{"id":29918971,"date":"2026-10-28T11:48:13","date_gmt":"2026-10-28T10:48:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/bay-of-pigs-1961-air-war-b-26-sea-fury-t-33-alabama-guard\/"},"modified":"2026-10-28T11:48:27","modified_gmt":"2026-10-28T10:48:27","slug":"bay-of-pigs-1961-air-war-b-26-sea-fury-t-33-alabama-guard","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/it\/bay-of-pigs-1961-air-war-b-26-sea-fury-t-33-alabama-guard\/","title":{"rendered":"Bay of Pigs Air War: B-26s, Sea Furies and the Armed T-33s"},"content":{"rendered":"<style>.et_pb_title_container h1.entry-title { padding-top: 40px !important; }<\/style>\n<!-- mfsh:top -->\r\n\r\n<style>\r\n.mfsh-trigger{display:inline-flex;align-items:center;gap:10px;height:44px;padding:0 18px;margin:0 0 26px;border:2px solid 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It was lost in the air. Over five days in April 1961, a handful of Cuban pilots in old British piston fighters and American-built jet trainers beat a CIA air force, sank the ships the invasion depended on and killed four Americans who were never supposed to be there.<\/p>\n\n<p>The story of how that happened runs through two decisions: a strike that was too small, and a second strike that was cancelled the night before the landing.<\/p>\n\n\n<div style=\"background:#f4f6f9;border:1px solid #e2e7ee;padding:18px 22px;margin:22px 0 26px\"><p style=\"margin:0 0 8px;font-weight:700;color:#0d1117\">Quick Facts<\/p><ul style=\"margin:0;padding-left:18px\"><li style=\"margin:4px 0\"><strong>First strike:<\/strong> 15 April 1961, eight exile-flown B-26Bs from Puerto Cabezas, Nicaragua<\/li><li style=\"margin:4px 0\"><strong>Cancelled:<\/strong> D-Day dawn airfield strikes, called off on the evening of 16 April<\/li><li style=\"margin:4px 0\"><strong>Cuban aircraft in combat:<\/strong> About 3-4 Sea Furies, 4-5 armed T-33s and a few B-26s<\/li><li style=\"margin:4px 0\"><strong>Ships lost on 17 April:<\/strong> Houston (beached) and R\u00edo Escondido (sunk)<\/li><li style=\"margin:4px 0\"><strong>Key Cuban pilot:<\/strong> Enrique Carreras Rojas (Sea Fury)<\/li><li style=\"margin:4px 0\"><strong>Americans killed:<\/strong> Four Alabama Air National Guard airmen, 19 April 1961<\/li><li style=\"margin:4px 0\"><strong>Pete Ray's body returned:<\/strong> 1979<\/li><\/ul><\/div>\n\n\n<h2 style=\"padding-top:22px\">Operation Puma: the strike that wasn't enough<\/h2>\n\n<p>At about six in the morning on 15 April, eight <a href=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/aircraft\/a-26-invader\/\">B-26B Invaders<\/a> of the exile air force, flown by Cubans from Puerto Cabezas in Nicaragua and painted in fake Cuban markings, hit three airfields: San Antonio de los Ba\u00f1os, Ciudad Libertad in Havana and Antonio Maceo airport in Santiago. The idea was to destroy Fidel Castro's small air force on the ground before the brigade landed.<\/p>\n\n<p>It did not. According to the detailed loss lists, several Cuban B-26s, a <a href=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/aircraft\/hawker-sea-fury\/\">Sea Fury<\/a> and a <a href=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/aircraft\/t-33-shooting-star\/\">T-33<\/a> were destroyed, but enough aircraft survived to matter. A ninth B-26 landed in Miami with a pilot posing as a Cuban defector, its engine cowling shot up beforehand to fake battle damage. At the United Nations, US Ambassador Adlai Stevenson repeated the cover story.<\/p>\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\" style=\"margin:0 0 24px;width:100%\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"skip-lazy\" data-no-lazy=\"1\" loading=\"eager\" width=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2026\/10\/douglas-a-26c-invader-false-cuban-markings.jpg\" alt=\"Douglas A-26C Invader in false Cuban markings\" style=\"width:100%;height:auto;max-width:100%;display:block\"><figcaption style=\"font-size:13px;color:#777;text-align:center;margin-top:6px;font-style:italic\">A Douglas A-26C Invader painted in the false Cuban markings used by the exile B-26s in April 1961, displayed at an air show in Miami in 2009. Photo: RuthAS via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 3.0<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"position:relative;padding-bottom:56.25%;height:0;overflow:hidden;margin:24px 0 6px\"><iframe class=\"skip-lazy\" data-no-lazy=\"1\" loading=\"eager\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/T-jZ4ZUR6Qw\" style=\"position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;border:0\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div><p style=\"font-size:13px;color:#777;text-align:center;margin:0 0 24px;font-style:italic\">British Path\u00e9 newsreel from April 1961: \"Rebels Invade Cuba\".