COVERT SKIES: Ron Sutphin's Road to Civil Air Transport (CAT) and Covert Operations in Laos

Low flying moonlit-covert missions over the Mekong in the tiny Helio Courier, airdrops into war-ravaged Vietnam from the C-123 Provider and testing out the “idiot’s loop” from 200 feet at 400 knots in the North American F-100 Super Sabre are just a few of the every-day adventures Ron Sutphin recounts in this memoir spanning nearly three decades. Brig. Gen. Heinie Aderholt, USAF, (Ret.) called Ron “one of the greatest pilots in the history of aviation,” rating him with Jimmie Doolittle, Bob Hoover, and Chuck Yeager. Ron’s story of lifelong love of aviation began in 1947 and ended abruptly, but well, in 1962 in Laos. With his enlistment in the Marine Corps, he quickly achieved his childhood ambition of becoming a pilot. He wrote of his experiences in military and commercial aviation, during the Korean war and, finally, as a CAT/Air America pilot and instructor. While working for Chief of Flight Operations, Capt. Bob Rousselot in Laos, Ron helped perfect and promote the Helio short takeoff and landing (STOL) aircraft for Aderholt. Ron was a legendary aviator who left a fascinating legacy of courage and adventure written out in the pages of his own manuscript.