Escape from Fidel

It was October 1969.  The Cold War was in full swing.  There was a shooting war in Southeast Asia, but on the home front we were heavily engaged in keeping the Soviet Union at bay in Europe.  The Strategic Air Command (SAC) was on alert all day, every day, with 50% of its aircraft on alert; the ICBM force was close to 100% on alert.  At sea, the US Navy had SLBM submarines on station and ready to launch if the order came to do so.  Also at sea were the US Navy "attack boats" that hunted and kept track of Soviet SLBM submarines prowling our own coast lines.  It was a tense and serious game.

Because of the increasing Soviet SLBM threat, SAC forces were increasingly at risk, especially the force located near coastal waters.  In order to counter that threat, SAC adopted what was called Satellite Alert and dispersed part of its alert force to additional bases in order to increase the number of targets the Soviets had to deal with.  Only part of the B-52 force was being dispersed to satellite bases; bases like Ramey AFB, Puerto Rico, had to fly all the way to Florida to get to its satellite bases.  The B-52s from Ramey flew to Homestead AFB, which is some 30 miles southwest of Miami; their supporting KC-135 tankers flew to MacDill AFB, which was about eight miles south-southwest of Tampa.  The tankers also served as logistical support in getting crews and maintenance people and supplies to Homestead and MacDill.  

The following events occurred in October 1969 at Homestead as a Ramey tanker crew was awaiting takeoff clearance for a flight from Homestead to Ramey.

Major Jim Nouss and his crew were at the hold line for Runway 05 waiting for departure clearance.  It was a normal day at Homestead.  SAC had recently moved out of Homestead in a force restructuring, and TAC had taken over occupancy of the base.  TAC was flying F-4Es from Homestead.

F-84E

While Nouss and crew were awaiting takeoff  clearance the copilot noticed a single, low flying fighter turn onto final for Runway 05.  As it got closer to the runway the copilot noted that the aircraft had not slowed to landing speed and that it looked oddly familiar.  The copilot commented over the intercom that the aircraft looked like a MiG-17; Nouss scoffed at the notion.  The aircraft flew down the runway heading at a high speed and, staying low, made a right turn as if to set up for an approach and landing to Runway 05.  The pilot of a F-4E had been taxiing out for takeoff as the aircraft made its low pass down Runway 05; he called Homestead tower and asked if they knew what that aircraft was that just flew down the runway.  The Tower replied that it was an F-84.  The F-4 pilot, a recent returnee from an assignment in Southeast Asia, told Tower that the aircraft was a MiG-17.

Mig-17

There was a few seconds pause; then Tower broadcast on UHF Guard frequency instructing all aircraft on the field to hold their position and that there was a MiG flying in the vicinity.

The MiG-17 stayed low and maneuvered to final approach; the MiG pilot slowed to landing speed and touched down; then the MiG pilot rolled to the end of Runway 05 and turned off the runway.  Everyone watched in awe as all that transpired.  Finally, the security forces rolled up to the MiG and surrounded it, not knowing what to do next.  The MiG pilot shut down and opened the canopy.  After a wait, the MiG pilot exited the aircraft and was met by a rather large security force, all with weapons drawn and at the ready.  After a while, the pilot conveyed to the security force that he was from Cuba and that he wanted to defect to the USA.  

Excitement was at a high level as the pilot was taken into custody and carted off to a secure location.  Having worked in a command post for a while, I can imagine the scramble to send a zillion messages to a lot of interested commanders and answering a lot of questions from incredulous higher authorities about what was really happening:  yep, it is a MiG; yep, we have the pilot; yep, he is defecting; yep, we have him in a secure location; nope, we don't know the status of the aircraft, yet.

Since there are no MiG-17 specialists on a TAC base, the explosive ordinance team was dispatched to the aircraft, along with a towing vehicle, and they dragged the MiG off to a hangar to check it for armament and munitions, and to make it safe for inspection.  Turned out the aircraft guns were loaded and ready to go, but nothing other than external tanks were on the wings.  After the furor subsided, Nouss and crew were finally given takeoff clearance and departed for Ramey AFB, Puerto Rico.

After the MiG was gone over thoroughly by experts and any intelligence gleaned from the inspection, it was returned to the government of Cuba.  Ten years later, on June 12, 1979, the pilot hijacked Delta Air Lines Flight 1061 back to Havana.