Atomic Express

 

A CIMIC officer  introduced me to “Corb Lund and the Hurtin’ Albertans” when I was in Afghanistan….

 

The song is “Student Visas.”

 

 

 

 

I don’t know about any Hueys being downed, but there was a C-123 Provider belonging to Southern Air Transport that was taken out by a SAM over Nicaragua in 1986 while dropping weapons to anti-Communist forces, with three killed. Nobody seems to know who they were and their names remain unknown in the public domain (That said, the CIA memorial wall apparently lists Richard Spicer, Scott J. Van Lieshout and Curtis R. Wood as “being killed in a plane crash while on a covert mission during the Salvadoran Civil War on October 18, 1984.”) The only survivor was Eugene Hasensfus, the cargo “kicker” who was put in the bag by the Nicaraguans. Eugene was later exchanged in a spy swap but by then his little black book revealed the nature and extent of the operation, with larger international implications. This was later dubbed by the American media as “The Iran-Contra Affair.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

One of the SAT C-123′s became a restaurant in Costa Rica….

 

(thanks for the pic, guys)

Of course, organizations like Southern Air Transport were descendants or successors to THESE guys….

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And just when you thought things in popcultureland couldn’t get weirder….there was a 1/144 scale model from Minicraft called the “CIA Southern Air Transport DC-8-73″ complete with a picture of a gloved and fedora’d spy. Made in China.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

UPDATE!

Tucked away on a lower shelf, outside of my line of sight, hidden from view for nearly two decades, proving you can game anything in history….

 

 

Hmmm….I think Eugene is in trouble here. I’m sending in Corb Lund to help him out.

 

 

If you want to know more about the Iran-Contra Affair, go HERE and HERE.