I was posted to Honduras and, briefly, to Panama during the Contra shenanigans during 87-88. I went down a couple of time on AF C-130s (one of which had to VIP travel "pod" inside, and if it weren't so loud and shaky, you would swear you were flying Continental or Delta). But, to the point, Latin American airfields are absolute museums for warbird watchers. Even in their overgrown boneyards you see Corsairs, T-Birds, Thunderbolts, you name it. Of course, my job was to look for U.S. or U.S. made aircraft that, legally, weren't supposed to be there. The well-known CIA contracted Southern Air Transport, with their civilian-model stretched Hercules' were always in the traffic pattern in Panama. When you asked USAF personnel, when I would point out the thing in its SAT livery, without fail, every one of them would look right at it and say, "Southern Air Transport? I don't see any SAT planes around here." Y'know, that gives me an idea. Besides doing soccer war Corsairs, etc. I'd like to do famous CIA aircraft and exclude Air America, because it was just one company under an umbrella of literally scores of CIA airlines, or CIA contractors like Evregreen, SAT and others that remain in business doing less spooky work. I once did a story on a privately owned C-47 for 50th anniversity of the plane, and this specimen at a tiny field in East Texas had spent most of its post WW II life flying in the livery of the CIA's Air Africa. Anybody ever heard of or seen their a/c in markings?
As usual, my childish attention deficit got me way off of a very interesting original topic. Forgive me again, modelers.
I originally wanted to ask someone if Brazil actually had combatant Jugs with Brazilian pilots on our side in WW II. I know they were linked with Nazis during and after the war, but despite the movie title, a great many countries in South America admired the Nazis a little too much, and did more for them than the Brazilians ever did. Paraguay, Uraguay and, of course, Argentina come immediately to mind. Even Interpol all the way to the highest ranks was shot through with SS officers.
![Black Eye [B)]](/FSM/CS/emoticons/icon_smile_blackeye.gif)