AIR AMERICA - CIA AIRLINE - Lot x 5 Wings Patch - LAOS - CAMBODIA - Vietnam War for Sale

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AIR AMERICA - CIA AIRLINE - Lot x 5 Wings Patch - LAOS - CAMBODIA - Vietnam War For Sale

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AIR AMERICA - CIA AIRLINE - Lot x 5 Wings Patch - LAOS - CAMBODIA - Vietnam War:
$103.32

CIA - Central Intelligence Agency - Patch

AIR AMERICA - Flight Patch - Wings - Patch - Cap Patch

Vietnam - North Vietnam - Laos - Cambodia - Thailand

Patch Measures - 3.2 x 2.8 inches (8 x 7 cms)
Vietnam War Patch
Cap Patch

Lot x 5 Patch / Patches

Air America – CIA Airline

Air America was an American passenger and cargoairline established in 1946 and covertly owned and operated by the CentralIntelligence Agency (CIA) from 1950 to 1976.

It supplied and supported covert operations inSoutheast Asia during the Vietnam War, including providing support for drugsmuggling in Laos.

CAT was created by Claire Chennault and WhitingWillauer in 1946 as Chinese National Relief and Rehabilitation Administration(CNRRA) Air Transport to airlift supplies and food into war-ravaged China.

It was soon pressed into service to supportChiang Kai-shek and his Kuomintang forces in the civil war between them and thecommunists under Mao Zedong.

Many of its first pilots were veterans ofChennault's World War II combat groups, popularly known as Flying Tigers. By1950, following the defeat of Chiang's forces and their retreat to Taiwan, theairline faced financial difficulties. In August 1950, the CIA bought outChennault and Willauer, continuing to operate as CAT, until 1959, when itchanged its name to Air America.

Air America's slogan was "Anything,Anywhere, Anytime, Professionally".

Air America aircraft, including the CurtissC-46 Commando, Pilatus PC-6 Porter, de Havilland Canada DHC-4 Caribou, LockheedC-130 Hercules, and Fairchild C-123 Provider, along with UH-34D, Bell 204B,Bell 205, and Boeing CH-47C Chinook helicopters, flew many types of cargo tocountries such as the Republic of Vietnam, the Kingdom of Laos, and Cambodia.

It operated from bases in those countries andalso from bases in Thailand and as far afield as Taiwan and Japan. It also onoccasion flew top-secret missions into Burma and the People's Republic ofChina.

From 1959 to 1962 the airline provided directand indirect support to US Special Forces "Amofferextrous","Hotfoot", and "White Star", which trained the regularRoyal Laotian armed forces. After 1962 a similar operation known as Project 404fielded numerous US Army attachés (ARMA) and air attachés (AIRA) to the USembassy in Vientiane.[citation needed]

From 1962 to 1975, Air America inserted andextracted US personnel, provided logistical support to the Royal Lao Army, theHmong Army under command of Royal Lao Army Major General Vang Pao and combatantThai volunteer forces, transported refugees, and flew photo reconnaissancemissions that provided intelligence on Viet Cong activities. Itscivilian-marked craft were frequently used, under the control of theSeventh/Thirteenth Air Force, to launch search and rescue missions for USpilots downed throughout Southeast Asia. Air America pilots were the only knownprivate US corporate employees to operate non-Federal AviationAdministration-certified military aircraft in a combat role.

By mid-1970, the airline had two dozentwin-engine transport aircraft as well as Boeing 727 and Boeing 747 jets plustwo dozen fixed wing short-take off-and-landing aircraft in addition to 30helicopters dedicated to operations in Burma, Cambodia, Thailand, and Laos.

There were more than 300 pilots, copilots,flight mechanics, and airfreight specialists based in Laos, Vietnam, andThailand.

During 1970, Air America delivered 46 millionpounds (21,000 metric tons) of food in Laos. Helicopter flight time reachedmore than 4,000 hours a month in the same year.

Air America flew civilians, diplomats, spies,refugees, commandos, sabotage teams, doctors, war casualties, drug enforcementofficers, and even visiting VIPs like Richard Nixon all over Southeast Asia.

Its non-human passengers were even more bizarreon occasion. Part of the CIA's support operations in Laos, for instance,involved logistical support for local tribes fighting the North Vietnameseforces and the Pathet Lao, their local opponents. Forced draft urbanizationpolicies, such as the widespread application of Agent Orange to Vietnamesefarmland created a disruption in local food production, so thousands of tons offood had to be flown in, including live chickens, pigs, water buffalo, andcattle.

On top of the food drops (known as "ricedrops") came the logistical demands for the war itself, and Air Americapilots flew thousands of flights transporting and air-dropping ammunition andweapons (referred to as "hard rice" to friendly forces.

When the North Vietnamese Army overran SouthVietnam in 1975, Air America helicopters participated in Operation FrequentWind evacuating both US civilians and South Vietnamese people associated withthe Saigon regime.

The famous photograph depicting the finalevacuation, by Dutch photographer Hubert van Es, was an Air America helicoptertaking people from an apartment building at 22 Gia Long Street used by USAID andCIA employees.