Model, SA-2 Launch Site

This model and image housed in a wood case depict a Soviet SA-2 surface-to-air missile site at La Coloma, Cuba, during the Cuban Missile Crisis. At the height of the confrontation in October 1962, either an Air Force or Navy aircraft on a low-level reconnaissance mission took the photograph. It was the only mission during the crisis that used color film. The National Photographic Interpretation Center built this particular model in 1965 from wood, sand, and wire for use at a Cuban Missile Crisis exhibit at the Central Intelligence Agency's headquarters. The agency transferred the case to the Museum after the exhibit closed in the 1970s.