K.I. SAWYER -- The Wednesday Facebook Story of the Day is about K.I. Sawyer's role during the Cuban Missile Crisis.
The whole country was on edge in October 1962 when the U.S. Air Force obtained photographic evidence that the Soviet Union was constructing a nuclear missile base in Cuba, about 90 miles off the coast of Florida.
Although the K.I. Sawyer pilots were never called to assist U.S. forces, they were put on high alert and worked 12 hour shifts to prepare.
They also kept their squadron of fighter planes loaded in case they needed to leave at a moment's notice.
"Because of K.I. Sawyer's mission at the time it was here to protect the Soo Locks, the iron mines things like this and to intercept things from the north, namely Russia, so we had fighter aircrafts here," said Museum President Bob Vick.
One of those original F-101 planes can still be viewed at the K.I. Sawyer Heritage Air Museum.
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