102. Editorial Note
On April 15, 1961, a “Bumpy Road” Operations Center was established by the Joint Chiefs of Staff to monitor the operation. At 8:29 a.m. the Center received a message from Admiral Clark reporting that Task Group 81.8 had effected a rendezvous with all of the ships of the Cuban Expeditionary Force and was proceeding according to plan. (Telegram 151329Z from CTG 81.8 to CINCLANTFLT; Naval Historical Center, Area Files, Bumpy Road Materials) At 12:48 p.m. Admiral Dennison reported to the Joint Chiefs that everything was going according to plan. The Commander of the Air Defenses at Key West had reported that a B-26 bomber, bearing the markings of the Cuban Air Force, had made an emergency landing at Key West, after having bombed Havana. (CINC-LANT telegram 151748Z to the JCS; ibid.)
[Page 227]The chronology maintained in the Operations Center for April 15 concludes with the general observation that the purported defection of the Cuban pilot and the air strikes against the airfields at Havana, San Antonio de los Banos and Santiago de Cuba went off on schedule. But a diversionary landing, which was to have been made by a force of 163 men approximately 35 miles east of the Guantanamo Naval Base, was aborted due to “weak leadership” and difficulty in locating the designated landing beach. (Naval Historical Center, Area Files, Bumpy Road Materials)