Air America: The Explosive Inside Story Of The CIA's Supersecret Airline

by Christopher Robbins

A worldwide bestseller when it was originally published, this reissue ties-in with the 1990 film starring Mel Gibson. From the author of "The Ravens", this novel is about a secret airline run by the CIA and sent out on dangerous missions. The text is illustrated with shots taken from the film.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, War, Military Fiction, Aviation, Politics, True Crime

328 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1979

About the author

Christopher Robbins began his career in journalism at the age of sixteen when he started writing jazz criticism for the Daily Telegraph. Since then he has written for numerous newspapers and magazines in Britain, Europe and the USA.

The Empress of Ireland won the Saga Award for wit, along with exceptional critical acclaim. In Search of Kazakhstan was short-listed for the Authors’ Club Best Travel Book Award 2008 in the UK and (under the title Apples Are From Kazakhstan) for the Best Travel Books of 2008 in the US. Air America, a worldwide bestseller when it was originally published, was made into a film starring Mel Gibson.

Reviews

[Paul Cornelius · Rating 4 out of 5]

This unique history of Air America reads like an adventure story but still contains a thorough historical record. Based upon interviews with the principals involved, this is the book's strength and its weakness. Many of the undisclosed sources, I am told by now retired Air America supervisors and employees in the know, revolve around early reports the author received from ex-employees who were ready to talk. Some may have been disgruntled and others were lower ranking individuals who were not in a position to understand the grand strategy of Air America. Nonetheless, the individual stories are almost all riveting, stretching from the postwar era in Asia to the fall of Saigon, Cambodia, and Laos. It would have been interesting to hear more about Thailand during this period, too, from some of the central characters, especially as that is where many of them are living today.

[Dustin · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a great book chronicling the exploits of the CIA funded pilots of Air America (and all of the other proprietary operators) going all the way back to the original Flying Tigers of China, and running through to the Iran-Contra scandal. It's a niche book for certain, but if you're into this kind of thing like I am, you should definitely enjoy it. Read this along with the companion book 'The Ravens' for a complete, thorough history of the secret war in Laos, and the pilots that flew in it.

[Craig · Rating 4 out of 5]

A wonderful book. Avoid, at any price, the Mel Gibson/Robert Downey,jr. movie--it is a grave insult to many brave men.

[Andy Robinson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book - rights a few wrongs and dispels a few myths. Respect to the men in the sky

[John Ratliffe · Rating 4 out of 5]

In the first place I am providing a small review of this book, but in the second place adding a bit of personal history showing how the book is especially meaningful to me. This may or may not be a good place to do this, but I will try it and see how it turns out. It might take me several swipes at this review to say what I would like to say.

I have a personal interest in the history of Air America, and its related entities, because as a young man I served in Laos in 1965-66 as an Air America Air Freight Specialist, otherwise known as a "Kicker," or sometimes, "Loadmaster." I was hired for that position upon my discharge from the US Army Special Forces in Germany, the sort of background that was considered qualifying to become a CIA mercenary--please note that the CIA did not admit that it owned Air America or any of the aviation companies until many years after the fact. I did not know at the time exactly who I was working for.

The interesting way the hiring took place is a story for another day, but all new employees went through Air America headquarters in Taipei for a briefing and a flight physical on the way into Southeast Asia. That was the first place they heard what they would be doing, and upon hearing that some of the recruits promptly turned around and went home, especially some of the helicopter pilots. The obvious dangers of such flying were spelled out.

At that time I did this work, I spent most days from daylight into darkness in the air, dropping cargo or hopping from one dangerous airstrip to another all day long carrying people, supplies, and weapons, and from that busy vantage point, I never really got a good picture of what was happening on the ground, or why it was happening, not that I really cared to know, as my objective was to earn enough money to finish college, and within a year I did have enough. When I felt I had enough money I decamped, because I understood the dangers inherent in this work, plus I had my sights on a real career someday, and it did not include spending day after day isolated in an airplane all day long, or getting killed in a useless war, or becoming an old crusty China-hand with a kilo of gold chains hanging around my neck and no longer fit for polite society.

