[Ernie Martin]

Wasp Network is out on Netflix with lots of Skymasters, including the 2 shot down by Cuban Migs.

I had been told of the film, but expected an amateurish effort. Instead, it's a first-class, engrossing movie with famous movie stars, including Penélope Cruz.

It tells the story in the 1990s of Brothers to the Rescue, the organization that flew numerous Skymasters out of Miami to help rafters escaping Cuba. It was formed to aid those riding these rickety rafts often made of plywood on tire tubes after the death of some, including children, from exposure and dehydration. The airplanes would patrol the Florida Straits dropping water, food and a radio to the rafts, and alerting U.S. Coast Guard to render assistance.

At considerable risk, their mission also included flying into Cuban airspace dropping anti-government leaflets over Havana. On the last of those trips, 2 of the 3 Skymasters were shot down by missiles from Cuban Migs, a scene faithfully recreated in the movie.

As it turned out, at least one of the Brothers to the Rescue pilots was a Cuban spy, part of a network of spies -- the Wasp Network -- informing Cuba not only of these activities but also of the activities of other anti-communist groups mounting isolated armed attacks in Cuba. Eventually the FBI caught them all.

The whole movie and the story line is well done and worth watching*. If not to your liking, just fast forward to the flying scenes.

Ernie Martin

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* I'm biased. I was born in Cuba, came to the U.S. as a minor right after Castro took over, did my undergraduate and graduate studies here (MS Engineering, Caltech) and have lived here for 60 years -- 37 of those in Miami. In fact, my 3 Skymasters over the past 20 years have been based at KTMB, from where the Brothers to the Rescue launched their missions.