Operation Brass Knob

The 4080th Strategic Reconnaissance Wing came to Laughlin from Turner Air Force Base, Georgia, on April 1, 1957, flying U-2As and RB-57D Canberras for high-altitude reconnaissance and air sampling; it became the 4080th Strategic Wing in 1960. During the crisis Maj. Richard S. Heyser's first photographic flight over Cuba took off from Edwards Air Force Base, California, and landed at McCoy Air Force Base, Florida, which became the U-2 operating location. The ten surviving U-2 pilots each received the Distinguished Flying Cross. The wing remained at Laughlin as a tenant until 1963.

What the plaque says

Operation Brass Knob Laughlin Air Force Base pilots flew secret surveillance missions during the height of the Cold War. The Strategic Air Command formed the 4080th Strategic Reconnaissance Wing in 1956, utilizing high altitude Martin RB-57D and Lockheed U-2 aircraft for covert surveillance of the Soviet Union. The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) used U-2s, most staged from Laughlin AFB, to monitor activities in the Caribbean following the Cuban Revolution. Based on intelligence reports, President John Kennedy ordered military flights over Cuba to investigate a suspected buildup of Soviet-supplied missiles with nuclear warheads close to American soil. The first flight over Cuban airspace, on October 14, 1962, used reconnaissance photography to find evidence of medium range ballistic missiles in Cuba. The U.S. Navy processed and the CIA confirmed the presence of launch sites through photo interpretation. On October 16, the CIA briefed Kennedy, and a maximum aerial photographic reconnaissance effort commenced, codenamed "Operation Brass Knob." Subsequent U-2 flights produced photographs of 95 percent of Cuba's territory. Kennedy announced a naval quarantine of Cuba on October 22. Military action, including naval maneuvers, increased, and the Cuban Missile Crisis peaked on the 27th, when a surface to air missile shot down the U-2 of Rudolf Anderson, Jr., the only combat casualty of the conflict. Surviving U-2 pilots later revealed all eleven U-2 pilots received enemy fire. When Kennedy presented the 4080th with an Outstanding Unit Award, he noted, "The work of these units has contributed as much to the security of the United States as any unit in our history, and any group of men in our history." (2007) SUPPLEMENTAL PLAQUE 1: October 14-27, 1962 pilots: Majors Rudolf Anderson, Jr., Buddy L. Brown, Edwin G. Emerling, Richard S. Heyser and James A. Qualls. SUPPLEMENTAL PLAQUE 2: October 14-27, 1962 pilots: Captains George M. Bull, Roger H. Herman, Charles W. Kern, Gerald E. McIlmoyle, Robert L. Primrose and Daniel W. Schmarr.

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• San Felipe Creek — 1.0 mi
  The spring-fed creek that made Del Rio, rising from the third largest springs in Texas and running past swimming holes and a hike-and-bike trail through town.
• Whitehead Memorial Museum — 1.2 mi
  A village of old Del Rio buildings set along a working irrigation canal, from an 1870 store to a 1925 doctor's office, with Judge Roy Bean buried on the grounds.
• Val Verde Winery — 1.6 mi
  The family winery an Italian immigrant founded on Del Rio's irrigated land in 1883, which outlasted Prohibition by selling table grapes and kept Texas wine alive into the 1970s.
• Amistad National Recreation Area — 8.4 mi
  The American side of the reservoir the United States and Mexico finished in 1969 where three rivers meet, with painted shelters still reachable by boat when the water allows.

More markers nearby

• The Carter Family in Del Rio — steps away
• Paul Kallinger — steps away
• Greater Mount Olive Baptist Church — 0.2 mi
• First Baptist Church of Del Rio — 0.4 mi