Civil Air Transport Civil Air Transport ( CAT ) was a Nationalist Chinese airline , later owned by the CIA , that supported United States covert operation s throughout East and Southeast Asia . During the Cold War , missions consisted in assistance to Free World allies according to the Mutual Defense Assistance Act of 1949 . Origins . CAT was created by Claire Chennault and Whiting Willauer in 1946 as Chinese National Relief and Rehabilitation Administration ( CNRRA ) Air Transport . Using surplus World War II aircraft such as the C - 47 Dakota and the C - 46 Commando , CAT airlifted supplies and food into war - ravaged China . It was soon pressed into service to support Chiang Kai - shek and his Kuomintang forces in the civil war between them and the communists under Mao Zedong . Many of its first pilots were veterans of Chennault ' s World War II combat groups , popularly known as Flying Tigers . ( Other of Chennault ' s veterans went on to form another air transport company , the Flying Tiger Line . This was a completely separate operation from Civil Air Transport and the follow - on Air America . ) By 1950 , following the defeat of Chiang ' s forces and their retreat to Taiwan , the airline faced financial difficulties . The CIA formed a private Delaware corporation called Airdale Corporation , which formed a subsidiary called CAT , Inc . The subsidiary corporation purchased nominal shares of the Civil Air Transport . CAT maintained a civilian appearance by flying scheduled passenger flights while simultaneously using other aircraft in its fleet to fly covert missions . With the spread of communism throughout Southeast Asia , CAT ' s mission changed . Military operations . Chinese Civil War . During the Chinese Civil War , under contract with the Chinese Nationalist government and later the Central Intelligence Agency , CAT flew supplies and ammunition into China to assist Kuomintang forces on the Chinese mainland , primarily using C - 47 and C - 46 aircraft . With the defeat of the Kuomintang in 1949 , CAT helped to evacuate thousands of Chinese to Taiwan . Korean War . During the Korean War , CAT airlifted thousands of tons of war materials to supply United States military operations , including support of Kuomintang holdouts based in Burma . On 29 November 1952 , a CAT C - 47 left Seoul on a mission to collect an anti - Communist Chinese agent in the Manchurian foothills , using a " pole and line " technique . The mission was apparently compromised and Chinese forces were waiting for them . Approaching low over the ground , it was set upon by small - arms fire and crash - landed near the town of Antu in China ' s Jilin province . The pilots , Robert Snoddy and Norman Schwartz were killed during the crash and subsequent fire , and were buried nearby . The two CIA officers , John T . Downey and Richard G . Fecteau survived and were immediately taken prisoner by Chinese forces , who were waiting for the flight . Downey and Fecteau were held by China and regularly interrogated for nearly twenty years . Fecteau was released unexpectedly following Nixon ' s visit to China in 1972 , but Downey was released only after Washington publicly acknowledged their spy mission in 1973 . At the time the families of the pilots were told , in order to keep the CIA ' s covert actions in China secret , that they had crashed into the Sea of Japan on a routine flight to Tokyo . In 2001 , China allowed the US Defense Department ' s Prisoner of War and Missing in Action ( POW / MIA ) office to conduct a recovery effort for the bodies of the pilots . In 2005 the POW / MIA office announced that it had identified the remains of Robert Snoddy using DNA analysis . Schwartz ' s remains have not been successfully recovered . The 1952 - 1953 edition of " Jane ' s All The World ' s Aircraft " lists the head office address as Suite 309 , Kass Building , 711 14th Street , N . W . , Washington , D . C . , with the footnote that the company had reregistered in the U . S . The president is given as Whiting Willauer , and the fleet , which consisted of 23 Curtiss C - 46 Commando and 4 Douglas DC - 3 aircraft . First Indochina War . CAT transported supplies and troops for French operations during the First Indochina War as early as " Operation Castor " in November 1953 . CAT assisted the French government at various times during its Indochina wars , flying supplies and equipment into Hanoi ' s Gia Lam airport and other fields using C - 46 and C - 47 transport planes . At the Battle of Dien Bien Phu , CAT supplied the French garrison by parachuting troops and supplies with covert USAF C - 119 inscribed with French Air Force insignia . In February 2005 , seven