The Civil Air Transport (CAT) formed after World War II using surplus aircraft from the war. In 1946 it began airlifting supplies and food into war-ravaged China, under contract with the Chinese Nationalist government and later the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). With the Defeat of the Chinese Nationalist in 1949, CAT evacuated thousands of Chinese to Taiwan. The CIA bought the airline to use for missions to aid in the fight against communism in Asia. It continued to fly scheduled passenger flights while using other aircraft to fly covert mission. In 1959 CAT was renamed to Air America and continued to fly missions to fight communism in Vietnam.

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Readings

A Need to Know Basis

Civil Air Transport

How the CIA Molded the Charter Airline Industry

Civil Air Transport

Man gets nod for CIA Work

Civil Air Transport

The CAT/ Air America Archive

Civil Air Transport

The CIA and It's Proprietary Networks

Civil Air Transport

The Sale of Southern Air Transport

Civil Air Transport

They Flew for the CIA but not Really

Civil Air Transport