I read that the company lost 272 crewmen during the Asian war, and I knew already that our planes very often returned to base with quite a few bullet holes in them from small arms fire. Some were hit in such a way that they were not able to stay in the air.

I have also read several first-person accounts written by Air America pilots who flew in Laos and Vietnam, and none of them came close to the coverage this book gives us, as they are simply anecdotal accounts. I also met several retired Air America pilots during the years I lived in Florida, and I was a volunteer on a team of guys who worked at the Warbird Museum in Titusville, Florida, trying to restore of one of the two C-123's that flew in the Iran-Contra War in Nicaragua. The other C-123 was shot down in interesting circumstances, which is covered in Robbins' book, and which was personally told to me by someone who was involved.

I finally did find one other book that covered the Laos war day by day by using Air Force files containing operational orders for each battle and after-action reports; this book was "Secret War," by Billy G. Webb. Webb was an enlisted man serving in Thailand from where much of the war was directed. Webb's book, while dry reading, seems to be based on hard facts, and it was the first big picture of the Secret War that I came across.

The book at hand by Christopher Robbins is a valuable resource as it begins by tracing the history of the World War II era Flying Tigers in China and ends with the Iran-Contra affair in Nicaragua, at which time the CIA's airlines and aviation companies were dismantled and sold off. In between these points in time Air America and its related entities became the world's largest airline, built behind the scenes, and operated with secrecy in many of the world's trouble spots. How the CIA pulled this off is one of the most fascinating accounts you will ever read. It also tells us, once again, that what our government does behind our backs is scary. While the CIA no longer owns those aviation companies, it obviously still has access to enough intercontinental business jets to haul its suspects and agents from one secret black site to another.

As much as I appreciate the research and detail presented by Robbins, he relied a bit too much on sensationalizing some of the off-beat personalities among those pilots who were characters larger than life, weird individuals, or just mavericks. You can imagine what kind of life the original Flying Tiger pilots led in the chaotic war as China fell to the Communists. The remnants of the Kuomintang coterie of General Chang Kai Shek saved itself by escaping to Formosa, where they turned the sketchy Civil Air Transport operation into CAT, Inc. which eventually became Air America, and the Civil Air Transport part became the reputable national airline of Formosa, now called Taiwan.

As to the wild cowboy flying environment Robbins hangs his story on, he also makes a good point that I had not considered: the cargo planes I worked on were mostly flown by older pilots who had a military or commercial background. I found these men to be quite disciplined, organized, and all business. On the other hand, the helicopter pilots, a lot of them from the Marines, were from a younger generation, and were party animals who tended to break all the rules of flying and common sense any time they wanted to or needed to. But it must be granted that the ingenuity and bravery constantly shown by these pilots was nothing less than heroic. The helicopter and small plane pilots operated at the tip of the CIA's spear and faced great dangers almost every day, often directly involved in combat zones. But I must grant Robbins enough literary license to put sufficient human-interest stories in the book to make it appealing to a mass market.

The Air America crews worked closely with the "Customer," a euphemism applied to the CIA case officers or to any other person or entity they served. However, the case officers were often young college men who were prone to put Air America planes and crews into too much danger through ignorance, ego, or hubris. But also the careers of several brave and competent people who worked on the ground with the Lao people or the Meo tribes is laureated.

Robbins also makes a significant point that I had never considered: the Air America operations in Laos and Vietnam were as different as night and day. Laos was the site of a wild and disorganized war with known and unknown dangers lurking at every mountain airstrip and in every town or jungle village. In Vietnam Air America was more like an air charter operation moving people and papers from place to place, and then finishing the day at a home or apartment with a good meal and a warm shower. Of course, this is a bit of a generalization as there were certainly many dangerous days and places for them in Vietnam war.

However, Robbins also covers the eventual evacuation of Saigon in detail, and Air America was a main player in that terrible activity. Robbins' description brings us close to the chaos and terror that ran with blood in the streets as the North Vietnamese shot their way through the suburbs and into the cities. We have seen more recently the scenes elsewhere of throngs of people trying to escape with their lives by climbing all over already overloaded airplanes, some getting killed in the process. It was a hundred times worse in Saigon. I personally was involved in a similar moment in Laos one time, I think it was at Saravane, when a crowd of people rushed our C-123 trying to escape a possible slaughter along the nearby Ho Chi Minh Trail. I had to push them away from the door and beat them off the loading ramp to get it closed, and we wound up leaving with our airplane empty. I never knew the details behind that panic, but I had a graphic taste of what happens in those situations.

