Well, I was wondering when and if this would show up on this list. I know
the owner because my father this guy used to work together.
The owner was an aircraft mechanic at Civil Air Transport under Claire
Chennault, and later rose up to be the President of CAT. Technically
speaking he wasn't president of Air America, but its precursor Civil Air
Transport. You can see the aircraft mechanic in the owner based on what he
did with his BN2! I actually didn't know he had a BN2 until my brother told
me he was talking to him one day about 10 years ago and started talking
about my BJ8.
Civil Air Transport was technically both the Flag Carrier for the Republic
of China and also 100% owned and operated by the CIA. So they had scheduled
airline service during the day (my mom was a stew, where she met my dad),
and by night they flew missions primarily against the communist Chinese
(where dad did most of his flying, it didn't pay well, FYI).
He wouldn't have shipped this car to China, but in fact the Republic of
China. Of course old China hands call Taiwan "the ROC," so I can understand
why he said what he said.
My father joined CAT in 1949 and was eventually "let go" in 1975 from Air
America. You name it during that period, he was probably there. He flew
the last flight for the airline and was #1 on the seniority list when he was
a political victim of the Church commission. The US govt. repaid his 30
years of service to country (he flew for the USAAC in the Pacific War prior
to joining CAT/AAM) with no pension, and no benefits. I guess you can say I
don't really have a whole lot of sympathy for people who bitch about what
the government doesn't give them these days.
Interestingly, Capt. Allen Pope (who was shot down in his B-26 in Indonesia
in 1958 when he was flying as my dad's wingman) was a big E-type guy.
Alan
'52 A90
'53 BN1
'59 Jag Mk IX
'64 BJ8
On Mon, May 17, 2010 at 4:17 AM, Bob Brown <blkbt7@yahoo.com> wrote:
> This is the text with the photos Jim has of the interesting find in KY:
>
> "This is a Austin Healey 100 BN2 that is owned by a 95 years young owner
> who bought the car in 1958 in China. The owner ran the CIA funded Air
> America Airline and this car was shipped to China. It was later updated with
> a 100-S engine and all the modifications that you see here. I respect the
> owners privacy and will not tell you where it is but for a Healey geek this
> is a cool car!"
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