Allen Lawrence Pope Allen Lawrence Pope ( born 1928 or ' 29 ) is a retired US military and paramilitary aviator . Pope is a native of Miami , Florida , and a graduate of the University of Florida . Pope ' s early career was with the United States Air Force , in which he served with distinction flying bombing missions in the Korean War . In 1954 , he transferred to the CIA , in which he served with distinction flying transport missions in the First Indochina War . In the Permesta rebellion in Indonesia in 1958 , Pope flew bombing missions for the CIA . Indonesian government forces shot down his plane , captured him and held him under house arrest for just over four years . In 1960 , an Indonesian court condemned him to death , but in 1962 President Sukarno released him . Pope returned to the USA and subsequently flew CIA covert missions in other theaters . Pope is now retired and lives in the USA . In 2005 , France made him a " Chevalier de la Légion d ' honneur " for his service in Indochina . USAF service . After university , Pope entered the USAF and served as a first lieutenant in the Korean War . He flew a Douglas B - 26 Invader in combat , winning three Air Medal s and a Distinguished Flying Cross . After the war , the USAF returned Pope to the USA as an air force instructor . Điện Biên Phủ . In March 1954 , Pope left the USAF and joined a CIA front organisation , Civil Air Transport , flying one of its Fairchild C - 119 Flying Boxcar s to supply French forces besieged in the Battle of Điện Biên Phủ . On March 13 , Việt Minh artillery disabled Điện Biên Phủ ' s airstrip , so thereafter all supplies to the French garrison had to be dropped from the air . CAT pilots flew hundreds of sorties from Cat Bi to Điện Biên Phủ . On May 6 , 1954 , the day before the French force surrendered , Pope was co - pilot of the lead aircraft in a group of six C - 119s that made the last air drop to the besieged garrison . After the end of the First Indochina War that August , Pope remained with CAT , making civilian charter flights firstly from Taiwan and then from Saigon . On February 24 , 2005 , France ' s ambassador to the USA , Jean - David Levitte , made the then 76 - year - old Pope and six other CAT pilots " Chevaliers de la Légion d ' Honneur " for their service in the Battle of Điện Biên Phủ . In 2005 , Pope said of his Vietnam service : AUREV service . In April 1958 , CAT recalled Pope from Saigon to Taiwan and sent him to Clark Air Base in the Philippines , where he was assigned a B - 26 Invader that had been painted black and had its markings obscured . On April 27 , 1958 , Pope landed the bomber at Mapanget , a rebel - held Indonesian Air Force base on the Minahassa Peninsula of northern Sulawesi . The rebels were Permesta , led by dissident local army officers opposed to the government of President Sukarno . At Mapanget , Pope joined another CAT pilot and former Air Force officer , William H Beale , Jr , who had been flying a B - 26 Invader for Permesta since April 19 . The two bombers formed part of Permesta ' s " Angkatan Udara Revolusioner " ( " Revolutionary Air Force " ) or AUREV . Pope flew his first AUREV mission on April 27 , attacking the government - held island of Morotai in the hours before a Permesta amphibious force successfully landed and took the island . The CIA instructed CAT pilots to target commercial shipping in order to frighten foreign merchant ships away from Indonesian waters , thereby weakening the Indonesian economy and undermining Sukarno ' s government . On April 28 , Pope attacked the government - held province of Central Sulawesi . One source asserts that off the port of Donggala , he bombed and sank three merchant ships : ( Italian ) , ( Greek ) and ( registered in Panama ) . Pope continued the sortie by attacking Palu , the provincial capital city , destroying 22 vehicles in a truck park . " Aquila " was certainly bombed and sunk by an AUREV aircraft . However , a wreck off Ambon Island , more than east of Donggala , has now been identified as " Aquila " . Another source suggests that " Aquila " was bombed not on April 28 but on May 1 or 2 . On April 29 , Pope attacked the government - held province of South East Sulawesi . He struck the Indonesian Air Force base at Kendari , the provincial capital , with bombs and machine - gun fire . He then strafed an Indonesian Navy patrol boat , KRI " Intana " , killing five crew and wounding another 23 . On April 30 , Pope again attacked Palu and Donggala ; sinking a ship , destroying a warehouse and demolishing a bridge . On May 1 , Pope attacked the city of Ambon , the provincial capital of Maluku . His four 500 lb bombs missed his waterfront targets and fell in the sea . He then tried a strafing run , but his starboard engine suffered an explosion . Pope aborted the attack and returned to Mapanget . It took several days for the B - 26 to be given a replacement starboard engine . Pope ' s next sortie was on May 7 , when he again attacked the government airbase at Ambon . He seriously damaged a Douglas C - 47 Skytrain and a North American P - 51 Mustang and caused other damage on the airbase . On May 