In the final analysis this book covers a tremendous amount of ground, so much so that I doubt that I can do it justice in a brief summation like this. For anyone who is interested in bush flying, guerrilla wars, or spook campaigns I heartily recommend this book as one of a kind.

[Michal Mironov · Rating 4 out of 5]

The 1960s were the time of space flights, high-tech jets and computers. Yet, there existed also a parallel world. The world of dangerous flying in outdated, civilian, propeller-driven airplanes, flown by pilots who resembled characters from a comic book about the first aviation pioneers from World War I: big moustaches, red scarfs, all heavy drinkers, telling endless survival stories to anyone willing to listen. Robbins colorfully describes this parallel world. Have you ever heard of it? Probably not. But it’s strange, because at its peak, secret airline run by the CIA was "in terms of the number of planes it either owned or had at its disposal, the largest airline in the world."

Well-paid adventurers flew in secret wars in countries that the average American never heard of. Nevertheless, these were often the most difficult missions: "Most pilots who had been in World War II, Korea, and Vietnam said that they were shot at more in Laos. And it was in Laos, in a war that was not officially happening, that Air America lost most pilots.” Or: “Flying conditions were such around Phnom Penh that Jews carried crucifixes, and Christians carried Buddhas, and sometimes it paid off.”

Despite the danger, the pilots described their work to Robbins without sentiment: "Most of the people who got the hero medals got them because they fucked-up and lived. They had made a poor decision and got shot up.”

Robbins' entire book is full of contrasts: heroes and anti-heroes, camaraderie and betrayal, cynicism and idealism, funny stories and suffering. Still, I cannot get rid of the impression that, despite frequently mentioned patriotism, Air America pilots were mostly adventures who did it for money. And when shit happened, they needed to additionally justify the risk with patriotism. Decide for yourself, but the book is worth reading and provides plenty of food for thought.

I am adding a couple highlighted notes:

Great Gatsby, military style:

Leave became a time of outrageous overspending for pilots. “You’d have six days vacation and you’d have 3,000 dollars in cash in your pocket and an air ticket—breakfast in Bangkok, lunch in Bombay, and dinner in Athens,” Ron Zappardino said. “You didn’t give a shit about the money because you could just go back and make another 5,000. Why should we care? I’ve bought many dinners for 25 people at 500 dollars—we would flip for it. “Fill the bath with champagne, live like a millionaire. Guys would hire bartenders for their hotel rooms and end up in bed with three hookers. It was unbelievable. Wild. You just didn’t care.”

About the motivation to fly:

Some of pilots were turning their backs on the human disaster of their past lives, or merely escaping the terrible prison of a loving wife, two kids, a dog, and a mortgage in smalltown America. All of them had once experienced a period of great adventure, and then found themselves working as salesmen. Out there in the Orient, with their lives on the line, it was possible to prolong the moment of high adventure. The danger meant that friendships were more truly felt; there was an edge to life and the beer tasted better. There was never a shortage of people eager to join.

Money, money again:

Usually, whatever the weather, Air America pilots undertook the journey and certainly accomplished difficult missions more often than the military would have done under the same conditions. But the Air America pilots were paid by the flight, whereas the military were paid anyway.

Rice comes from the sky:

“I guess I hauled more rice than grows in China in a year,” Porter Hough said. “The big free hand-out. It got to be an old joke up there that when the school teachers asked the children where rice came from, they would point at the sky.”

Good life in Laos:

Possibly the best life, even if it offered the worst war, was to be had in Vientiane, the capital of Laos. Despite the war, it remained a sleepy rural town set on the banks of the Mekong with an atmosphere that was a strange mixture of both the Far East and France. Houses were cheap to rent, the food and restaurants were good, and people were friendly and honest. Those who lived there felt that life went by so slowly and quietly that they became becalmed by it. Time seemed to lose its meaning. Visiting journalists found that they would spend days without filing a story or bothering to contact the people they wanted to see. There was never a sense of urgency, nothing seemed that important. The atmosphere was enveloping.

