Allen Lawrence Pope (born 1928 or 1929) was a former US Air Force pilot with a rank of lieutenant and a former Civil Air Transport pilot . He became famous when he was shot down on May 18, 1958, while flying a Douglas B-26 Invader bomber during a mission to support the Permesta rebellion against President Soekarno’s government .
Career
After fighting during the Korean War , where he received the Distinguished Flying Cross , he joined the Civil Air Transport (CAT, which later became Air America ) in 1954 and became a pilot of the Fairchild C-119 Flying Boxcar who parried food and ammunition to the French soldiers besieged during the battle of Dien Bien Phu .
Pope secretly worked for the CIA and helped the Indonesian rebels when he was shot. His capture, along with compromising documents, embarrassed the United States government . He was sentenced to death but released at the request of the administration Kennedy the.
Returning to the United States, he moved to Miami . His wife is asking for a divorce. Pope is working again for Southern Air Transport .
The , he was made Knight of the Legion of Honor by Jean-David Levitte during a ceremony at the residence of the French Ambassador to the United Statesonat the same time as six other CAT pilots for his 57 risky missions during the Indochina War 1 .
Bibliography
- Cold War: The Pyrrhic Gambit [ archive ]
- The Man from Florida [ archive ]
- 18 Secret Armies Of The CIA [ archive ]
- Clandestine US Operations: Indonesia 1958, Operation “Haik” [ archive ]
Notes and references
- ↑ ( in ) CAT PILOTS TO BE BY FRANCE honored [ archive ]