◆ SpookStack

from the last place in c·ombat capability, as far as proficiency was concerned, to what I would consider first place among the three airplanes -- the 46, the 54, and the B-26. They were good. Now, the American Air Staff -- USAF -- didn't realize how good they were, and probably doesn't to this day; but they were unusu- ally good combat crews. They had not had any seasoning in combat, so when I say they were unusually good, I'm not talking about the psychological factors that go into combat. I'm talking about the tech- nical proficiency in putting the gun on a target and bomb on a target. They didn't have the guts that an American would have displayed, but on the other hand, they might have had a little bit more intelli- gence than the average American combat pilot. When they were asked to fly in sorties up to the beach and provide some cover'for the people on the ground, the Cubans didn't want to do it because of the danger; and so the Americans volun- teered to do it, and we lost some. The C-54's and C-46's ••. for a long time, the 54's were the prima donnas of our entire Cuban Air Force -- the Brigade air force -- because ••• a lot of them were ex-Cubana Air Lines [pilots], and capable. [They] were sort of looked up to as the old sen10r pilots with ••. thousands of hours. But, as time went on, the C-46 people got more and more pro- ficien~ too; and they turned out to be kind of brash, johnny-come-latelys who really did a good job. I would say the C-54's turned out to be technically com- petent, and the C-46 people were much better than would originally have been expected. ~/* * Like Thorsrud and Gaines, Stan Beerli also was high on the technical competence of the Cuban pilots. More than the others, however, Beerli did indicate some (footnote continued on following page) - 187 -