A sign of the times

The Civil Air Transport, Inc. was founded by Clair L. Chennault (14th AF) and Whiting Willauer (China Defense Supplies, Inc.) in 1946. During the Chinese Civil War and its brutal wake, CAT supported the Nationalists in both military and civil transport. In the early 50s CAT in Taiwan was bought by the CIA, this civilian airline continued carrying supplies and passengers throughout Taiwan and Asia, often taking political and operational risks declined by other airlines. However, as the most modernized airlines in Taiwan, CAT unveiled the island’s first jet airliner B-1008 (超級翠華號) on Jul 11, 1961, in this brand new Convair CV-880 my mom took me to Hong Kong to join my grandma.

In 1955 Air Asia was formed out of CAT, as Air America's aircraft maintenance branch in Taiwan. With its initial aircraft maintenance equipment and tooling evacuated from the mainland, Air Asia saw business boom in years of the Vietnam War. Servicing all UAAF aircraft deployed in East Asia, and special operation aircraft from Pacific Corp., it turned out to be the largest air maintenance center in the Pacific Rim. During this period, the hangars full of F-105 Thunderchief, F-4 Phantom, and C-130 Hercules was an all too familiar scene at Tainan airport, Air Asia’s home base.

At the peak of its existence as a subsidiary of the E-system, the Air Asia had serviced over 12,000 USAF aircraft and overhauled 8,000 engines. Meanwhile, Taiwan received some US light aircraft from the Vietnam theater, including Cessna OE-1 (USMC Bird Dog equivalent to L-19A, O-1B), O-1G Bird Dog, Cessna U-17A Skywagon, de Havilland U-6A Beaver, and Hughes OH-6A Cayuse light observation helicopter. All of the ROC Army and MC Air Arms buildup was the arrival of these fixed-wing and rotary-wing aircraft.