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DOWNED IN 1952, CIA SPYPLANE GIVES UP ITS SECRETS

OPERATION TROPIC

fficials at the Pentagonhave finally confirmedthat human remainsuncovered in a remotearea of China last year,are those of pilotRobert Snoddy, whoseO

work for the CIA was kept secret fordecades. Scientists at the US Army’sCentral Identification Laboratoryprovided the DNA match.

On 29 November 1952, Snoddy and hiscolleague Norman Schwartz, embarkedon a highly dangerous mission overChinese territory. During the overflight,their C-47 transport plane, owned byCivil Air Transport (CAT), a CIA frontcompany, was shot down.

Snoddy and Schwartz were flying CIAagents John T. Downey and Richard G.Fecteau, to rendezvous with a Chineseagent near the North Korean border inthe region formerly known as Manchu-ria. Their C-47 came down following aburst of heavy ground fire.

Agents Downey and Fecteau survived,but were arrested and detained for over20 years, until President Nixon admittedthey were CIA operatives. Before this,Washington had claimed the men wereArmy civilians. However, the fate androle of Snoddy and Schwartz wasunknown. A tentative enquiry made in1975 by President Gerald Ford wasrebuffed with a short reply - “it isimpossible to locate them now.”

In 1999, Defense Department officialsagain spoke with the Chinese about themissing men. A team from the CentralIdentification Laboratory were givenpermission to visit the crash site in July2002. Chinese villagers led US investiga-tors to a remote location where the twoflyers had apparently been buried bylocal tribesmen. The joint POW-MIAAccounting Command, based in Hawaii,excavated an area near the town of Antuin China’s Jilin province. They foundonly aeroplane wreckage from the twin-engine C-47. In July 2004, determinedinvestigators tried again - and this timethey found bones and clothing.

“It’s nice to finally bring him home(Robert Snoddy),” said Ruth Boss, whowill bury her brother at the cemeterywhere their mother and father areburied. Boss had received a telephonecall from the CIA to confirm that DNAtesting of bone fragments had beenmatched to samples held on file. “Anynews is good. The bad had alreadyhappened,” Boss said.

Unfortunately, Norman Schwartz’srelatives were told that CIA forensicspecialists had failed to match his DNAwith items recovered at the scene.

The Civil Air Transport, performedmany dangerous missions on behalf ofthe CIA in the Far East and southeastAsia. Regarded as ‘contract workers’ -not officers or agents - CAT employeesdaring was finally recognised by the

agency in 1998, when the names offallen operatives were added to theBook of Honour at CIA headquarters. Itwas the first time that the CIA acknowl-edged that CAT had a strong connectionto US foreign intelligence gathering.

The CIA had been intent ondestablising the fledgling communistregime on its own soil. Through a wellestablished network of spies and

The story of the real Air

America begins in 1950, when

the CIA decided that it

required an air transport

capability to conduct covert

operations in Asia in support

of US policy objectives. In

August 1950, the Agency

secretly purchased the assets

of Civil Air Transport (CAT),

an airline that had been

started in China after World

War II by Gen. Claire L.

Chennault and Whiting

Willauer. CAT would continue

to fly commercial routes throughout Asia, acting in every way as a privately owned

commercial airline. At the same time, under the corporate guise of CAT Incorpo-

rated, it provided aeroplanes and crews for secret intelligence operations.

In the 1950s, the CIA’s air proprietary, as it was known in the lexicon of intelligence,

was used for a variety of covert missions. During the Korean War, for example, it

made more than 100 hazardous overflights of mainland China, airdropping agents

and supplies.

Snoddy and his wife Charlotte

CAT employees daring was finally

recognised by the agency in 1998,

when the names of fallen operatives

were added to the Book of Honour at

CIA headquarters - Langley

The secret civilian heroes of the CIAAIR AMERICA AND CAT

SECRET HISTORY