Civil Air Transport

During the Chinese Civil War, under contract with the Chinese Nationalist government and later the CIA, CAT flew supplies and ammunition into China to assist Kuomintang forces on the Chinese mainland, primarily using C-47 and C-46 aircraft. With the defeat of the Kuomintang in 1949, CAT helped to evacuate thousands of Chinese to Taiwan.

During the Korean War, CAT airlifted thousands of tons of war materials to supply United States military operations, including support of Kuomintang holdouts based in Burma (Operation PAPER[1]). On 29 November 1952, a CAT C-47 left Seoul on a mission to collect an anti-Communist Chinese agent in the foothills of northeastern China, using a "pole and line" technique. The mission was apparently compromised and Chinese forces were waiting for them. Approaching low over the ground, it was attacked by small-arms fire, and crash-landed near the town of Antu in China's Jilin province. The pilots, Robert Snoddy and Norman Schwartz were killed during the crash and subsequent fire, and were buried nearby. The two CIA officers, John T. Downey and Richard G. Fecteau survived and were immediately taken prisoner by Chinese forces, who were waiting for the flight. Downey and Fecteau were held by China and regularly interrogated for nearly twenty years. Fecteau was released unexpectedly following Nixon's visit to China in 1972, but Downey was released only after Washington publicly acknowledged their spy mission in 1973.

At the time the families of the pilots were told, in order to keep the CIA's covert actions in China secret, that they had crashed into the Sea of Japan on a routine flight to Tokyo. In 2001, China allowed the US Defense Department's Prisoner of War and Missing in Action (POW/MIA) office to conduct a recovery effort for the bodies of the pilots. In 2005 the POW/MIA office announced that it had identified the remains of Robert Snoddy using DNA analysis. Schwartz's remains have not been recovered.

The 1952-1953 edition of Jane's All The World's Aircraft lists the head office address as Suite 309, Kass Building, 711 14th Street, N.W., Washington, D.C., with the footnote that the company had reregistered in the U.S. The president is given as Whiting Willauer, and the fleet listed as 23 Curtiss C-46 Commando and 4 Douglas DC-3 aircraft.

CAT pilots flying C-119 during the siege of Dien Bien Phu in May 1954.

On May 1, 1953, Operation Squaw began, calling for CAT to airdrop supplies to French troops besieged at Na Sam, Laos. This operation was the first U.S. involvement in what became the First Indochina War.[2] CAT transported supplies and troops for French operations during Operation Castor in November 1953.[3]

CAT assisted the French government at various times during its Indochina wars, flying supplies and equipment into Hanoi's Gia Lam airport and other fields using C-46 and C-47 transport planes.

Operation Squaw-II was approved on January 29, 1954, and, after negotiations with the French, a contract was signed on March 3 for CAT to supply 24 pilots to operate 12 C-119s.[4] At the Battle of Dien Bien Phu, CAT supplied the French garrison by parachuting troops and supplies with covert USAF C-119 inscribed with French Air Force insignia. Two CAT pilots James B. McGovern Jr. and Wallace Buford were killed in action during the siege of Dien Bien Phu in May 1954.[2][5] They were the first American casualties of what was later termed the Vietnam War.[3] McGovern's remains were recovered in 2002 and identified in 2006.[2][6] Seven surviving CAT pilots out of the thirty-seven involved in the battle received the French Legion of Honor in February 2005 during a special ceremony at the French embassy in Washington.[3]

The 1956-1957 edition of Jane's All The World's Aircraft lists the head office address as 46 Chung Shan Road, North, 2nd Section, Taipei, Taiwan (Formosa). The president and general manager is given as Hugh L. Grundy, with C.J. Rosbert listed as vice-president and assistant general manager. The fleet is listed as 2 Douglas DC-4, 22 Curtiss Commando, 2 Douglas DC-3, 3 Douglas C-47, and 2 Convair Catalina.

In the 1958-1959 edition of Jane's, the last year in which the "Airlines of the World" section was carried, the home office address in Taiwan remained the same, but no company officers are listed. The fleet is given as 3 Douglas DC-4, 25 Curtiss C-46, 5 Douglas DC-3, 2 Convair Catalina, with 2 Douglas DC-6B on order.

A CAT C-46D in Indochina.

In 1958 Time reported that 20 CAT aircraft were supplying the PRRI/Permesta movement against President Sukarno's government of Indonesia, which the Eisenhower administration feared had communist sympathies.[7][8] In April 1958 two CAT pilots flew combat missions for Permesta's Angkatan Udara Revolusioner ("Revolutionary Air Force") or AUREV. William H. Beale[9] and Allen Pope[10] flew CIA Douglas B-26 Invaders for AUREV. In May, Beale withdrew from the operation,[11] by which time a third CAT pilot, Connie W Seigrist, had joined flying a CIA Consolidated PBY Catalina.[12] The CIA directed Beale and Pope to target not only Indonesian armed forces but also unarmed foreign merchant ships, in order to frighten overseas trade away from Indonesian waters, thereby weakening the Indonesian economy and undermining Sukarno's government.[13] On April 28, 1958, Beale attacked the Royal Dutch Shell terminal at Balikpapan in East Kalimantan, sinking the British tanker MV San Flaviano,[14] while Pope off the port of Donggala near Palu in Central Sulawesi sank merchant ships from Greece, Italy and Panama.[13]

On May 18 west of Ambon Island, Pope attacked one of a pair of Indonesian merchant ships that were carrying government troops for a counter-offensive against Permesta.[15] An Indonesian Air Force P-51 and anti-aircraft fire from the ships shot down the B-26,[16] and Pope and his Indonesian radio operator were captured.[17] The CIA had ordered the CAT pilots to fly "sterile", i.e. with no documents that could either identify them or link them with the US government.[18] However, Pope was carrying about 30 documents[19] including his detailed flight log,[19][20] secret orders for temporary deployment in Indonesia,[20] military separation file[19] and CAT identity card.[19] Pope's capture with these documents immediately exposed the level of CIA support for the Permesta rebellion.[7] Embarrassed, the Eisenhower administration quickly ended CIA support for Permesta and withdrew its agents and remaining aircraft from AUREV.[21]

Early in 1960 an Indonesian military court tried Pope; in April it convicted him and sentenced him to death.[20] However, in 1962 Robert F. Kennedy negotiated with President Sukarno, and in August that year the Indonesian authorities released Pope and returned him to the US.[22]

In 1959, CAT was reorganized as Air America, which supported covert operations throughout Indochina during the Vietnam War (also known as the "Second Indochina War"), particularly in Laos. For further information see Air America (airline) § Early history: Civil Air Transport (CAT).

After pulling out of South Vietnam in 1975, there was an attempt to keep a company presence in Thailand. After this fell through, Air America officially disbanded on June 30, 1976.