Was just doing a little reading on Air America and running drugs out of Laos during the Vietnam war.
Air America was an American passenger and cargo airline covertly owned and operated by the US government from 1950 to 1976. It was used as a dummy corporation for Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) operations in Indochina. The CIA did not have enough work to keep the asset afloat and the National Security Council farmed the airline out to various government entities that included the US Air Force, US Army, USAID, and for a brief time France. Essentially, Air America was used by the US government covertly to conduct military operations, posing as a civilian air carrier, in areas the US armed forces could not go due to treaty restraints contained in the 1954 and 1962 Geneva Accords.[1]
In the mid-1980s the Air America name was adopted by a scheduled passenger airline based in Los Angeles, Total Air,[2] which operated Lockheed L-1011 TriStar wide body jetliners with flights serving Baltimore (BWI), Detroit (DTW), Honolulu (HNL), London (LGW) and Los Angeles (LAX)
Organization
Air America Bell 205 helicopter leaving a Hmong fire support base in the Laotian Plain of Jars, c. 1969
In August 1950, the CIA, at the direction of the National Security Council, formed a Delaware corporation named Airdale. Airdale formed a subsidiary corporation named CAT, Inc. CAT purchased 40% of the assets of Civil Air Transport (CAT), an airline that had been started in China in 1946 by Gen Claire Lee Chennault (of Flying Tigers fame) and Whiting Willauer.[4] Sixty percent remained with Chinese investors. CAT Inc. also formed Asiatic Aeronautical Company Ltd, a Republic of China company.
In 1957 Airdale changed its name to Pacific Corporation. CAT, Inc. changed its name to Air America, Inc. in 1959 after settling objections from Air France. Asiatic Aeronautical Company, Ltd changed its name to Air Asia Company, Ltd the same year. Civil Air Transport remained in existence throughout the tenure of Air America from 1950 through 1976, and for several years was the flag carrier for the Republic of China. This status was lost after a landing accident and China Airlines became the flag carrier. Civil Air Transport became a ticketing company used mostly for inter-company travel.
Air America's slogan was "Anything, Anywhere, Anytime, Professionally".[5]:xix Air America aircraft, including the Curtiss C-46 Commando, Pilatus PC-6 Porter, de Havilland Canada DHC-4 Caribou, Lockheed C-130 Hercules, and Fairchild C-123 Provider, along with UH-34D, Bell 204B, 205, and CH-47C Chinook helicopters, flew many types of cargo to countries such as the Republic of Vietnam, the Kingdom of Laos, and Cambodia. It operated from bases in those countries and also from bases in Thailand and as far afield as Taiwan and Japan. It also on occasion flew top-secret missions into Burma and the People's Republic of China.
Air America U-10D Helio Courier aircraft in Laos on a covert mountaintop landing strip (LS) "Lima site"
Air America's headquarters moved several times during its existence, including 808 17th St NW (1964), 801 World Center Bldg (late 1964), 815 Connecticut Ave NW (July 1968), and 1725 K Street NW (1972), all in Washington, DC. The principal continental US maintenance base was at Pinal Airpark, Marana, Arizona.
Operations during the Vietnam War (Second Indochina War)
From 1959 to 1962 the airline provided direct and indirect support to US Special Forces "Ambidextrous", "Hotfoot", and "White Star", which trained the regular Royal Laotian armed forces. After 1962 a similar operation known as Project 404 fielded numerous US Army attachés (ARMA) and air attachés (AIRA) to the US embassy in Vientiane.
From 1962 to 1975, Air America inserted and extracted US personnel, provided logistical support to the Royal Lao Army, the Hmong Army under command of Royal Lao Army Major General Vang Pao, and combatant Thai volunteer forces, transported refugees, and flew photo reconnaissance missions that provided intelligence on NLF activities. Its civilian-marked craft were frequently used, under the control of the Seventh/Thirteenth Air Force, to launch search and rescue missions for US pilots downed throughout Southeast Asia. Air America pilots were the only known private US corporate employees to operate non-Federal Aviation Administration-certified military aircraft in a combat role.
Rest here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_America_(airline)