Jefferson County native and pilot Thomas "Pete" Ray was one of eight Alabama Air National Guard members who volunteered to fly a covert bombing mission during the Bay of Pigs assault on Cuba in April 1961. Ray was killed in a gunfight after his plane was shot down and his body was preserved as evidence of U.S. involvement in the attack until 1979, when he was returned to the U.S. for burial.
Thomas "Pete" Ray
Courtesy of the Southern Museum of Flight
