Warren A. Trest
Wings of Denial
"The Alabama Air National Guard's Covert Role at the Bay of Pigs"
In the predawn hours of April 19, 1961, six Douglas B-26 Invaders disguised with Cuban markings took off from a secret CIA base at Puerto Cabezas, Nicaraugua, and headed north over the moonlit waters of the Caribbean toward Cuba.The bombers were launched in a desperate attempt to stave off defeat for the brigade of Cuban exiles who were stranded on the embattled beachhead and fighting for their lives.
Seven Alabama Air National Guardsmen volunteered to fly with the anti-Castro forces. Four of the guardsmen died in the attempt. This book tells that story.
"Collaboratively written by historians Warren Trest (USAF Historical Research Agency, Maxwell AFB, Alabama) and Donald Dodd (Professor Emeritus of History, Auburn University, Montgomery, Alabama), Wings of Denial: The Alabama Air National Guard's Covert Role at the Bay of Pigs is a riveting expose of the ill-fated 1961 Bay of Pigs attempted invasion of Cuba. Four Alabama Air National Guardsmen perished in the invasion, and the body of one of them was frozen as a war trophy in Cuba until 1978. Meticulously researched, and enhanced with black-and-white photographs..."
- Midwest Book Review
"Trest and Dodd provide remarkable new insight into one of America's most secret military operations, the failed April 1961 Bay of Pigs invasion. Expertly written, using heretofore classified documents and interviews with the participants, the authors have crafted a well-deserved and heartfelt testimony to the patriotism and bravery of the Alabama Air National Guardsmen who paid the ultimate price for their country."
- Timothy N. Castle, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Air War College, Maxwell AFB, Alabama