<\/p>\n\n\n<h2 style=\"padding-top:22px\">The night the second strike died<\/h2>\n\n<p>Dawn strikes on Cuban airfields were planned for D-Day, 17 April. On the evening of 16 April they were called off. In a memo written three weeks later, CIA Deputy Director Gen. Charles Cabell recorded that at about 9:30 p.m. National Security Adviser McGeorge Bundy told him the strikes were off, and that Secretary of State Dean Rusk later cited political considerations. Cabell and his colleague Richard Bissell argued against it.<\/p>\n\n\n<div style=\"background:#f8f9fa;border-left:4px solid #d32f2f;padding:20px 22px;margin:18px 0 24px;font-size:16px;line-height:1.7;display:flex;gap:20px;align-items:flex-start\"><div><em>&ldquo;... failure to make air strikes in the immediate beachhead area the first thing in the morning (D-Day) would clearly be disastrous.&rdquo;<\/em><div style=\"margin-top:10px;font-size:14px;color:#555\"><strong>Gen. Charles P. Cabell<\/strong> &mdash; Deputy Director of Central Intelligence, memo of 9 May 1961 recounting the night of 16 April<\/div><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n<p>At 4:30 a.m. on 17 April Cabell tried again, asking for protection for the invasion ships. Rusk put him on the phone to President Kennedy. The answer was still no.<\/p>\n\n<h2 style=\"padding-top:22px\">The surprise in the sky<\/h2>\n\n<p>What Castro had left was small: by most counts three or four Sea Furies, four or five T-33s and a few B-26s. But the CIA planners had missed one crucial detail. The T-33s, American-built jet trainers, had been armed with .50-calibre machine guns. A jet faster than anything the brigade could put in the air was now hunting slow, unescorted bombers.<\/p>\n\n\n<div style=\"background:#f8f9fa;border-left:4px solid #5C91FF;padding:20px 22px;margin:18px 0 24px;font-size:16px;line-height:1.7;display:flex;gap:20px;align-items:flex-start\"><div><em>&ldquo;I wasn't worried about B-26's or the Sea Furies. I was worried about the T-33's because we had no defense against them.&rdquo;<\/em><div style=\"margin-top:10px;font-size:14px;color:#555\"><strong>Grayston L. Lynch<\/strong> &mdash; CIA paramilitary officer aboard the LCI Blagar, quoted in the CIA Official History of the Bay of Pigs Operation<\/div><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\" style=\"margin:0 0 24px;width:100%\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"skip-lazy\" data-no-lazy=\"1\" loading=\"eager\" width=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2026\/10\/cuban-air-force-hawker-sea-fury-havana.jpg\" alt=\"Cuban Air Force Hawker Sea Fury in Havana\" style=\"width:100%;height:auto;max-width:100%;display:block\"><figcaption style=\"font-size:13px;color:#777;text-align:center;margin-top:6px;font-style:italic\">A Cuban Hawker Sea Fury preserved at the Museum of the Revolution in Havana. Cuba had bought 17 refurbished ex-Royal Navy Sea Furies from Hawker in 1958. Photo: SamHolt6 via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n<p>At daybreak on 17 April the Cuban aircraft went for the ships. The after-action report records that the Houston was hit by rockets at 06:30 and run aground. At about 09:30 the R\u00edo Escondido, deck-loaded with aviation fuel and carrying ten days of reserve supplies and the brigade's radio link, blew up and sank. The CIA's own official history credits Sea Fury pilot Enrique Carreras Rojas in both attacks, though other accounts spread the credit among several pilots. CIA records show four brigade B-26s shot down that day.