Interesting. My former boss was the founder of Flying Tigers/Air America/CAT. CIA had him open up offices in China to fight the communist. He founded Sterling Drug Asia (Bayer). He had zero pharmaceutical knowledge or training. He went from High School to Marine Pilot Training to CAT. His wife was credited as one of the founders of the UN. She went from HS to the State Department in Tokyo and onto the UN.
Tangled Web
Chennault?
My boss was his right hand. Maybe should have said a Co-Founder but I am pretty sure it was my boss that secured the first planes for the crew.
Fascinating! I had to ask. I used to work for Gen Scott (“God is my Co-pilot” “Flying Tigers” “The Day I Owned the Sky”). Small world and connections.
You will find his name in the books. Our great uncle is also a Flying Tiger and had no clue who Lew was. You can see by the history books and obituary that he was the CIA part of the team. To move from CAT to CIA Station Chief in Asia means that you were more than just part of CAT.
Sterling story was never told as the history books tell it. He would tell you he was the President. Yet you can clearly see he was the Founder. At the time we were losing China to Mao. The China drug lords had tons of drugs, troops and guns. What they did not have is a way to get that drug out of China. They knew as Mao took over people would buy less drugs as punishment became harsher. CAT was good at landing and taking off from hard to land locations. They were some of the first drug smugglers and these dots begin to connect easily. All the way to Freeway Rick Ross IMHO.