THE AIRCRAFT
OF
|
(including
the history of some of Air America's operations)
|
by
Dr. Joe F. Leeker
The following database is the result of many years of research, especially
done at the Air America Archives at McDermott Library, University of Texas
at Dallas. All information contained in the sections entitled “Types of missions
flown,” “Statistics,” and “Service history” as well as the photos are exclusively
based on archival material, mostly preserved at the Air America Archives.
Additional information came from the USAF Aircraft Assignment Records preserved
at the USAF Historical Research Agency at Maxwell AFB, the records of the
Director General of Civil Aviation of the Republic of China at Taipei, and
other archives. The section entitled “fate” is mostly based on material published
in various booklets and magazines whose information may be based on observation.
This section is not considered to be complete. The references given in the
section “Service history” indicate the exact location of the document within
the Air America Archives, e.g. UTD/CIA/B51F12 meaning: UTD, McDermott Library,
Air America Archives / CIA Corporate Records / Box 51, Folder 12. Abbreviations
like ACA-22 or AVH-6 indicate the no. of the microfilm reel preserved at the
AFHRA. Other abbreviations used may be looked up in the file “Abbreviations.”
This database is built up by aircraft types, and wherever appropriate,
a file has three sections: “Types of missions flown,” “Statistics,” and “The
individual aircraft histories.” The following files can be consulted:
1) General information:
| Abbrevia tions | Acknowledgments | Bibliography |
2) Selected types of missions flown by Air America
aircraft:
| Air America in Cambodia - LMAT and the Khmer Air Force |
| Air America Japan - Since the days of CAT |
| Air America in Laos III - In combat |
| Mission to Tibet |
| Scheduled Air Services Ryukyus |
As a tribute to Air America’s efforts in Phnom Penh, the following files describe the
aircraft of the Khmer Air Force, as they appear in the reports of LMAT and Air America’s Phnom
Penh Station preserved at the Air America Archives:
I dedicate this work to the courageous people
of Air America who many many times risked their own lives to save those of
other people. And especially to those heroic men and women whose dedication
was so high that they did not make it home.
Dr. Joe F. Leeker
University
of Texas at Dallas, McDermott Library
15 August 2003
As no work of this nature can ever be considered to be complete or without
errors. I kindly ask that all corrections and additions be sent to Paul Oelkrug,
Coordinator of the Department of Special Collections, at oelkrug@utdallas.edu.
He will kindly forward all material to me.
© University of Texas at Dallas, 15 August 2003
The second
edition of this database includes all additions and corrections that have
been sent over to Dr. Carlson and to myself since August 2003. Some files
like the B-26 file have been completely restructured, others like the B-17
file have been added. Whenever possible, the present status of a former Air
America aircraft has been added from FAA files, and a lot of material about
Air America's contribution to the Bay of Pigs operation has been added from
CIA documents or other sources. Additional information about VIAT has come
to light, and many new photos have also been included in this second edition.
Yet, even after all these additions and corrections, this second edition will
certainly still contain errors and gaps. So, once again, I kindly ask to send
all corrections and all further additions to Paul Oelkrug, Coordinator of
the Department of Special Collections, at oelkrug@utdallas.edu. He will kindly
forward all material to me.
© University of Texas at Dallas, 3 June 2004
The
third edition of this database contains two types of new information:
1) More details about individual aircraft:
- A number of additions and corrections has been made to the aircraft files.
- More information about the aircraft of VIAT has come to light.
- The C-54 file contains new information about the C-54s flown in the Bay
of Pigs operation.
- New information about the C-46s, Helios, and Twin Helios operated by the
Aviation Research Center of India is shown in the respective files.
- Then, for the first time, the aircraft of the Khmer Air Force maintained
at Phnom Penh under the supervision of Air America's LMAT group are described
here in detail.
2) Finally,
a new type of files has been added for the first time, that is files that
describe in detail the history of selected types of missions flown by Air
America. This is not a complete history of Air America, but a number of narrative
texts about such issues as "Air America Japan - since the days of CAT",
or "Air America in Laos" or "Scheduled Air Services Ryukyus".
This explains the new subtitle of this database "(including the history
of some of Air America's operations)".
Yet, even after all these additions and corrections, this third edition will
certainly still contain errors and gaps. So, once again, I kindly ask to send
all corrections and all further additions to Paul Oelkrug, Coordinator of the
Department of Special Collections, at oelkrug@utdallas.edu. He will kindly
forward all material to me.
© University of Texas at Dallas, 29 May 2006