Blue Moon Over Cuba - Aerial Reconnaissance During the Cuban Missile Crisis by Capt. William B. Eckler USN (ret) and Kenneth V. Jack

Blue Moon Over Cuba - Aerial Reconnaissance During the Cuban Missile Crisis by Capt. William B. Eckler USN (ret) and Kenneth V. Jack

By Jim Bates

What started out as an attempt to publish the memoirs of Capt. William B. Eckler, the Commanding Officer of VFP-62 during the Cuban Missile Crisis, this book evolved into much more.  It is basically a one stop summary of the Cuban Missile Crisis and how photo reconnaissance was able to prevent war in the fall of 1962.  All aspects of the Crisis are discussed, including the operations of VFP-62 with their RF-8 Crusaders, ruminations on aerial photo reconnaissance and the technology involved, and the behind the scenes military and political maneuvering both in Washington and in the United Nations.  The book also make is clear that once the Crisis was over VFP-62’s work was not done, as they needed to fly missions to verify that the missiles had been removed and that additional weapons had not been imported.  The combination of all of these items makes this a fascinating book and an excellent read.  Highly recommended.