Last of the Alabama NG Bay of Pigs A-26 Pilots has passed on

[Warbirdnerd]

Whoda thunk some of the Doolittle Raiders would have outlasted them...

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (AP) — Joe Shannon, a retired Alabama National Guard pilot who trained anti-Castro pilots and flew in the failed Bay of Pigs invasion of Cuba nearly five decades ago, died Tuesday. He was 88.

Lewis Shannon, one of Shannon's three children, said his father died after a brief illness.

"It was just a couple of weeks," he said.

About 1,500 Cuban exiles trained under CIA guidance in Guatemala and invaded the island in April 1961 trying to overthrow Fidel Castro's communist regime.

Shannon was among about 60 Alabama National Guard members who were recruited to help in the invasion. He both trained Cuban pilots and flew a last-ditch mission into Cuba before the invasion failed.

Speaking in an interview with The Associated Press in 2006, Shannon described turning his B-26 bomber into the path of a Cuban T-33 fighter and staying out of the pilot's sight by hugging the ocean.

"It was the only way I had to escape," said Shannon, who was barred from publicly discussing his role in the invasion for years because of national security.

The director of the Southern Museum of Flight in Birmingham, Jim Griffin, said Shannon was the last surviving Alabama Guard pilot who flew in the invasion.

Shannon, an Army Air Corps pilot during World War II, was a member of the Alabama Aviation Hall of Fame.

"He was a remarkable individual," hall chairman Billy J. Singleton said. "He knew anything and everything about aviation."

Shannon remained close to a Cuban pilot he helped train for the Bay of Pigs, and he wanted to visit Cuba a few years ago with a university group traveling to the island nation. The U.S. government advised him against going, however.

"Castro still had me on a hit list," Shannon said in the 2006 interview

[TAdan]

Thanks for posting that.

[B-25 C]

I met Joe at the museum. Super nice guy. Our thoughts and payers are with his Family.He will be missed here. Fly on Joe Shannon fly on.

[493rd BG Mike]

He attended our meetings frequently and was always a pleasure to talk to. As B-25 C said; super nice guy. Our thoughts and prayers go out to his family. He will be missed.

[RickH]

I had the honor of speaking with Col Shannon many years ago regarding the Alabama Invaders and specifically about his involvement in Cuba. I was researching the history of My Mary lou at the time.

years later, Steve Ritchie and I flew the Phantom into Birmingham on a gas n go. Who should meet us but Col Shannon. I had the further honor of showing him around the cockpit and we spoke of Invaders again.

Another American hero gone. Blue Skies, Colonel.....

[billtate]

I was saddened to hear that Col. Joseph Shannon had died. He was a great Southern Gentleman and was always willing to talk with me even thought I was just a kid and only an aviation enthuses. He even signed my copy of Operation Puma, and was willing to answer my many questions about Edward Ferrer, the book's author. He will be missed around Birmingham and the Southern Museum of Flight, a place he supported freely. My prayers are with his family and friends.