But other Americans were always willing to help out. In 1946, Claire Chennault, along with legendary fixer Tommy Corcoran, founded a new airline to provide airlifts for the United Nations relief agencies in China. Civil Air Transport, as it was called, soon began shuttling more than aid. It transported Nationalist reinforcements and ammunition into cities surrounded by Communist troops. Within a few years, the Central Intelligence Agency would purchase the operation for $2 million, change its name to Air America, and use it in clandestine operations throughout Asia.
