22 secret missions for theCIA. planes hepiloted on a varied assortmentof on theramp in Saigon was justone of the America pilotNeil Hansen and shown here Beechcraft The twin-engine No Day Typical The life ofan CIApilotin Air America Vietnam flown by Air By Neil Hansen

PHOTO CREDIT NEIL HANSEN NEIL I tions tobodies,bothlivinganddead.Our We delivered fromricetomuni- everything Anywhere,” wouldsoonbecome apparent. Air America’sslogan, “Anything, Anytime, where Icouldtake ittothelimitandbeyond. ofmytion playground dreams,aplace revving up,andVietnamprovidedtheavia- When IarrivedinMarch 1965, thewarwas of Tachikawa, , I wassent to Saigon. out planes transport DC-6 big flying stint a in SoutheastAsia. Detroit for thewildescapadesthatawaited than halfofmy life my homein whenIleft 27 andhadalreadybeenapilotfor more and ations unknown.were I was irregular ow people.Theairline’sschedules andoper- adventure. AirAmerica’spilotswere shad- air ops and covert was the world of spooks, clandestine operationsinSoutheastAsia. ca, theCIA’s secretairline,workingonits

After orientationinTaipei, ,After and was hiredasapilotwithAirAmeri- that wastobemy life’s adventure. I n September1964, Ibegan ajourney It rived at an airfield he was often already often was he airfield an at rived not have fromthetruth. beenfurther haps, butthatromanticizedviewpointcould less communisthordes. ofthebattlewithgod- skies insupport blue the into off blasting aluminum, shining all,whoclimbedontooursteedsof warriors atwar,airmen we were knights, gray-suited hot cockpit whileinlinefor takeoff. was forced towaitanotherhourormoreina day, factor whenI addingtotheirritability sometimes tookoneortwohoursoutofthe to and from the airport right at home. Trips that made the guys from LosAngeles feel jams traffic caused turn in which tryside, ugees fromthecommunist-controlledcoun- where in the city because of the influx of ref- and . It was difficult to go any- the AirAmericabasesinremoteareasof thing asatypicalday. work wasnever boring.Therewasnosuch In reality, when our intrepid birdman ar- According tothemovierepresentationof from different quite was Saigon Urban Great rhetoric,per- JUNE 2019 23 The CIA issued IDs . resembling those of A C-123 Provider a commercial obscured the airplane. I transport plane, on airline to mask its thought the had the ground in operations across managed to make a sur- southern Laos, Indochina. vivable crash landing, typifies the hard but suddenly a ball of landings that were dusty and wrinkled from flame blossomed over the an ever-present his ride on the potholed crash site. danger for Air road to the field. He was It was a tragedy, but I America pilots still bone-tired from the had no time to process operating in previous day’s flying and it. After the emergency isolated locations. in a bad mood after mos- vehicles cleared the tar- quitoes feasted on him as mac on the way to the crash site, the tower resumed he waited in the dark for the Volkswagen bus that business as usual. Another C-46 was cleared for takeoff transported the crew to the plane. In many cases, a on runway 25. As soon as it passed the intersection, the searing hangover coupled with gut-twisting diarrhea tower cleared me to roll on the north/south runway. I I kept up the pressure on the trainees until I could also made our knight a bit snappy. began the takeoff. Ease the throttles up, lead with the smell their fear. I wanted to see if they could cope with pilot look the fool. This made an enemy for life, but I The crew bus dropped us off at Operations, a gray, left a little for torque, tail comin’ up, the gauges lookin’ the situation I had put them in. The winners of the Mar- wasn’t in the friend-making business. uninspiring two-story building. In 1965, as our missions good, ease it off and snap up the gear. quis de Sade School of Airborne Survival received a This first leg took us from Saigon to the old Michelin expanded, we were receiving new pilots almost daily, I flashed through the smoke from the funeral pyre handshake and a set of wings with a star on top. The rubber plantation at An Loc, about 65 miles north of and the facilities were being taxed to the extreme. We and wallowed slightly from its rising heat. An odor from losers received a chance to go to some other company. Saigon near . We did a couple of touch-and-go got our daily flight schedule on the second floor, and the conflagration below wafted through the air vents— Air America frowned on some of my methods, but landings on the airstrip at the plantation and then flew then most of us went to the standby room, where there the putrescent breath of the dying beast. According to never asked me to stop. I was getting the job done. Some to Tay Ninh, near the Parrot’s Beak area above the Me- was always a pot of vile coffee. No matter how bad it the accident investigation report, some witnesses of my