Saturday 27th October 1962 marked the height of the Cuban Missile Crisis. It was the day on which a Soviet SAM missile battery shot down an American U-2 spyplane over the Island. Declared American policy in such an event was to retaliate by launching an attack on an least one SAM site.

The shootdown occurred at the height of the Crisis. Had President Kennedy responded according to the agreed policy, it could well have been the spark that ignited a world war.

Find out more about the Cuban Missile Crisis via the links below.