Dec. 3, 1962 - The Defense Department announced today that Soviet jet bombers were being shipped out of Cuba in fulfillment of Premier Khrushchev’s promise to President Kennedy last month. Assistant Secretary of Defense Arthur Sylvester said that last Saturday U.S. patrol aircraft spotted the Soviet freighter Okhotsk carrying on deck at least three dismantled IL-28 bombers as she sailed from Cuba’s northern coast. He said air surveillance had also disclosed that other jet bombers were being dismantled and crated at the big Cuban air base of San Julian, in Pinar del Rio Province. “The IL-28 aircraft that have been seen on the island of Cuba are in the process of being withdrawn,” Mr. Sylvester said. U.S. intelligence experts estimated that close to 40 IL-28 jet bombers had been sent to Cuba by the Soviet Union, along with medium and intermediate-range missiles.