screening practices were drenched in graveyard kong Delta on the Cambodian border. There we did full- was, everyone wanted a cup even though—when dumped claimed to have seen an orange flash under the ill-fated humor: I would give a new pilot a body bag with his stop landings. Each trainee got a turn doing takeoffs into an already-troubled gastrointestinal system—it aircraft as it cleared the end of the runway. The investi- name on it or put pictures of burnt crash victims on my and landings at all of the locations. would send the lower intestine into violent spasms. No gators surmised that it came from a “sky horse,” a sim- desk. The trainees’ reactions would give me a glimpse En route to Tay Ninh, Tom, now at the controls, was doubt a Viet Cong architect, or perhaps Ho Chi Minh ple piece of pipe implanted in the ground with a charge into their ability to handle the unusual. telling me how he used to be a chief check pilot in the Air himself, had placed the restrooms in the at the bottom and debris (nuts, rocks, etc.) Tom Harper (not his real name) was a short, pudgy Force and could help me lay out a similar program. I just back of the building on the second floor. placed on top. A Viet Cong hiding nearby pilot in his late 40s with a dusting of gray in his hair. He kept smiling and nodding. Keeping in mind the possibili- probably set it off as a plane passed over- had recently retired from the Air Force and wanted to ty of groundfire, we were up to 6,000 feet, so I asked Tom On the morning of July 5, 1965, I wait- head. make some “big bucks” to add to his retirement check. In to give me a 60-degree banked turn to the left. ed to depart Saigon from the midfield It had been a very close call for me. the briefing room with three others before their first Tom looked over his left shoulder to check for traffic intersection of the north/south run- The totally uncontrollable dumbass training fight in-country, I noticed a tremble in his hands as he rolled into the turn, and while he was looking out way, which was crossed by main run- luck factor had been in my favor. as he kept smoothing the chart laying across his knees. the window I reached down and shut the fuel off on the way 25/7. The orange, pre-dawn glow Airborne, Tom was even less than I expected. His left engine. It takes a little while for the fuel line to emp- was marred by someone beating a With the escalation of Air America abilities were barely average, but as he lost his nervous- ty, so I started to get on him to tighten the turn and “pull hammer on the inside of my skull be- operations, we were getting more air- ness he began to think he was better than his actual some Gs”—increase the gravitational force in the plane. hind my right eye, a repercussion planes every week and hiring several abilities. In such cases, especially when other trainees By the time he had it honked in good and tight, the left from the previous night’s Fourth of hundred pilots, which turned us into a were observing from the cabin, I would make a cocky engine quit. The sudden shock from the drag of the now July party hosted by our base manag- sea of interesting characters. Some er. Even though I had gone home ear- were the “hee-haw” funny kind. Others Refugees escaping the heavy bombing near Khe Sanh board ly, the pain was there. were the volatile punch-you-in-the- an Air America C-46 Commando transport at Da Nang on Adding to the discomfort was the rumble mouth-for-fun type. A few were one notch Jan. 29, 1968, for a flight to a refugee camp at Phu Bai. of the two R-985 radial engines on either Silver wings, mimicking from being skid row alcoholics. There were side of the cockpit of my Beechcraft, a those of other airlines, also plenty of normal people, but some of twin-engine plane built in the U.S. during were awarded to pilots them just didn’t stay very long. Most of the World War II. The tower cleared for takeoff who passed Hansen’s new pilots came from the retired or ex-mili- an Air America Beechcraft in front of me. I CIA training course. tary group. Civilian-trained pilots were the watched it roll until the tail came off the minority. ground. Then the pilot cleared a C-46 Commando trans- I was assistant manager of flying and in charge of port plane to my right on runway 25. As he began his roll several aircraft programs, a job description that in- I expected to get my own clearance for departure. But cluded training the new arrivals. Those who washed then I heard an expletive on the radio. out considered me the rottenest son of a bitch who ever I looked at the Beechcraft that had been cleared and crapped between two boots. My washout rate was in- noticed that it was flying, but in trouble and dropping. deed alarming, but I was looking for eagles, not buz- As though in slow-motion, it drifted down and crashed zards. In the entire time I spent with Air America in An Air America crewman, called a “kicker,” just outside the airport in the courtyard of a Catholic Vietnam, not a single pilot approved by me for a certain pushes cargo out the door of a C-46, likely for a

