Air America Association

Adventure, intrigue, danger, sacrifice--words that describe Air America well. Air America was a CIA - owned & - operated "air proprietary" amid the Cold War against the global menace of communism. From 1946 to 1976, Civil Air Transport (CAT) & Air America served alongside U.S. & allied intelligence agents and military people in the Far East, often in dangerous combat & combat support roles. Behind a shroud of strict secrecy, many Air American personnel were unaware that they were "shadow people" in counteri-surgency operations. Some 87 of them were killed China, Korea, Laos, Vietnam, Cambodia and somewhere else. Though many of those Asian countries eventually fell to the communists, the assistances of Air America personnel to the reason of freedom remain unparalleled in aviation history. CAT and Air America people were among the first Americans in Korea and China after the U.S. military had removed from Vietnam; Air America pilots risked their lives to pull out the last Americans.

This official website of Air America & CAT tells the 30-year story of these great Americans--shadow people, largely unidentified to Americans and the world. They helped bring the Cold War to an end.