Cuban Missile Crisis
This is a duplicate photoreconnaissance camera frame from the Cuban Missile Crisis. On Oct. 16, 1962, President John F. Kennedy saw this image, and a photo interpreter explained to him, “Mr. President, I am as sure of this as a photo interpreter can be of anything ... I am convinced they are missiles.” The image was taken by a USAF U-2 on Oct. 14 and was one of the first to show that Soviet missiles were in Cuba. The frame covers an area 4 miles wide and 8 miles long, and was taken at an altitude of about 70,000 feet. The title “CHESS” (on the upper part of the picture) is the code name for U-2 photography, and “NOFORN” means no foreigners were allowed to see the film. (U.S. Air Force photo)