church. Dust and debris rose, almost gracefully, and aircraft ever killed himself in that type of aircraft. ARCHIVES HANSEN; NEIL CENTER: TOP: HISTORYNET DALLAS TEXAS. OF UNIVERSITY RICH COLLECTION, RIGHT: IMAGES; KEYSTONE/GETTY LEFT: BOTTOM UNIVERSITY; TECH TEXAS VIETNAM THE ARCHIVES, AND CENTER COLLECTION, ANTHONY JOHN TOP resupply mission to support local fighters allied

24 VIETNAM JUNE 2019 25 Today, Hansen is a volunteer windmilling propeller (a propeller spinning on its own ground as soon as possible. Eager to comply, he flipped Downey in 1972 as U.S. relations with and speaker at the EAA without power from the engine) rolled us partially in- the landing gear handle down, pulled off some power improved during President Rich- Aviation Center museum in verted, mainly because Tom didn’t react fast enough to and rolled in close to the runway. ard Nixon’s administration. Oshkosh, Wisconsin. the unexpected event. During his ensuing struggle to re- To keep his mind occupied I said, “Hey, Tom, they’re On one day, after my manager and I gain control, I moved the fuel selector valve back to the shootin’ at us over here on the right!” finished covering the day’s schedule be- airport. On the way, I was to “on” position, which went unobserved by Tom. Just as he The whites of his eyes expanded as he slammed the hind closed doors, he asked if I would be pick up an American to fly got the bird leveled, the left engine burst back to life, flap lever full down and pulled more power off, whipping interested in taking a Beechcraft on a co-pilot. I dressed hurriedly, swiveling the airplane in the other direction. it onto final approach. Without the landing gear and flaps black flight to the Ranch later that af- stuffed some underwear in my “What happened?” I asked. down for drag, it is hard to slow an airplane and lose alti- ternoon. The “Ranch” was a secret-cus- flight kit and went down to the “Engine quit,” he wheezed through a sharp intake tude at the same time. By the time Tom got to the ap- tomer operation at the Takhli Royal front gate. The car arrived of air. proach end of the runway, he had pulled the throttles all Thai Air Force Base, roughly 145 miles with an armed escort and “Gosh, wonder why? Maybe water in the gas?” the way back, but we were still high and fast. northwest of Bangkok. swung by the co-pilot’s to “Uh, guess so. Let’s not do any more steep turns.” “Tom, you dipshit—go around before you put us in My job was to get a guy out of Viet- ruin his night of rest. “Okay, Tom, let’s do a pow- nam and into Thailand without going At Operations, one of the em- er-on stall straight ahead then.” through the legal formalities of cus- bassy spooks pulled me into a As he began pulling the nose toms and immigration. It was made corner, where even my co-pilot up into a stalling angle, I slipped very clear that I was not to even look couldn’t overhear us, and briefed my hand down between the at the passenger. The embassy would me. He had cargo already loaded seats onto the elevator trim call as soon as he left from downtown in a C-46 that we were to fly non- wheel (a device that helps the pi- in a car, and I was to sit in the cockpit stop to Hong Kong, without the lot keep the plane at a constant with the door closed until he knocked and climbed in, sig- normal refueling in Da Nang. As usual, we were not to speed and angle) and began to naling me to crank up and go. look at the cargo, nor file a flight plan, nor contact any- roll full nose up. As the speed We filed a legitimate flight plan to Bangkok with one on the radio until we were 100 nautical miles (115 bled off and the elevator control Takhli as my alternate. Then, just before letting down miles) from Hong Kong. Of course, we weren’t to worry pressure became looser, he into Bangkok, I was to announce that I was diverting to about busting into the Hong Kong airspace unan- couldn’t feel what I was doing. my alternate. U.S. Embassy officials in Saigon assured nounced—except we did worry. If Hong Kong didn’t like The bird shuddered, and Tom me that no one would get upset over this minor change the idea, we wouldn’t have enough gas to fly anywhere dropped the nose to recover from in plans. They would send one of the spooks from the else, and then the only options would be to face the heat the stall while applying full pow- embassy to make sure everything went smoothly. or ditch the bird. er to the engines. The resulting As soon as embassy called and said that my passen- At 100 nautical miles out, I gave Hong Kong air traf- propeller blast now hit the fully ger was on his way, I did as they requested. I sat and fic control a call, and they responded as if we werea deflected trim