The Bay of Pigs Paradox

[Walt Cakebread]

Apparently, and you don't hear this too much, but the U.S. army did send aircraft into the airspace near Cuba in an attempt to intimiate Castro:

From the "Bay of Pigs" Wikipedia page:

Douglas A-4 Skyhawks from the USS Essex flew sorties over combat areas during the invasion to reassure brigade soldiers and pilots and to intimidate Cuban government forces without directly engaging in acts of war.

Consequently, Kennedy had bizarrely demonstrated that the U.S. was involved even though the plan initially was to try and deny U.S. involvement. It sounds like Kennedy had no idea what he was doing.

Apparently you're unaware that the USS ESSEX  is a NAVY  vessel...not ARMY......

But the "Blue Raiders" from the ESSEX,  flying the Douglas Skyhawks OFF THE COAST of CUBA were under strict orders NOT TO invade Cuban airspace and they were not to fire on any Cuban aircraft unless they were fired at.....  And Casto's pilots were smart enough to know they would have been committing suicide if they fired at the American Navy Fighters......