<\/p>\n\n\n<div style=\"position:relative;padding-bottom:56.25%;height:0;overflow:hidden;margin:24px 0 6px\"><iframe class=\"skip-lazy\" data-no-lazy=\"1\" loading=\"eager\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/P_bCSd-rBsQ\" style=\"position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;border:0\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div><p style=\"font-size:13px;color:#777;text-align:center;margin:0 0 24px;font-style:italic\">The Operations Room's animated account of the opening of the Bay of Pigs invasion.<\/p>\n\n\n<h2 style=\"padding-top:22px\">The Alabama airmen<\/h2>\n\n<p>By 19 April the brigade was collapsing, and the CIA let Americans fly. About 60 members of the Alabama Air National Guard had been recruited to train and support the exile air force. That morning, according to the CIA history, nine Americans took off in B-26s for the last missions over the beachhead. Four did not come back.<\/p>\n\n<p>Riley Shamburger and Wade Gray were shot down into the sea; a CIA cable reports that Shamburger was hit by T-33s and radioed \"We've been jumped\". Thomas \"Pete\" Ray and Leo Baker were brought down near the Central Australia sugar mill, where Castro had his command post. Accounts differ on exactly how they died. Navy Skyhawks from USS Essex, which had been told not to engage, arrived about an hour too late, possibly because of a time-zone mix-up. The brigade surrendered the same day.<\/p>\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\" style=\"margin:0 0 24px;width:100%\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"skip-lazy\" data-no-lazy=\"1\" loading=\"eager\" width=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2026\/10\/a4d-2-skyhawks-va-34-uss-essex-bay-of-pigs-1961.jpg\" alt=\"A4D-2 Skyhawks of VA-34 over USS Essex in April 1961\" style=\"width:100%;height:auto;max-width:100%;display:block\"><figcaption style=\"font-size:13px;color:#777;text-align:center;margin-top:6px;font-style:italic\">Navy A4D-2 Skyhawks of VA-34 over USS Essex during the Bay of Pigs invasion. They flew over the area but were under orders not to engage. US Navy photo<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n<p>Cuba kept Pete Ray's body for about 18 years before returning it in 1979, after a campaign by his daughter, Janet Ray Weininger. In 1978 the CIA had quietly awarded all four men its Distinguished Intelligence Cross. The agency's own historian later called the defeat a shared responsibility, and put much of the blame for the air failures on the decisions made in Washington.<\/p>\n\n\n<div style=\"position:relative;padding-bottom:56.25%;height:0;overflow:hidden;margin:24px 0 6px\"><iframe class=\"skip-lazy\" data-no-lazy=\"1\" loading=\"eager\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/lv6FbmiRyCE\" style=\"position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;border:0\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div><p style=\"font-size:13px;color:#777;text-align:center;margin:0 0 24px;font-style:italic\">The Operations Room on how Castro's forces struck back.<\/p>\n\n\n<p><em>Sources: CIA Official History of the Bay of Pigs Operation, Vol. I (Pfeiffer); Foreign Relations of the United States 1961-63, Vol. X; Encyclopedia of Alabama; Smithsonian Air &amp; Space; National Security Archive; Wikipedia<\/em><\/p>\n<!-- mfsh:bottom -->\r\n\r\n<button type=\"button\" class=\"mfsh-trigger mfsh-bottom\" data-mfsh-placement=\"bottom\" aria-haspopup=\"dialog\"><svg><use href=\"#mfsh-i-share\"\/><\/svg>Share this story<\/button>\r\n\r\n<!-- \/mfsh:bottom -->\n\n\n<style>.mfq{margin:34px 0 8px}.mfq h2{font:26px\/1.3 \"Gilroy semiBold\",Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;color:#0d1117;padding-top:22px;margin:0 0 6px}.mfq .qa details{border-top:1px solid #5C91FF;margin:0;padding:0}.mfq .qa details:last-of-type{border-bottom:1px solid #e2e7ee}.mfq .qa summary{cursor:pointer;list-style:none;display:flex;justify-content:space-between;align-items:center;gap:16px;padding:22px 26px;font:18px\/1.7 \"Gilroy semiBold\",Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;color:#0d1117}.mfq .qa summary::-webkit-details-marker{display:none}.mfq .qa