A U-2 photographs missile construction in western Cuba
A high-altitude reconnaissance flight over Pinar del Río province returned imagery which photo interpreters read over the following day as the construction of launch positions for Soviet medium-range ballistic missiles. The identification rested on pattern recognition — the layout and spacing of vehicles and equipment matched known Soviet site templates — rather than on a visible missile. The photographs were shown to the president on 16 October, which is where the thirteen days conventionally begin.
Historical — it happened, and the record is settled.
Subjects
- The Lockheed U-2 reconnaissance aircraft · vehicle · not located
- The San Cristóbal medium-range missile sites · site · Cuba · not located
- Cuba · region · Cuba
Evidence
Partly verified — Core facts are sourced; some optional detail is deliberately absent.
The Cuban Missile Crisis — declassified documents and briefing books
Named as the principal declassified-document collection behind this pack's account of the crisis, the B-59 submarine incident and the later disclosures about tactical warheads on the island. V55 verification basis: NOT consulted — nsarchive.gwu.edu is blocked by the environment's egress proxy. Everything this pack says about the crisis is from standing knowledge of the published historiography, and the degree of documentary support for the B-59 account in particular is not established here.
National Security Archive, George Washington University · Partly verified
National Security Archive Cuban Missile Crisis collections and briefing books, including materials on the Soviet submarine incidents of 27 October 1962 and on tactical nuclear weapons deployed to Cuba
Recorded on The Lockheed U-2 reconnaissance aircraft
- A U-2 photographs missile construction in western Cuba
- The Cuban missile crisis
Related
Related because they share a subject in the Atlas — never because the text looks similar.
- The Cuban missile crisis · 1962-10-16 – 1962-10-28