On October 14, 1962, Major Richard Heyser flew a U-2F over western Cuba and returned with photographs that CIA analysts identified as SS-4 medium-range ballistic missiles. On October 16, President Kennedy convened the first ExComm meeting at 11:45 a.m. The crisis that followed—thirteen days of naval quarantine, diplomatic threats, and military mobilization—hinged on aerial intelligence. U-2s provided the initial confirmation, but low-level RF-101 Voodoo and F-8 Crusader reconnaissance missions gave the detail needed to track the missile buildup and confirm Soviet deception. On October 27, Major Rudolf Anderson was shot down and killed over Cuba by an SA-2 missile, the only combat fatality of the crisis. That same day, another U-2 strayed over Soviet airspace near Chukotka, nearly triggering a Soviet fighter response before it escaped. The Navy demanded retaliation for Anderson's death; Kennedy refused, fearing escalation. The photographs—the intelligence product of cameras, aircraft, and pilots—had become the currency of superpower confrontation. Without them, the missiles would have been operational before the United States knew they existed. With them, the world stared into the abyss and stepped back.