The Lemon Dance: Tell Fidel El Rojo Is Coming Book

Savannah is known for its Victorian style homes, lovely squares, society balls, and colorful people. One such notable Savannahian is Robert "Reds" Helmey.

On Super Bowl Sunday in 1969 – the day Joe Namath was picking apart the Baltimore Colts' seemingly invincible secondary defense – Reds Helmey was hijacking a United Airlines flight to Havana. Acting as a lone ranger, this former Green Beret was bent on a mission to single-handedly pick through a myriad of personal security defenses to get Fidel Castro. On January 11, Reds boarded a commercial 727 from Miami and forced its pilot to fly to Cuba. As the jet approached Havana, he had the pilot send a transmission to flight control.

The actual radio transmission to airtraffic control at Havana's Jose Marti Airport was, "Tell Fidel, El Rojo is coming."