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Perilous Missions

Civil Air Transport and CIA Covert Operations in Asia

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Perilous Missions

By: William Leary
Narrated by: Gregg Rizzo
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About this listen

Civil Air Transport (CAT), founded in China after World War II by Claire Chennault and Whiting Willauer, was initially a commercial carrier specializing in air freight. Its role quickly changed as CAT became first a paramilitary adjunct of the Nationalist Chinese Air Force, then the CIA's secret "air force" in Korea, then "the most shot-at airline in the world" in French Indochina, and eventually becoming reorganized as Air America at the height of the Vietnam War. William M. Leary's detailed operational history of CAT sets the story in the perspective of Asian and Cold War geopolitics and shows how CAT allowed the CIA to operate with a level of flexibility and secrecy that it would not have attained through normal military or commercial air transportation.

©1984, 2002 Estate of William Leary (P)2015 Redwood Audiobooks
Air Forces Armed Forces Asia Military Military Science China Imperial Japan Aviation US Air Force Vietnam War Espionage Cats Cold War

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