While going through my odds and ends, I ran across a lighter that I picked up quite a number of years ago. This is a VERY unique piece of US history. It is a cigarette lighter from the Civil Air Transport. This was the airline that the US Central Intelligence Agency purchased back in the 1950 and used for covert operations and "black-ops" throughout China and Southeast Asia until it was officially disbanded in 1976. CAT flew regularly scheduled passenger flights as a cover for the covert operations that were being flown at the same time.
Here is a bit of history on the Civil Air Transport: Civil Air Transport
There is actually a non-profit organization dedicated to the history of CAT and a museum and archive located at Texas Tech University: www.air-america.org
Here are the photos of my little piece of US Aviation, covert-ops style:
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