Evergreen International Airlines
Evergreen International Airlines was a charter and cargo airline based in McMinnville, Oregon, United States. Wholly owned by Evergreen International Aviation, it had longstanding ties to the Central Intelligence Agency. It operated contract freight services, offering charters and scheduled flights, as well as wet lease services. It operated services for the U.S. military and the United States Postal Service, as well as ad hoc charter flights. Its crew base was at John F. Kennedy International Airport, New York.
Evergreen also maintained a large aircraft maintenance and storage facility at the Pinal Air Park in Marana, Arizona that the company acquired from the CIA's Air America fleet.
History
CIA front
The airline was established by Delford Smith and began operations in 1960 as Evergreen Helicopters. It acquired the operating certificate of alleged Central Intelligence Agency front company Johnson Flying Service and merged it with Intermountain Airlines from Pacific Corporation in 1975 to form Evergreen International Airlines. The holding company, Evergreen International Aviation, formed in 1979, wholly owned the airline.Evergreen served as an Agency front widely over its history:
Wherever there was a hot spot in the world, Evergreen’s helicopters and later airplanes were never far behind. Evergreen’s hardware was so inextricably linked with political intrigue that rumors swirled that the company was owned by, or a front for, the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency. Indeed, several of the company’s senior executives either worked for the agency or had close ties to it.
Smith never let on, disingenuously telling the Portland Oregonian in 1988, “We don’t know when we’ve ever worked for them , but if we did we’re proud of it. We believe in patriotism, and, you know, they’re not the KGB.”
Evergreen bought assets during the 1970s that were previously linked to CIA operations, "including Montana’s Johnson Flying Service and the CIA’s aviation 'skunk works' in Marana, Arizona, which under Evergreen did special aircraft modifications such as building the Boeing Dreamlifters and servicing the 747 NASA used to transport the Space Shuttle. Evergreen subsequently sold the airbase to Relativity Capital in 2011.
Officially, the company provided "aviation services" for the CIA, including illegal-drug abatement spraying in Mexico and South America and transporting the Shah of Iran from Egypt to Panama, then Panama to the United States in 1980. Shortly thereafter it ran mysterious missions to El Salvador and Nicaragua.
As public government contractor
Evergreen, handled more than military or intelligence community work, also servicing government agencies in the US and other nations. Its supertankers were used put out fires from Israel to Mexico; its unmanned systems division flew drone flights over disaster zones; NASA hired it to operate its flying infrared observatory; its aircraft supported United Nations peacekeeping operations in 30 countries; flew insect-eradication missions throughout Africa. Commercially, the airline helped build the Trans-Alaska oil pipeline and developed and serviced the offshore energy market worldwide."All told, Smith said his company flew in 168 countries over the years. 'We were all over the world. Everywhere they needed a helicopter, they needed an airplane as well,'" said Smith.
Aircraft in film
One of Evergreen's Boeing 747 airplanes starred in the 1990 action film Die Hard 2.Bankruptcy
On November 9, 2013, it was announced that Evergreen Airlines would close on November 30, 2013 due to financial troubles. This information was initially denied by Evergreen, but shortly afterwards admitted: "Evergreen International Airlines flew its last flight Monday Mike Hines, chairman of its parent company board, acknowledged..."On December 31, 2013, Evergreen International Airlines filed a Chapter 7 petition in federal bankruptcy court in Delaware. The bankruptcy filing lists seven entities as submitting the Chapter 7 petition: Evergreen Aviation Ground Logistics Enterprise, Evergreen Defense and Security Services, Evergreen International Airlines, Evergreen International Aviation, Evergreen Systems Logistics, Evergreen Trade, and Supertanker Services.
In June of 2014, Evergreen had declared Chapter 7 bankruptcy and began a liquidation of assets, including its headquarters campus in McMinnville.
By the time of Smith's death November 7, 2014, the remains of his once billion-dollar Evergreen Aviation empire had been sold off, shut down, or was in bankruptcy and under investigation by tax authorities.
Destinations
Evergreen International Airlines operated the following freight services :- Domestic scheduled destinations: Anchorage, New York, Chicago.
- International scheduled destinations: Tokyo, Nagoya, Hong Kong, Shanghai.
Fleet
| Aircraft | In Fleet | Orders | Stored | Notes |
| Boeing 747-100SF | 11 | Supertanker 1 stored at VCV | ||
| Boeing 747-200C | 2 | Also used in charter service | ||
| Boeing 747-200B/SF | 6 | |||
| Boeing 747-200F/SCD | 1 | |||
| Boeing 747-400BDSF | 1 | |||
| Boeing 747-400BCF | 2 | |||
| Boeing 747-400F | 1 | Operated for Saudia |
Evergreen previously operated three Boeing Dreamlifters to transport the Boeing 787 parts to Boeing, but the contract was given to Atlas Air in September 2010. This was due to Boeing's rescheduled delivery of the Boeing 747-8Fs ordered by Atlas Air to increase their current fleet. The "Dreamlifter" is the logistic support aircraft for Boeing's global Boeing 787 Dreamliner production. The company was also scheduled to operate the SOFIA Boeing 747SP aircraft for NASA and the German Aerospace Center at NASA's Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, CA.
The airline modified a Boeing 747-100 for aerial firefighting, receiving final certification from the FAA in October 2006. Compared to existing large water bombers and airtankers, the Evergreen Supertanker was planned to offer at least seven times more fire retardant capacity. In December, 2010, Israel hired Evergreen's fire-fighting aircraft to assist in firefighting efforts of the 2010 Mount Carmel forest fire.
In August 2007, Evergreen announced that it had ordered 3 Boeing 747-400BCFs to upgrade its commercial operations, with deliveries in summer 2009. In March 2010, the orders had not yet been delivered. In December 2012, Evergreen ceased operations of the last three 747-200s; they are parked at Portsmouth International Airport at Pease.
Retired fleet
As of August 2006, Evergreen International Airlines previously operated the following aircraft:- Boeing 727-100F
- Boeing 747-100F
- Douglas DC-8-33F
- Lockheed L-188A Electra
- Lockheed P-2 Neptune
- McDonnell Douglas DC-9-15F
- McDonnell Douglas DC-9-32CF
Accidents and incidents
- March 18, 1989:, a DC-9 was on a cargo flight from Kelly Air Force Base outside San Antonio to Tinker Air Force Base outside of Oklahoma City, with a stop at Carswell Air Force Base in Fort Worth. As the plane was departing, the cargo door on the plane opened; the pilot immediately requested emergency return to Carswell. As the plane was approaching on base leg, the cargo door fully opened, which caused the plane to yaw to the left and right, and then roll, until crashing near Saginaw in an inverted position. Both pilots on board were killed. The investigation found that when closing the cargo door, the copilot did not close it fully, but since the locked and latched indicators were applied incorrectly, the copilot thought the door was fully locked.
- March 31, 1993: Lee waves were believed responsible for the in-flight separation of the #2 engine on an Evergreen Boeing 747-100 operating for Japan Airlines as, registration: N473EV, near Anchorage, Alaska. The plane involved was used in the movie Die Hard 2. The plane was since repaired, then flew until 2001.
- September 1997: Fines were imposed by the Australian civil aviation authority for dumping fuel while flying over Sydney.