summary::after{content:\"+\";font:24px Helvetica,sans-serif;color:#3568e0;flex:0 0 auto}.mfq .qa details[open] summary::after{content:\"\\2013\"}.mfq .qa details:hover summary{color:#3568e0}.mfq .qa .a{font:16px\/1.7 \"Gilroy regular\",Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;color:#454e5e;padding:0 26px 24px}.mfq .qa .a a{color:#3568e0}@media(max-width:680px){.mfq .qa summary{padding:18px 14px;font-size:17px}.mfq .qa .a{padding:0 14px 20px}}<\/style>\n\n\n<section class=\"mfq\"><h2>Frequently Asked Questions<\/h2><div class=\"qa\"><details open><summary>Why did the Bay of Pigs air strikes fail to destroy Castro's air force?<\/summary><div class=\"a\">The Bay of Pigs air strikes of 15 April 1961 used eight exile-flown B-26s against three airfields and left several Cuban aircraft intact. The follow-up dawn strikes planned for D-Day were cancelled on the evening of 16 April for political reasons, so Castro's surviving Sea Furies, armed T-33s and B-26s were free to attack the landing ships.<\/div><\/details><details><summary>Who cancelled the second Bay of Pigs air strike?<\/summary><div class=\"a\">The second Bay of Pigs air strike was cancelled by the Kennedy administration on the evening of 16 April 1961. National Security Adviser McGeorge Bundy told CIA Deputy Director Charles Cabell the strikes were off, and Secretary of State Dean Rusk cited political considerations. Cabell warned that failing to strike at dawn would be disastrous.<\/div><\/details><details><summary>Which aircraft did Castro's air force use at the Bay of Pigs?<\/summary><div class=\"a\">Castro's air force fought the Bay of Pigs invasion with a handful of Hawker Sea Fury piston fighters, Lockheed T-33 jet trainers and B-26 Invaders. CIA planners had not discovered that the T-33s were armed with .50-calibre machine guns, and the jets shot down several of the brigade's B-26 bombers.<\/div><\/details><details><summary>How were the ships Houston and R\u00edo Escondido lost at the Bay of Pigs?<\/summary><div class=\"a\">The Houston and R\u00edo Escondido were lost to Cuban air attacks on 17 April 1961. Rockets hit the Houston at about 06:30 and the ship was run aground in the bay. The R\u00edo Escondido, loaded with aviation fuel, reserve supplies and the brigade's radio, blew up and sank at about 09:30.<\/div><\/details><details><summary>Who were the four Alabama Air National Guard airmen killed at the Bay of Pigs?<\/summary><div class=\"a\">The four Alabama Air National Guard airmen killed on 19 April 1961 were pilot Riley Shamburger with Wade Gray, and pilot Thomas Pete Ray with Leo Baker, all flying CIA B-26s over the beachhead. Shamburger's aircraft went down in the sea and Ray's near the Central Australia sugar mill. The CIA later awarded all four its Distinguished Intelligence Cross.<\/div><\/details><details><summary>What happened to Pete Ray's body after the Bay of Pigs?<\/summary><div class=\"a\">Pete Ray's body was kept by Cuba for about 18 years as evidence of American involvement in the Bay of Pigs invasion. His daughter, Janet Ray Weininger, campaigned for its return, and Cuba released it in 1979. The CIA had recognised him and his three fellow airmen in 1978 with the Distinguished Intelligence Cross.<\/div><\/details><\/div><\/section>\n\n\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@type\":\"FAQPage\",\"mainEntity\":[{\"@type\":\"Question\",\"name\":\"Why did the Bay of Pigs air strikes fail to destroy Castro's air force?\",\"acceptedAnswer\":{\"@type\":\"Answer\",\"text\":\"The Bay of Pigs air strikes of 15 April 1961 used eight exile-flown B-26s against three airfields and left several Cuban aircraft intact. The follow-up dawn strikes planned for D-Day were cancelled on the evening of 16 April for political reasons, so Castro's surviving Sea Furies, armed T-33s and B-26s were free to attack the landing ships.\"}},{\"@type\":\"Question\",\"name\":\"Who cancelled the second Bay of Pigs air strike?\",\"acceptedAnswer\":{\"@type\":\"Answer\",\"text\":\"The second Bay of Pigs air strike was cancelled by the Kennedy administration on the evening of 16 April 1961. National Security Adviser McGeorge Bundy told CIA Deputy Director Charles Cabell the strikes were off, and Secretary of State Dean Rusk cited political considerations. Cabell warned that failing to strike at dawn would be disastrous.