surviving CAT pilots out of the thirty - seven involved in the battle received the honorific title of Legion of Honor during a special ceremony at the French Embassy in Washington . The 1956 - 1957 edition of Jane ' s All The World ' s Aircraft lists the head office address as 46 Chung Shan Road , North , 2nd Section , Taipei , Taiwan ( Formosa ) . The president and general manager is given as Hugh L . Grundy , with C . J . Rosbert listed as vice - president and assistant general manager . The fleet is listed as 2 Douglas DC - 4 , 22 Curtiss Commando , 2 Douglas DC - 3 , 3 Douglas C - 47 , and 2 Convair Catalina . In the 1958 - 1959 edition of Jane ' s , the last year in which the " Airlines of the World " section was carried , the home office address in Taiwan remained the same , but no company officers are listed . The fleet is given as 3 Douglas DC - 4 , 25 Curtiss C - 46 , 5 Douglas DC - 3 , 2 Convair Catalina , with 2 Douglas DC - 6B on order . PRRI / Permesta movement in Indonesia . In 1958 , " Time magazine " reported that 20 CAT aircraft were supplying the PRRI / Permesta movement against President Sukarno ' s government of Indonesia , which the Eisenhower administration feared had communist sympathies . In April 1958 two CAT pilots flew combat missions for Permesta ' s " Angkatan Udara Revolusioner " ( " Revolutionary Air Force " ) or AUREV . William H Beale , Jr and Allen Pope flew CIA Douglas B - 26 Invaders for AUREV . In May , Beale withdrew from the operation , by which time a third CAT pilot , Connie W Seigrist , had joined flying a CIA Consolidated PBY Catalina . The CIA directed Beale and Pope to target not only Indonesian armed forces but also unarmed foreign merchant ships , in order to frighten overseas trade away from Indonesian waters , thereby weakening the Indonesian economy and undermining Sukarno ' s government . On April 28 , 1958 , Beale attacked the Royal Dutch Shell terminal at Balikpapan in East Kalimantan , sinking the British tanker , while Pope off the port of Donggala near Palu in Central Sulawesi sank merchant ships from Greece , Italy and Panama . On May 18 west of Ambon Island , Pope attacked one of a pair of Indonesian merchant ships that were carrying government troops for a counter - offensive against Permesta . An Indonesian Air Force P - 51 and anti - aircraft fire from the ships shot down the B - 26 and Pope and his Indonesian radio operator were captured . The CIA had ordered the CAT pilots to fly " sterile " , " i . e . " with no documents that could either identify them or link them with the US Government . However , Pope was carrying about 30 documents including his detailed flight log , secret orders for temporary deployment in Indonesia , military separation file and CAT identity card . Pope ' s capture with these documents immediately exposed the level of CIA support for the Permesta rebellion . Embarrassed , the Eisenhower administration quickly ended CIA support for Permesta and withdrew its agents and remaining aircraft from AUREV . Early in 1960 an Indonesian military court tried Pope ; in April it convicted him and he was sentenced to death . However , in 1962 Robert Kennedy negotiated with President Sukarno and in August that year the Indonesian authorities released Pope and returned him to the USA . Vietnam War . In 1959 it was reorganized as Air America , which supported covert operations throughout Indochina during the Vietnam War ( also known as the " Second Indochina War " ) , particularly in Laos . For further information see the article on Air America . Post Vietnam War . After pulling out of South Vietnam in 1975 , there was an attempt to keep a company presence in Thailand . After this fell through , Air America officially disbanded on June 30 , 1976 . Civil operations . CAT started to operate scheduled passenger services , beginning with international flights to Hong Kong , then to Japan , Korea , the Philippines and Thailand , as well as domestic routes within Taiwan . The granddaughter of Sun Yatsen , Nora Sun , became the youngest flight attendant to work for CAT . The first flights were carried out with C - 46 , then C - 54 Skymaster aircraft . In 1958 , CAT inaugurated DC - 6 B services . In 1961 , CAT started to operate a Convair 880 M , becoming the first airline to operate pure jet scheduled passenger services on regional routes in the Far East . The Convair 880M was replaced by a Boeing 727 in January 1968 . On 16 February 1968 the 727 , flying from Hong Kong to Taipei , crashed near Linkou in northern Taiwan , ending 23 years of operations . The remnants of the cargo operation became Flying Tiger . Flying Tiger International merged to Fed Ex Inc .