About opium business:

When American CIA officer, General Edward Lansdale, discovered that the French military had bought up the 1953 opium harvest and was actively involved in the narcotics traffic, he complained to Washington and suggested an investigation. The response, according to Lansdale, was less than enthusiastic: “Don’t you have anything else to do? We don’t want you to open up this keg of worms since it will be a major embarrassment to a friendly government. So drop your investigation.”

About the suffering of refugees

“People came on carrying their pots and pans and dogs. I’ve had people start a fire on the plane, throw a bunch of sticks on the floor, and try and cook food. The thing that lingers in my memory is firewood. Here were people running away from their homes never to return, and they are hugging their prize possession, the only thing they own, to their chests—a bunch of sticks. Then you knew that they didn’t have much else.”

“The evacuation flights affected some pilots more profoundly than high-hazard missions into combat areas. One, who had flown for years with AA, was so shaken up by the sight of refugees beating their hands bloody on the plane’s windows that he quit. Mothers who saw that the planes were taking off and didn’t have time to climb over the heads of the crowd would throw their babies through the doors.”

[Jesper Jorgensen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Like reading a novel but with the twist that the book generally is perceived as factual. Sometimes I had to remind my self that I was reading non-fiction

[Glen · Rating 3 out of 5]

A well researched history on the Air America operation, the pilots stories were particularly interesting but were brief and left me wanting more from their point of view.

[Bill Conrad · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this book because I liked the movie, Air America. I quickly learned that the two are unrelated. However, I found many common tidbits. Yes, a pilot did get his big toe shot off. At the beginning of the book, I found it to be is really funny. I laughed out loud several times and my wife found this amusing. Towards the end, the laughter had gone away as I realized the immense sacrifice that the heroic pilots made.
Air America contained many great facts and good insight into the secret CIA world. Christopher organized this work in an entertaining and easy to comprehend manner. I liked the many characters and how he captured their personalities while exploring important historical events.
I came away really educated about the topic and I found the story to be intriguing. Christopher created a well-written and well-researched work. I recommended this book to a friend, and he liked it.

[R. M. · Rating 3 out of 5]

An informative read, but some of the anecdotes are so far fetched that I doubt the book's accuracy. However, I enjoyed the writing style in an odd way; it felt rather like I'd been accosted by a drunk pensioner in a pub trying to impress me with his war stories. 

[Steve · Rating 5 out of 5]

The author does a masterful job of explaining Air America and it’s motivation. Wish there had been maps in the edition I read.

[Ben · Rating 3 out of 5]

A little bit disjointed in places - in '79 when it was originally written a lot of the background was probably common knowledge, but it's not a period of history I know a lot about and this isn't the book to learn it from. That the CIA was operating such a huge network of airlines is interesting, and the book starts out strongly setting that out, but drags a bit through Laos and Burma because there just isn't that much variety to the anecdotes; "CIA does morally questionable thing in support of morally questionable faction", "plane isn't maintained properly", and "pilot does something wacky" all feature heavily. The section covering the Fall of Saigon was much more interesting, possibly because I had more of a historical context to place the anecdotes in, and it gave a strong human perspective on what was happening in the last days of the Vietnam War.

[Ruppert Baird · Rating 4 out of 5]

You'll find glimpses of this book in the movie starring Mel Gibson and Robert Downey, jr. But the book tells SO much more.

One could argue that the employees of Air America were rebels, mercenaries, patriots, or even dupes of the CIA. And you'd likely be correct on all accounts. The people who flew for this airline, and the equipment and missions, were an interesting and sometimes bizarre mix. Their stories are amazing.

If you are intrigued by the wars in Indochina, spy stories, war, aviation, or human studies, you'll find it in this book.

[Marc Laderman · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting book about important chapters in American and Southeast Asian history. The author suggests a better book is needed and it has yet to be delivered. That's a challenge to an author who can use the FOIA to produce a more rounded history. Why hasn't it been done yet?

[Andy Howell · Rating 4 out of 5]

So freakin' badass.

In depth review, I know.

[Adrian · Rating 3 out of 5]

Really interesting stories, but poorly organized.