fah619 wrote:
T. J Johansen:
Good Day!
No, I'm not saying the previous. What I'm saying based on photo evidence is this:
1. The 1st & real FAR 933 defected to the US c. Dec 1958. (Clear nose). Whereabouts/fate ukn for now. I sure like to know.
2. The 2nd & fake FAR 933 defected c. April '61 (solid nose).This one came back at night to Pto Cabezas fm Miami, but the suspected sample crashed & it was later found NNE in the jungles of Nicaragua. According to a SAFO article c. 2003.
3. The most likely sample in Havana is FAR 937 since it was shot down by accident/friendly fire nearby. c. April 61. It's odd to see a FAR 933 surfaced again at the Havana museum c. 1998 or so. Someone came up with the wrong FAR Reg.
p.s As far as the sample being brought back to Cuba fm Angola...for what purpose?? There were plenty of derelict B-26s all over the island by that time. If someone can comes up with some pics of the logistics across the pond then that would be another story. It's also unlikely that the sample came fm the left over FAN stock left behind after 1961 as mentioned here. We'll see.. we'll keep digging.
Not all correct.
The real FAEC 933 defected to the US in Dec 58. I imagine that it was later returned to its rightful owner, the Cuban Air Force, although I have read nothing to that effect. There was a government change in Cuba less than a month after the defect and the US initially had diplomatic relations with the new government, to which it even sold some aircraft, until relations were severed in Jan 61.
The Brigade 933 that landed in Miami on April 15 1961 had a fake number painted on it and was an Ex US Military B-26B. However, because the CIA wanted to make it appear as though the Brigade B-26s were defecting Cuban Air Force (FAR) B-26s, they were all painted as FAR B-26s with the numbers of real FAR-26s painted on them. However, because the Brigade Operated more B-26s than the Cuban Air Force did at the time, and to make it appear as though less Brigade B-26s were involved than there actually were (the Brigade initially had had about 17 aircraft, and 8 more were delivered on April 17 and April 18, although not all saw action), several Brigade B-26s shared the same registration. The B-26 that landed in Miami on April 15 and the one that landed at Boca Chica NAS in Key West on that same day were both registered "933", which is why the press was never granted access to the Key West one. The one that crashed in Nicaragua and whose wreck was found later that year, was the Key West one. I suspect that the one that landed in Miami was never returned to the Brigade, to make believe it had been impounded in case journalists asked for its whereabouts. Several Brigade B-26s also landed in Grand Cayman on April 15 and 17, and at least two of those also shared the same registration, as reported by Jack Rose, the British administrator of the time, who happened to be a decorated WW-II Hurricane and Typhoon pilot.
The complete B-26 that was in the Museo del Aire was brought back from Angola. I talked to a Cuban who was involved in shipping it back to Cuba, around 1978 or 1979. In those years, there were no longer any complete FAR B-26s in Cuba, except the one at San Antonio Air Base, which is 931 according the the same person. He used to fly in these aircraft. He was a Cuban MIG technician who had begun his air force career, as a FAR B-26 tail gunner between 1959 and 1961. He further stated that he also sent an AT-6 from Angola. He thinks that the B-26 fuselage and nose section are from real FAR B-26s, brought over from San Antonio.
Jacques Lagas, who flew for the FAR in 1959-1961, wrote a book called Memorias de un capitán rebelde (
http://www.amazon.com/Memorias-capit%C3 ... B00525GKQG) where he stated that his personal aircraft was a FAR 937, which, unlike all other FAR B-26s, had six nose guns and no turrets and could not drop bombs or fire rockets. I suspect that this is why the Portuguese B-26 was painted as "937", because it was the FAR B-26 is was most similar to. Lagas further stated that 937 was an aircraft he had painstakingly rebuilt from an aircraft which was low time, which had never flown since it was imported from the North, and that had been used for parts.
My source in Cuba, told me however, that the FAR had a few kits that allowed them to replace the Plexiglas nose of B-26C bombers with a metal nose with six guns. He showed me an old picture of 931 when it still had the Plexiglas nose but stated that the aircraft presently at San Antonio, despite its hard nose with 6 .50 Cal, is 931. Such aircraft can be recognized by the fact that they still have turrets and the under wing gun pods, which is the case of the San Antonio B-26.
I did not run out of film to get pictures of the B-26s. When I went back to Havana the Museo del Aire had closed and the "937" had vanished, and I was unable to get permission to access the San Antonio B-26 which is located inside the San Antonio Air base, especially not with my camera in hand.
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