Jose Basulto was co-founder of Brothers to the Rescue with Billy Schuss and I met him in the 1990's when introduced to him by Carlos Costa, one of his many volunteer pilots. I was on the interview panel that hired Carlos to work in Airside Operations at Miami International Airport and he and I talked frequently about his participation in Brothers to the Rescue. Carlos invited me to a Brothers to the Rescue Open House at Opa-locka Airport on a weekend I was drilling with at Coast Guard Reserve Unit Air Station Miami and he introduced me to Jose. Unfortunately two of the Brothers to the Rescue C-337's were shot down by Castro's MiG's on February 24, 1996 and Carlos and three others perished. Jose Basulto, in a third C-337, escaped being shot down by the Mig's.

Jose was on the same VIP tour, comprised of Bay of Pig pilot veterans, tour guide trainees and former Nike missilemen, of the former Nike Hercules missile site as me and we had an opportunity to talk for several minutes on our walk back to our vehicles. This photo was taken by William R. “Billy’’ Schuss, who co-founded Brothers to the Rescue with Jose Basulto in 1991.

In the background is a missile barn where they worked on the missiles and a launch area with earth bunker for crew protection during the launches.