Rudolf Anderson, Jr.

Anderson grew up in Greenville, South Carolina, and in 1948 earned a textile engineering degree at Clemson. After the Korean War he flew RF-86 Sabre reconnaissance missions from Korea and Japan, earning two Distinguished Flying Crosses. Qualified on the U-2 in 1957, he became the 4080th wing's top U-2 pilot. His last flight, his sixth over Cuba, left McCoy Air Force Base; at 10:19 a.m. a Soviet-supplied missile exploded near his plane over Banes, and fragments pierced his helmet and pressure suit. He received the first Air Force Cross.

What the plaque says

Rudolf Anderson, Jr. U.S. Air Force pilot Rudolf Anderson was the only American airman shot down during the Cuban Missile Crisis. Born in 1927 in South Carolina, Anderson joined the military in 1951 and soon began flying reconnaissance missions during the Korean Conflict. Stationed at Laughlin Air Force Base by 1957, he was here when the Cuban Missile Crisis developed in October 1962. On October 27, while piloting a U-2 plane over Cuba to provide surveillance of a medium range ballistic missile site under construction, antiaircraft fire hit his plane, killing him. The Air Force decorated Anderson posthumously and in 2001 renamed Laughlin's operation building Anderson Hall. He is buried in South Carolina. (2006)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• San Felipe Creek — 5.4 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.
• Val Verde Winery — 6.0 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.
• Whitehead Memorial Museum — 6.1 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.
• Amistad National Recreation Area — 13 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

• Military Aviation in Val Verde County — steps away
• Lt. Jack T. Laughlin — steps away
• Laughlin Army Air Field — steps away
• San Felipe Independent School District — 5.0 mi