From The Hump to Saigon: The Extraordinary Story of CAT, Air America and Air Asia (Part Two)

What happened to the legendary pilots of The Hump after the Second World War ended?

The answer is one of the most extraordinary and least known stories in aviation history.

From the battlefields of China to the jungles of Laos and Vietnam, the men who once flew supplies across the Himalayas followed General Claire Chennault into a new and secret war. Under the banners of CAT, Air America and Air Asia, they evacuated a nation, helped build another, flew refugees to safety, supplied isolated outposts, rescued downed airmen and carried out missions that governments often preferred not to acknowledge.

This is the story of the largest covert airline operation in history. A story of courage, ingenuity, espionage and sacrifice that stretched from the final days of the Chinese Civil War to the fall of Saigon in 1975.

Featuring daring rescues, secret missions, Cold War intrigue, Dien Bien Phu, Laos, Taiwan, Allen Pope, the CIA and the remarkable pilots who lived in the shadows so that others could operate in the light, this is a chapter of history that deserves to be remembered.

Because from The Hump to Saigon, these men were never far from the centre of history.