Civil Air Transport

English

Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University

' ( :i· ,, ·t Back to the basics Energy crunch has raised interest in alternate power. Focus A-9 SINCE 1905 A need~to-know A young Robe;;f ' Ro~~~eiot (right) sits In the cockpit of the plane he flew as an Air America pilot, ferrying troops over enemy borders and Into countries that were falling to. communism. · ··-c .it_.·· .. > ... .,. · · ; · '· ::·· ··, ·- ··· · ·: .. , · .. l :' -~ ~ -· ..,__,_..,.....~,> .,,._.,,.., ...... . ..--# ..... ~ ... -,. ..... Second-half surge? Last half of season begins Monday for Drillers. Sports B-1 **F INA L E DITI ON 50¢ l llllJl~Jll llll~ll~Jllll II Photos by STEPHEN PI NGRY I Tulsa World •ert Rousselot holds his citation from the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency, which honored him this month for service In a job he never ad"!litted to until now. · · ~.:.CIA pilot wouldn't discuss career until now I , SHLEY PARRISH Staff Writer CAY - A herd of cattle graz-Jwly, as if there weren't cars ling by just a few feet away. Jipes that make up the cattle l are incentive enough to mt. . tal' buildings and barns dot at ranchland. But Bob Rous-; home is set deep into the rty, a tidy house hiding in a 1 of trees. 1abell and Robert Rousselot :i here in 1966 when he de-cided to become a rancher. All he wanted was some land with a few trees and some water nearby. He got it on the banks of Fort Gibson Lake in Okay, where he raised two sons who respectfully call him 'The Boss." A sign that sits over. Rousselot's chair cements the nickname's place in this house. It's a title that he could have earned anywhere in the world, but he got it here on the ranch. Back in the days when Rousse-lot was running a successful air-line in Asia, he was just "Rouss." It's how he was known to CIA agents and friends alike. The not-so secret secret Rousselot won't talk until the ci-tation is in .his hand. Only when his son and wife bring it back to the ranch does he really believe it. The Central Intelligence Agency honored him June 3 for his distin-guished service and leadership in a job he's never admitted to hav-ing until now. His wife, and son, Wade, ac-cepted it on his behalf in front of I ' . ,( • . : . ~-·-900 people at the annual Air ·" , .. America ·-conference in Las Vegas. First as chief pilot and then as vice president of operations for Air America, Rousselot was help-ing the CIA, which had secretly bought the airline in 1950, he says. As a pilot, he snuck across ene-my borders to drop guerilla fight-ers into countries that were fall-ing to communism. He dropped weapons and food in China, Viet-nam, Korea and Laos. SEE PILOT A-3 PILOT: He wasn't going to be the one ous country. The airline was to all through China, Civil Air counts 243. them to anyon to blab about it, though. help "support the Republic of Transport pilots were asked_ t? "The largest part of these loss- now tells a st "I was always taught to keep China nationalist governm~nt" assist in the Korean War, airlift- es came in Cambodia, Laos and 12,000 pound~~{ my mouth shut and my head in With the nationalist govern- ing supplies to troops, and later Vietnam," Rousselot says. ~ey China. · 11\o vVorking fo r the CIA, the sand," he says. Even when ment struggling against the com- to help the French hold on to , were shot down." :-, j ~e nationalist gove, he knew he was getting the cita- munists , the CIA-trained teams their colonies in Indochina. ' . Cluna was printing mo "Zo usselot said, he was tion - and that the secret was were stationed all over the re- In Dien Bien Phu, Vietnam, Air' America . · . United States. :aught to keep his officially out - Rousselot waited gion - at the edge of Tibet, in French paratroopers were trying In 1959, Civil Air Transport Civil Air Transport v 11outh shut and his to talk about it. western China and in the sur- to fight . back an oncoming army. was renamed "Air America." to fly it back to the co Now, he pulls out that citation rounding countries, Rousselot But with depleting supplies, they "We'd have a pilot one day in experienced engine pre 1ead in the sand. over and over again. says. were falling fast. The govern- uniform with stewardesses, and during the flight. "I never thought I would ever The teams were trained to ment asked Civil Air Transport the next day in eamoUflage . ' Worried about havin see one of these," he says. sabotage the communist troops pilots to step in and fly ammuni- clothing on a midnight flight much weight on board ROM A-1 Civil Air Transport and report back strategies to the tion and food into the isolated crossing the water 'from China," lot's crew started push CIA Civil Air Transport was sup- valley. he says. · ' · ·~wt barrels of money out r Later, as an executive for the In 1946, as a young fighter pi- porting them all by sneaking in "They would have wiped out "Civil Air Transi>ort and Air plane. 