Just six minutes in the air were enough to change the course of the Cold War. On October 14, 1962, an American U-2 plane, piloted by Major Richard Heiser, flew over western Cuba and took 928 photographs. The images showed Soviet missile sites under construction, designed for ballistic missiles with nuclear warheads.
The photographic material was processed overnight and reached American analysts the next morning. On October 15, specialists from the National Photographic Data Interpretation Center recognized the images as medium-range missile sites near San Cristobal. Initially, three sites, eight missile transporters, and four launchers were identified in prepared positions.
Photographs reach the White House
Center director Arthur Lundahl presented his findings to the leadership of the Central Intelligence Agency. "Mr. President, I am as certain as a photographic intelligence analyst can be certain," he said when presenting the evidence.
On October 16, President John F. Kennedy was briefed on the Soviet missile sites. Later flights revealed another medium-range missile site near San Cristóbal and two intermediate-range missile sites near Guanaja. The latter have a greater range and can reach a significant part of the territory of the United States.
The deployment of the missiles was carried out secretly by the Soviet Union with the support of the Cuban government. Washington already suspected a strengthening of the Soviet military presence on the island, but aerial photographs provided the first reliable evidence of the presence of offensive nuclear weapons.
13 days to the brink of nuclear war
On October 22, Kennedy declared a naval quarantine of Cuba and demanded that the Soviet missiles be withdrawn. In the following days, American and Soviet ships and military forces were put on high alert. The United States and the Soviet Union found themselves in the most dangerous direct confrontation since the beginning of the Cold War.
The crisis ended on October 28, when Nikita Khrushchev agreed to dismantle and return the Soviet missiles from Cuba. Publicly, Washington pledged not to invade the island, but secretly pledged to withdraw American Jupiter missiles from Turkey. Thus, the photos taken over a few minutes over Cuba became the starting signal of a 13-day crisis in which a nuclear clash seemed a real possibility.
Sources: history.com, apnews.com