's U-2 spyplane crosses western Cuba in six minutes and comes home with 928 photographs. At San Cristóbal, the interpreters find canvas-covered trailers exactly the length of a Soviet R-12 nuclear missile — the discovery that ignites the Cuban Missile Crisis.
On these timelines: Cuban Missile Crisis, Master, USA, Russia & the USSR
More from Cuban Missile Crisis
- Cuban Missile Crisis (1962)
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- Khrushchev announces Soviet withdrawal from Cuba (1962)
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- American U-2 shot down over Cuba (1962)
- Kennedy learns of the Soviet missiles in Cuba (1962)
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