Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1963-11-11
BY JOE MCGOWAN. yR.
Associated Pres staff Writer

Associated Press Staff writer
II MIAMI. Fla, Nov. IA
slow-moving, unarmed Coast
Guard patrol plane defied guns
trained on 1t by Cuban militia
men and scored q major propa-
ganda victory over the Fidel
Castro regime.
Photographs taken by the
crew Of the twin-engine am
phibious plane showed the
world a Cuban raiding party
kidnapping 10 refugees from An
guilla Cay. q desolate British
island 40 miles off Cuba's north
coast.
Exciting Adventure
Photos showed o Russian
built helicopter on the ground
and two Russian-made PIT
type boats speeding from the
island with the refugees aboard.
One photo showed three men
in one boat with their auto
matte rifles aimed at the United
States aircraft.
Catching the Cubans in the
daylight raid is regarded by
men at the Coast Guards
Miami air station as the most
exciting thing that has hap
pened to them since Premier
Castro came to power.
Search and rescue has been
and still is the Coast Guards
primary job. These missions
can be tedious. Sometimes they
are dangerous.
Since mid-1959, a preponder-
ance Of search and rescue mis-
sions have been linked in one
way or another with the Cuban
situation.
Station Grows Larger
In addition, the Coast Guard
has been assigned the difficult
two way task Of guarding
against illegal Castro activities,
yet protecting the communist
island from attack by anti
Castro exiles.
To handle the assignment,
the Coast Guard has siphoned
off men and equipment from
its stations around the world
and added them to the COM
mand Of the It'll Coast Guard
District. which has headquar-
tiers in Miami.
The district has become the
largest Coast Guard operation
in the world, Comdr. James
Dillon said. Ten high-wing Al
batross Amphibians, capable of
land or sea operation, and three
helicopters operate from the air
station at Dinner Key.
I'VE spotted the first Cuban
refugee at sea on July %, 1859, :"
said 1t. (j.g) Larry Larance,
district information officer.
Soon we were averaging 116
cases a month"
On March 80, 1868, Presi-
dent Kennedy issued o procla-
nation against raids on Cuba.
Since then, we have had q
plane in the air at almost all
times during daylight hours.
and quite often at night" said
q Coast Guard officer.
Kep4 Near Cuban Waters
A Coast Guard ship is kept
near Cuban waters at all times.
working as q team with patrol
ing aircraft.
Since most Of the waters
north Of Cuba surround the
Bahama Islands. the United
States has an agreement with
the British government for
Coast Guard planes and ships
to land on search and rescue
missions.
After the Anguilla Cay in
cident. the British government
sent four 4-engine reconnais-
sance planes to Nassau. These
craft work in conjunction with
the United States Coast Guard
in patrolling waters off Cuba.
The area west Of the Florida
Keys to the eastern tip Of Cuba
is divided by the Coast Guard
into three air patrols. So that
neither Premier Castro nor
anti Castro forces can figure
a timetable, the Coast Guard
continually mixes up its flights.
This newsman and Photog-
rapher Earl Shugars went along
recently on Patrol Charlie. a
/ .0o0-mile, s-hour flight.
1t. Comdr. w. K. Cooper
guided the chubby Alhatross
aloft in a spray Of salt water
and leveled off at 500 feet,
maximum altitude for the en-
tire flight. Cruising speed was
140 knots.
At 500 feet, you can tell a
shark from a porpoise. or a
pleasure boat from q raiding
party, but you're high enough
to scan a wide stretch Of ocean.
Aviation Machinist Ernest
Costigan of Norfolk, Va. and
Aviation Electrician George
NOEL Of Lebanon, Ohio, opened
a couple of windows. This made