tab, which in turn waited…and waited…and waited. The cockpit tempera- regularly scheduled flight; obviously someone had got- slammed the hand wheel back ture was over 130 degrees Fahrenheit, and I was start- ten the message at their end. Nevertheless, I didn’t re- into his gut, with a little help from ing to see little floating spots in my vision. Then a black ally breathe a sigh of relief until we were in the termi- my right hand on the side of the Air America pilots, the dirt!” yelled one of the other trainees, concerned car with curtained windows finally drove onto the nal drinking a cup of coffee while the airplane was being control column. This made the like this one in a about our proximity to terra firma. ramp and pulled up out of sight behind the airplane. offloaded into British military trucks. As soon asthe nose pitch up violently. Pilatus PC-6 Porter, The go-around brought a red flush to Tom’s neck and While I waited for The Knock, I wondered how he was customer’s stuff was well away, we departed Hong Tom’s eyes started to bug out. often landed on grass the sick realization that I had been doing something to going to get from the car to the airplane without 50 Kong, again sans a flight plan, nonstop to Saigon. And He was oblivious to anything I strips hacked out of make him look the buffoon in front of everybody. I am ramp workers seeing him. Or could it be that I was the that was that. was doing, so, as the aircraft en- the jungle. sure I hurt his feelings, but I hoped that a glimmer of only one not supposed to see him? I really didn’t care if Once home, I ended my typical atypical day with a tered a secondary stall in about the reasoning behind my actions had been imparted to it was LBJ, the pope or Adolf Hitler—just as long as I tepid shower and an 8-ounce very dry martini—made a 45-degree nose-up angle, I shoved in full left rudder. him. If not, like Rhett Butler before me, “frankly, I don’t could start the engines and get some cool air moving by whispering “vermouth” softly over the top of a gin- This caused the machine to rotate in a neat snap roll. I give a damn.” (Tom was a co-pilot for about a month be- before I passed out. filled tumbler. V leveled the airplane and released the controls to Tom, a fore being given another check ride. He eventually After The Knock, everything went like clockwork. The move unnoticed and unfelt in his current state, as the made captain.) passenger got off in Takhli and walked to another cur- Neil Hansen left Air America dust was still settling in the cockpit. tained black car. I refueled, cranked up and was halfway in October 1973. He travels “Damn, that was pretty neat, Tom,” I commented. Black flights—secret/covert/possibly illegal—were out to the runway when two jeeploads of Thai soldiers the country on the speaking “Uh…huh,” he replied, “the elevator jammed!” for the most part utterly useless. If something went blocked the taxiway and raised their rifles. When in deep circuit, recounting stories “We better let the wrench benders know about that wrong, they were also dangerous for the crew because crap, it is best to act very dumb and quiet. Although the about his Air America days little problem. For now, we just won’t do any more of you would get no support. It was like the opening lines Thais detained me for a week, they finally bought my sto- to military, civic and veter- those.” from the TV series Mission: Impossible: “The secretary ry of being lost and let me go back to Saigon. ans’ groups. He lives in Tom seemed a little nervous as we entered the traffic will disavow any knowledge of your actions.” How true So who was the mystery stranger and why did we Oshkosh, Wisconsin. This pattern at Tay Ninh. I had placed my left arm over the that proved to be for John T. Downey and Richard G. smuggle him into a friendly country? Beats the hell out article was compiled from back of his seat, not in a gesture of friendliness as he Fecteau, CIA agents who were captured trying to infil- of me. his forthcoming book thought, but to get my hand by the circuit breaker pan- trate China in 1952 and spent 20 years in a Chinese FLIGHT: An Air America el and pluck out the circuit breakers for the flaps and prison, waiting for the U.S. government to admit that One night in 1967, the bedside radio set woke me at 1 Pilot’s Story of Adventure, landing gear motor. As we came to the runway, I urged they were agency operatives, all the Chinese govern- a.m. It was Operations calling to tell me that an embas- Descent and Redemption,

Tom to make a tight approach and get the plane on the ment wanted to hear. Fecteau was released in 1971 and UNIVERSITY TECH TEXAS VIETNAM THE ARCHIVES, AND CENTER COLLECTION. ANTHONY JOHN JENNIFER HARRIS PHOTOGRAPHY sy car would get me in 30 minutes and take me to the History Publishing Co., 2019.

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