8 , he attacked the Palu area in the morning and Ambon in the afternoon . On Ambon , he bombed and machine - gunned the government - held Liang airbase in the northeast of the island , damaging the runway and destroying a Consolidated PBY Catalina . He then continued to Ambon city where he attacked an Indonesian Navy gunboat at anchor . His bomb missed , but he then attacked with machine - guns , wounding two crew and damaging the gunboat . Since May 1 , Beale and his B - 26 had been resting at Clark Air Base , leaving Pope ' s aircraft as AUREV ' s only active bomber . On May 9 , Beale returned to Mapanget , releasing Pope who then took his turn to fly to Clark for several days ' leave . On May 15 , Pope attacked a small transport ship , the " Naiko " , in Ambon Bay . She was a merchant ship that the Indonesian Government had pressed into military service , and was bringing a company of Ambonese troops home from East Java . Pope ' s bomb hit the " Naiko " s engine room , killing one crew member and 16 infantrymen and setting the ship on fire . He then attacked Ambon city , aiming for the barracks . His first bomb missed and exploded in a market - place next door . His next landed in the barracks compound , but bounced and exploded near an ice factory . He then returned to Mapanget to find that in his absence , the Indonesian Air Force had bombed the rebel air base , destroying a CIA / AUREV PBY Catalina and damaging a CIA / AUREV P - 51 Mustang . The Indonesian government alleged that Pope ' s bombing of a marketplace in Ambon city had killed a large number of civilians . This later turned out to be untrue , but in the meantime , the US Embassy in Jakarta protested to the United States Department of State which then warned the CIA team in Manado . The CIA tightened its AUREV pilots ' rules of engagement so that they could attack only airfields and boats . They were no longer allowed to attack buildings — not even military ones . Capture . By mid - May , Indonesian government forces were planning amphibious counter - attacks on the islands of Morotai and Halmahera that Permesta had captured toward the end of April . This involved assembling a naval and transport fleet in Ambon bay , where ships started to arrive from Java on May 16 . At 0300 on May 18 , Pope took off from Mapanget to attack Ambon again . He first attacked the airfield , destroying the C - 47 and P - 51 that he had damaged on May 7 . A short distance west of Ambon Bay , he found the invasion fleet , which included two 7 , 000 - ton merchant ships being used as troop transports . One of the transports , the " Sawega " , which was trying to take evasive maneuvers as Pope attacked it . His bomb fell in the sea short of its target . The Indonesian Air Force had one serviceable P - 51 Mustang on Ambon , at Liang airbase . When Pope attacked Ambon airfield on May 18 , the P - 51 flown by at Liang was scrambled to repel him . Dewanto closed on the B - 26 just as Pope was attacking the " Sawega " . The convoy took both aircraft to be AUREV and fired on both of them . Dewanto also hit the B - 26 , damaging its starboard wing and the bomber caught fire . Pope and his Permesta radio operator , Jan Harry Rantung , bailed out . As they jumped , the B - 26 was entering a sharp dive and the slipstream threw Pope against the tail fin , fracturing his right leg . They landed on the coast of Pulau Hatala , a small island west of Ambon , where a small Indonesian Navy landing party from one of the invasion fleet ' s minesweepers put ashore and captured them . Some 20 other AUREV insurgent aircraft were reported to have been seen with Nationalist Chinese markings obscured by hasty coats of paint . Their pilots were Nationalist Chinese and Americans from CAT . Trial , conviction and release . US Ambassador Howard Jones portrayed Pope as an American " " paid soldier of fortune " " and expressed his regret at the involvement of an American . However , when he was captured , Pope was carrying about 30 incriminating documents that added to the embarrassment of the Eisenhower administration in the USA . Pope admitted to flying only one or two missions , but his flight log ( which was among the 30 documents that he was carrying when he was captured ) recorded eight and another source states that he flew a total of 12 missions . Pope " " spent the early hours of Sunday , May 18 , over Ambon City in eastern Indonesia , sinking a navy ship , bombing a market , and destroying a church . The official death toll was six civilians and seventeen military officers " " . When Pope was shot down by anti - aircraft fire , he was pursuing a ship carrying one thousand Indonesian troops . " " His last bomb missed the troopship by about forty feet , sparing hundreds of lives " . " After fracturing his right thigh when bailing out , Pope was held not in prison but under house arrest at the small mountain resort of Kaliurang , where his injury was given " " excellent medical attention " " . He said he felt he was fighting international communism . An Indonesian four - man military court rejected Pope ' s plea that he be considered a prisoner of war . On