John Kuenzel
Where Were You in DEFCON II?
Of my 226 classmates, most--if not all--played a role as Air Force Lieutenants during the Cuban missile crisis as our country assumed an unprecedented defense condition--DEFCON II. Over half of the class were rookie pilots with less than a year in their aircraft. This is my story . . .
It was October 1962, I was assigned to a KC-135 crew at K. I. Sawyer AFB In Michigan's upper peninsula. There was no hint of an international crisis at the squadron level. The Initial indication came upon assuming ground-alert status on a Monday morning. By noon we were airborne enroute to Spain where we joined a tanker task force assigned to refuel B-52s flying 24-hour airborne alert sorties from the States. We flew three sorties every other night. Each sortie lasted about 90 minutes and consisted of rendezvous and refueling a fully armed B-52. In 15 minutes of contact time over 100,000 lbs. of JP-4 were transferred. My job was to manage the fuel panel including activation of the four pumps. In that respect, I was the gas passer.
This all was becoming fairly routine when performed three times every other night. I do not recall the exact duration of the crisis, but the tension peaked on a Saturday night. The Soviets must have agreed to remove their missiles over that weekend in October. Our crew flew three that night. There were reported MIG sightings (never verified), and large ship movements were reported over the radio. After that an authoritarian voice announced over the HF (long range) radio to report any unusual sightings in clear text; hence, avoiding any delay. I never discovered the identity of that speaker, but he clearly had command authority to change the world that Saturday night. We completed our missions and remained in Spain for a week or so while tensions slowly eased.
To my classmates, there must be other stories to share about this crisis. I look forward to hearing your experiences at the reunion. In the meantime should any of you over indulge on food or drink my advice is this: loosen your belt, let 'er rip, then think of your classmate who once passed over 300,OOO lbs of gas over Southern Spain on a Saturday night in October 1962. Your classmate forever, John Kuenzel