U2 Over Siberia

Welcome to the main page for October 26th, 1962 Doomsday!

This timeline explores what would happen if a accidential Soviet airspace violation by a U2 would have caused WWIII.

The Beginning
on October 26, 1962, a U2 pilot flying over the North Pole made a series of navigational errors because the shifting lights of the aurora borealis prevented him from taking accurate readings with his sextant. As a result, he ended up flying over the Chukotski Peninsula in northern Siberia, causing the Soviets to order a number of MiG interceptors to shoot his plane down immediately.

Instead of letting him be shot down, however, the United States responded quickly by sending out F-102A fighters armed with nuclear missiles to escort the U2 back to American airspace and prevent the MiGs from following it. Baffled at the intrusion of American fighters into Soviet airspace, nd could have easily resulted in a nuclear conflict. Nikita Khrushchev was furious that American fighters had intruded Soviet Airspace, he gave the MiGs the order to attack. Hearing about this, President Kennedy gave the order to launch a retaliatory nuclear attack on the Soviets. Kennedy was rushed to the NAECS, ands within minutes, hundreds of Minutemen were flying to the Soviet Union. 