April 29 , 1960 , it found him guilty of killing 17 members of Indonesia ' s armed forces and six civilians and sentenced him to death . The death sentence was not carried out , and Pope remained under house arrest . In February 1962 , US Attorney General Robert Kennedy paid President Sukarno a goodwill visit and pleaded for Pope ' s release . Sukarno also received a visit from Pope ' s wife , mother and sister who all tearfully pleaded for his pardon . On July 2 , 1962 , Pope was quietly driven to the airport and put on a US plane out of Indonesia . Sukarno himself told Pope : Pope later said of himself : His release was not a " goodwill " visit by US Attorney General Robert Kennedy but actually a secret agreement between US Attorney General Robert Kennedy and Sukarno . It is well known and documented that Sukarno made a take over of western New Guinea a focus of his continuing struggle against Dutch imperialism and part of a broader Third World conflict with Western imperialists . Both of Sukarno ' s key pillars of support , the Indonesian Communist Party and Indonesian army supported his expansionism . [ 9 ] In December 1961 , President Sukarno created a Supreme Operations Command for the " liberation of Irian " . In January 1962 , Suharto , recently promoted to major General , was appointed to lead Operation Mandala , a joint army - navy - air force command . This formed the military side of the Indonesian campaign to win the territory . [ 10 ] Indonesian forces had previously infiltrated the territory using small boats from nearby islands . Operations Pasukan Gerilya 100 ( November 1960 ) and Pasukan Gerilya 200 ( September 1961 ) , were followed around the time of Suharto ' s appointment by Pasukan Gerilya 300 with 115 troops leaving Jakarta on four Jaguar class torpedo boats ( 15 January ) . They were intercepted in the Aru Sea and the lead boat was sunk . 51 survivors were picked up after flotilla commander Commodore Yos Sudarso went down with his boat . [ 11 ] Parachute drops were made onto the swampy south coast away from the main concentration of Dutch forces . The commandos were thwarted by tall trees on which they were snared and by the swampy terrain which made them wet and ill , and their equipment was lost and damaged . Having been prepared for eventual independence by the Dutch , Papuan fighters attacked the paratroopers or handed them over to Dutch authorities . Of the 1 , 429 troops dropped into the region , 216 were killed or never found , and 296 were captured . [ 12 ] While Dutch casualties were relatively few , they knew that a military campaign to retain the region would require protracted jungle warfare . Unwilling to repeat the events of 1945 - 1949 , the Dutch agreed to American mediation . Supporting the secret talks was the new American President , John F Kennedy , who said that compromise " will inevitably be unsatisfactory in some degree to both sides " . Kennedy took the advice of American ambassador to Indonesia , Howard Jones , and that of his own National Security Council , which was counter to the views of the Dutch and the CIA . Kennedy sent his brother Robert to Jakarta to solicit entry into negotiations without pre - conditions . Sukarno had hinted at releasing Allen Pope , who was sentenced to death for bombing Ambon four years previously , however , he now offered to release Pope in exchange for America ' s support against the Dutch . In July 1962 , Suharto ' s Mandala Command was preparing to resolve the military campaign with a major combined air and sea assault on the trade and communications centre of Biak Island , which was the location of a Dutch military base and the only jet airstrip . [ 12 ] [ 13 ] However , this risky operation did not eventuate as continuing US efforts to have the Netherlands secretly negotiate the transfer of the territory to Indonesian administration succeeded in creating the " New York Agreement " , which was signed on 15 August 1962 . [ 12 ] The Australian government , which had previously supported of Papuan independence , also reversed its policy to support incorporation with Indonesia . [ 14 ] [ 15 ] The vaguely worded agreement , ratified in the UN on 21 September 1962 , required authority to be transferred to a United Nations Temporary Executive Authority ( UNTEA ) on 1 October 1962 , and that once UNTEA had informed the public of the terms of the Agreement , administration of the territory would transfer to Indonesia after 1 May 1963 , until such time as Indonesia allowed the Papuans to determine whether they wanted independence or be part of Indonesia . On 1 May 1963 , UNTEA transferred total administration of West New Guinea to the Republic of Indonesia . The capital Hollandia was renamed Kota Baru for the transfer to Indonesian administration and on 5 September 1963 , West Irian was declared a " quarantine territory " with Foreign Minister Subandrio administrating visitor permits . Southern Air Transport . After his release , Pope returned to Miami where he joined Southern Air Transport . Like CAT , SAT was a CIA front organization flying covert missions in regions including southeast Asia .