1irline, he also helped run the lot about to be discharged from food, arms and sometimes rein- the French right there," Rousse- America coexisted," Rousselot After landing succes :ommercial airline that Air the Marines, Rousselot started forcements. lot says of the approaching Viet- says. And, even while trying to nese security guards s \merica told the world it was. hearing stories about Gen. Claire The pilots also were sent out minh. "We flew when French pi- aid the U.S. governµient, Air every inch of the plan• During the day, Rousselot Chennault and the small airline on "leaflet flights," Rousselot re- lots wouldn't" come in to help. America had to begin competing money and dogged Ro nanaged hundreds of employees he operated. members. They would pick a re- "We had a motto," Rousselot with commercial' airlilles like · every step for weeks I - the pilots, flight attendants "It was a ragtag little cargo gion of China and dump thou- says. "First in and last out." Pan-American. sure that he hadn't st< md mechanics that it took to airline in China," he says. sands of leaflets to the people. Civil Air Transport flew 682 · ' He was ready to ranch, and a somewhere. ·un flight routes th rough Asia. But through the U.S.-spon- ''111ey said, 'Keep the faith. missions into Dien Bien Phu be- friend told hin1 Oklahoma was No one believed hin 3ut he was also sending those sored Chinese National Relief Everything's going to be fine. tween March 1954 and the city's beautiful. It took a couple more none of those millions ;ame pilots out on missions for Program, it was developing a There's a big uprising.' As time fall in May of the same year. By years to get h~re - '.he was _ back to Okay, he laug he United States. reputation dropping medical sup- went on, we had pretty much this time, though, Rousselot waylaid by a commercial airline It was a story that ' Rousselot's wife knew, of plies and food to the Chinese saturated the area." wasn't flying anymore. that needed some help - but, - selot has heard severe :ourse. But she was CIA, as amid their civil war. After the borders were closed, . ~I was restricted from flying when he did, he didn't.want to now - but one of thr Nell . Rousselot signed up to help. Rousselot made one of the first because of the secrets I knew," leave. ' · '·~· · ·' "He told us what hl With so many employees, The cargo business kept the - and deepest - overland he says . . He built one of the larger us to know - not ew 1owever, the secret wasn't kept airline alive, Rousselot says. But flights into China. By then, the · But he was hand-picking the ranches in the area. Civic com- Rousselot's son says. 'or very long, Rousselot knows in 1950, company officials got an airline was stationed in Taiwan pilots who were to go. mendations cover the walls of · 'There's still stuff h 10W. offer they didn't think twice and the anti-communist forces He lost two pilots in the mis- his home. But he had 'nothing vulge." "It's like a man walking about accepting. were losing. sion, he says. from his years with Air.America th rough a hotel lobby with his The CIA secretly arranged to /First in and last out Of the thousands of employ-until now. Ashley Parrish, World st; dpper open," Rousselot says. buy Civil Air Transport because ees, Civil Air Transport officials Not even his stories, because be reached at 581-8318 or 'Everyone knows but him." of its reputation in the lumultu- Fueled by successful missions count 242 casualties. The CIA he didn't feel like he could tell ashley.parrish@tulsaworld .co 

A Need to Know Basis

https://commons.erau.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1099&amp;context=aviation-pioneers-association

A Need to Know Basis

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