Cuban missile crisis spy plane pilot dead at 81

Posted on Thursday, 10.09.08

Cuban missile crisis spy plane pilot dead at 81
The Associated Press

APALACHICOLA, Fla. -- U-2 spy plane pilot Richard Stephen Heyser, who
took the first photos of ballistic missile launch sites during the 1962
Cuban missile crisis, has died. He was 81.

Heyser, who lived in Apalachicola, died Monday at a nursing home in
nearby Port St. Joe.

The retired Air Force lieutenant colonel said in a 2005 interview with
The Associated Press that no one was more relieved than he that the
crisis ended peacefully. He said he did not want to go down in history
as the man who started World War III.

"I kind of felt like I was going to be looked at as the one who started
the whole thing," Heyser said. "I wasn't anxious to have that reputation."

President John F. Kennedy announced to the world that the photos proved
the Soviet Union was building secret sites for nuclear-tipped missiles
90 miles south of Key West. Kennedy then summoned Heyser to the White
House after he made five flights over Cuba in nine days.

He was among 11 Air Force U-2 pilots who took photos over Cuba. Two were
killed: one was shot down and the other died when his plane crashed off
Key West. A third pilot was killed in a crash while training for the
Cuban mission.

CIA pilots earlier had taken photos of anti-aircraft missile launchers
in Cuba. The Air Force pilots then were assigned to search for suspected
sites of offensive missiles that could strike the United States.

Heyser later served two combat tours during the Vietnam War. He retired
in 1974 after 30 years of service and returned to Apalachicola, where he
was born and raised.

Heyser is survived by his wife, Jacquelyn, and three sons. Funeral
services will be held Friday at St. Patrick's Roman Catholic Church in
Apalachicola followed by burial with full military honors at Magnolia
Cemetery.

http://www.miamiherald.com/news/florida/AP/story/719495.html