\"}},{\"@type\":\"Question\",\"name\":\"Which aircraft did Castro's air force use at the Bay of Pigs?\",\"acceptedAnswer\":{\"@type\":\"Answer\",\"text\":\"Castro's air force fought the Bay of Pigs invasion with a handful of Hawker Sea Fury piston fighters, Lockheed T-33 jet trainers and B-26 Invaders. CIA planners had not discovered that the T-33s were armed with .50-calibre machine guns, and the jets shot down several of the brigade's B-26 bombers.\"}},{\"@type\":\"Question\",\"name\":\"How were the ships Houston and R\u00edo Escondido lost at the Bay of Pigs?\",\"acceptedAnswer\":{\"@type\":\"Answer\",\"text\":\"The Houston and R\u00edo Escondido were lost to Cuban air attacks on 17 April 1961. Rockets hit the Houston at about 06:30 and the ship was run aground in the bay. The R\u00edo Escondido, loaded with aviation fuel, reserve supplies and the brigade's radio, blew up and sank at about 09:30.\"}},{\"@type\":\"Question\",\"name\":\"Who were the four Alabama Air National Guard airmen killed at the Bay of Pigs?\",\"acceptedAnswer\":{\"@type\":\"Answer\",\"text\":\"The four Alabama Air National Guard airmen killed on 19 April 1961 were pilot Riley Shamburger with Wade Gray, and pilot Thomas Pete Ray with Leo Baker, all flying CIA B-26s over the beachhead. Shamburger's aircraft went down in the sea and Ray's near the Central Australia sugar mill. The CIA later awarded all four its Distinguished Intelligence Cross.\"}},{\"@type\":\"Question\",\"name\":\"What happened to Pete Ray's body after the Bay of Pigs?\",\"acceptedAnswer\":{\"@type\":\"Answer\",\"text\":\"Pete Ray's body was kept by Cuba for about 18 years as evidence of American involvement in the Bay of Pigs invasion. His daughter, Janet Ray Weininger, campaigned for its return, and Cuba released it in 1979. The CIA had recognised him and his three fellow airmen in 1978 with the Distinguished Intelligence Cross.\"}}]}<\/script><div style=\"background:#f0f4ff;border-left:4px solid #5C91FF;padding:16px 20px;margin:32px 0 8px\"><p style=\"margin:0 0 8px;font-weight:600;color:#333\">Related Posts<\/p><p style=\"margin:4px 0\"><a href=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/richard-heyser-u-2-flight-14-october-1962-cuban-missile-crisis-photos\/\">Richard Heyser\u2019s U-2 Flight That Started the Cuban Missile Crisis<\/a><\/p><p style=\"margin:4px 0\"><a href=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/hawker-sea-fury-mig-15-korea-last-piston-fighter\/\">The Piston Fighter That Shot Down a Jet<\/a><\/p><p style=\"margin:4px 0\"><a href=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/rudolf-anderson-u2-shootdown-cuban-missile-crisis\/\">The Only Man Killed by Enemy Fire in the Cuban Missile Crisis<\/a><\/p><p style=\"margin:4px 0\"><a href=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/black-saturday-1962-b59-arkhipov-maultsby\/\">Black Saturday: Three Near-Misses in One Day<\/a><\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Share this story The Bay of Pigs is remembered as a landing that failed on the beach. It was lost in the air. Over five days in April 1961, a handful of Cuban pilots in old British piston fighters and American-built jet trainers beat a CIA air force, sank the ships the invasion depended on [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":26,"featured_media":29918747,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"editor_notices":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[666,664],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-29918971","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-history-and-legends","category-military-aviation"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Bay of Pigs Air War: B-26s, Sea Furies and T-33s<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"How Castro&#039;s Sea Furies and armed T-33s beat the CIA&#039;s B-26s at the Bay of Pigs in April 1961, sank the invasion ships and killed four US airmen.\" 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