Light Photographic Squadron #62 (VFP-62)
Navy Squadron for Photographic Intelligence
Navy aircraft squadron used for aerial reconnaissance of Cuba which took off on October 23, 1962 on the first low-level photo missions over Cuba. Navy Squadron pilots assigned to Light Photographic Squadron 62 were flying the single-engine reconnaissance RF-8A version of the F-8 Crusader fighter. It carried five cameras.
Crusader overflights of Cuba began on 23 October 1962, under the code name "Blue Moon". Flights of RF-8As from Navy reconnaissance squadron VFP-62, operating in several pairs of aircraft with each pair assigned a different target, left Naval Air Station (NAS) Key West twice each day, to streak in over Cuba at low level, then return to NAS Jacksonville, where the film was offloaded and developed, to be rushed north to the Pentagon. VFP-62 pilots received the Distinguished Flying Cross.
Crusader overflights of Cuba began on 23 October 1962, under the code name "Blue Moon". Flights of RF-8As from Navy reconnaissance squadron VFP-62, operating in several pairs of aircraft with each pair assigned a different target, left Naval Air Station (NAS) Key West twice each day, to streak in over Cuba at low level, then return to NAS Jacksonville, where the film was offloaded and developed, to be rushed north to the Pentagon. VFP-62 pilots received the Distinguished Flying Cross.