During the Cuban Revolution he joined the Association of Young Rebels, a group protesting the Batista regime, and later the Revolutionary Work Youth Brigades. After the Cuban Revolution, he entered the Technical Institute "Rebel Army", completing a course for aviation technicians in December 1960. Wishing to become a fighter pilot, he went on to join the Cuban Revolutionary Armed Forces. Between April 1961 and May 1962, Tamayo completed a course in aerial combat with MiG-15s at the Yeysk Higher Air Force School in the Soviet Union, after which he was certified a combat pilot at the age of 19. Later that year, during the Cuban Missile Crisis, he flew 20 reconnaissance missions as part of the Playa Girón Brigade of the Cuban Revolutionary Air and Air Defense Force.