The Central Intelligence Agency and Overhead Reconnaissance; The U-2 and OXCART Programs, 1954-1974

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Chapter 5
The first U-2 mission over Indonesia took place on 28 March
1958. By 12 June, when the operation was phased out, Detachment C
U-2s had flown 30 missions over the major islands of Indonesia.
Sanitized photos from these missions were used to brief members of
the DDP's Covert Action Staff (CAS), who were in charge of a small
force of World War II-vintage aircraft such as P-5 ls and B-26s used
to support the rebel troops. The CIA's proprietary, Civil Air
Transport, supplied the aircraft, which were based on the Indonesian
island of Morotai and flown by mercenary pilots. Desperately short of
pilots, the CAS asked if some of the U-2 pilots with experience in
World War II aircraft could be detailed to the Morotai effort.
Although such a request represented an improper use of the highly
trained U-2 pilots and posed a potential threat to the entire U-2 pro­
gram if one of them were captured, Richard Bissell agreed to send pi­
lots James Cherbonneaux and Carmine Vito to help. Both were expe­
rienced with World War II aircraft, although Vito had never flown the
rebels' fighter aircraft, the P-51 Mustang. After arriving on Morotai,
Cherbonneaux explained to Vito how to fly the fast and powerful
Mustang while the two were sitting at a makeshift bar on the edge of
the airfield.
Several days later, when Cherbonneaux was off the island on an­
other mission, a flight of Indonesian twin-engine bombers of
Czechoslovak manufacture was spotted making its way toward the is­
land. Exclaiming, "I'm not going to sit around and wait to be
bombed," Vito had a Filipino mechanic start up a P-51 sitting on the
tarmac. In his first and only flight in a P-51, Vito managed to get the
plane off the ground. Once he was airborne and turned in the direction
of the lumbering bombers, they all took flight in as many directions
as there were aircraft. After firing a few . SO-caliber rounds in the di­
rection of the closest bomber, Vito circled the field and landed the air­
craft safely. 1"
Agency efforts in support of the rebel government proved fruit­
less. By early May, Central Government forces had taken most of the
remaining rebel strongholds, and the Sumatran rebellion was deterio­
rating into small-scale guerrilla activity. Then on 18 May, an
American mercenary pilot, Allen Lawrence Pope, was shot down on a
bombing mission over Ambon Island. Pope's capture ended Allen
Dulles's enthusiasm for the effort, and President Eisenhower also
" Information supplied by Carmine Vito and James Cherbonneaux to Donald E.
Welienbach, May 1986.
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