Tepper Aviation
Encyclopedia
Bob Sikes Airport
Bob Sikes Airport , named for Robert L. F. Sikes, is a public-use airport located northeast of the central business district of the city of Crestview in Okaloosa County, Florida, United States. The airport is publicly owned and supports a mix of general aviation and aerospace corporations...
in Crestview, Florida
Crestview, Florida
Crestview is a city in Okaloosa County, Florida, United States. Crestview’s name was chosen because of its location on the peak of a long woodland range between the Yellow and Shoal rivers which flow almost parallel on the east and west side of the City....
. The company has a long association with the CIA. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, it was widely reported to be flying weapons into Angola
Angola
Angola, officially the Republic of Angola , is a country in south-central Africa bordered by Namibia on the south, the Democratic Republic of the Congo on the north, and Zambia on the east; its west coast is on the Atlantic Ocean with Luanda as its capital city...
to arm the UNITA
UNITA
The National Union for the Total Independence of Angola is the second-largest political party in Angola. Founded in 1966, UNITA fought with the Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola in the Angolan War for Independence and then against the MPLA in the ensuing civil war .The war was one...
rebels. More recently, it has been linked with the practice of extraordinary rendition
Extraordinary rendition
Extraordinary rendition is the abduction and illegal transfer of a person from one nation to another. "Torture by proxy" is used by some critics to describe situations in which the United States and the United Kingdom have transferred suspected terrorists to other countries in order to torture the...
.
Tepper appears to have close links with Crestview Aerospace Corporation, as it shares the same address, and Charles R. Shanklin is a director of both companies. Additionally, Tepper director Jack E. Owen was President of Crestview Aerospace until 2001. L-3 Communications
L-3 Communications
L-3 Communications Holdings, Inc. is a company that supplies command and control, communications, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance systems and products, avionics, ocean products, training devices and services, instrumentation, space, and navigation products. Its customers include...
agreed to acquire Crestview Aerospace Corporation on 24 May 2006 for $135 million in cash.
Recent destinations for Tepper airplanes
According to flight records, L-100-30, model 382G-30C, c.n. 4582, N2189M has visited the CIA's Camp PearyCamp Peary
Camp Peary is a military reservation in York County near Williamsburg, Virginia. Officially it is referred to as the Armed Forces Experimental Training Activity under the auspices of the Department of Defense, but it is widely believed to be the location of a covert CIA training facility known...
training facility at least twice, in late April and in mid-May 2006. That aircraft also visits the Caribbean: it was seen in Puerto Rico in February 2006, and flew to Barbados in late May of that year. And in February 2006, N8183J flew from Andersen Air Force Base
Andersen Air Force Base
Andersen Air Force Base is a United States Air Force base located approximately northeast of Yigo in the United States territory of Guam....
in Guam
Guam
Guam is an organized, unincorporated territory of the United States located in the western Pacific Ocean. It is one of five U.S. territories with an established civilian government. Guam is listed as one of 16 Non-Self-Governing Territories by the Special Committee on Decolonization of the United...
to Mactan Cebu airport in the Philippines.
According to information previously published by aerospace journalist Keith Stein's ISI Consulting website, in 2002 both aircraft visited the Department of Energy
United States Department of Energy
The United States Department of Energy is a Cabinet-level department of the United States government concerned with the United States' policies regarding energy and safety in handling nuclear material...
's Desert Rock Airport
Desert Rock Airport
Desert Rock Airport is a private-use airport located three miles southwest of the central business district of Mercury, in Nye County, Nevada, United States...
in Nevada, an airstrip at a disused nuclear weapons testing facility.
The Swiss newspaper Blick
Blick
Blick is a German-language daily tabloid newspaper published in Zürich, Switzerland since 1959 by Ringier.It has a circulation of 275,000 and a readership of 750,000 . Only the free daily 20 Minuten has a higher circulation in Switzerland....
has speculated that, given the large number of movements of CIA-linked aircraft in and out of this supposedly disused facility, Desert Rock has been used at some point as a secret prison or black site
Black site
In military terminology, a black site is a location at which an unacknowledged black project is conducted. Recently, the term has gained notoriety in describing secret prisons operated by the United States Central Intelligence Agency , generally outside of U.S. territory and legal jurisdiction. It...
. It is not known whether Blicks source was Stein's website or if it obtained the information independently.
Allegedly running guns to UNITA for the CIA
The first report of Tepper's involvement in Angola was in early 1989, in the UK Independent newspaper:- "The CIA has appointed a new airline to ferry weaponry to the US and South African-backed Unita guerrillas fighting the Marxist government in Angola. The CIA's previous airline for this task was forced to close after media revelations. Tepper Aviation, based in Crestview, Florida, operates a Hercules freighter aircraft which, according to former employees, has flown between the Kamina air base in southern Zaire and Unita- held territory in eastern Angola. Tepper was set up in late 1980, after the demise of the CIA's previous carrier, St. Lucia AirwaysSt. Lucia AirwaysSt. Lucia Airways Limited was a privately-owned company founded in 1975. General and tourist flights were operated mainly to Martinique and Barbados, but also extended throughout the Caribbean and South America. There was also a shuttle service between the two St. Lucia airports of Vigie and...
, whose activities, in addition to the Angolan work, included the transport of Colonel NorthOliver NorthOliver Laurence North is a retired U.S. Marine Corps officer, political commentator, host of War Stories with Oliver North on Fox News Channel, a military historian, and a New York Times best-selling author....
and weapons to IranIranIran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran , is a country in Southern and Western Asia. The name "Iran" has been in use natively since the Sassanian era and came into use internationally in 1935, before which the country was known to the Western world as Persia...
... Bud Peddy, who heads Tepper, categorically denies that the Hercules has been in Zaire or Angola.
The categorical denial by Tepper's chief was somewhat undermined by his own death just months later in an aircrash in Angola, as reported by Flight International:
- "The Lockheed L-100 Hercules which crashed while on a US Central Intelligence Agency mission in Angola late last month was owned and operated by Tepper Aviation, a Florida-based company with a history of involvement with CIA operations. Bud Peddy, the head of Tepper Aviation, was piloting the aircraft and was killed in the crash along with, at least two West Germans, a Briton and a second American. The aircraft, painted grey and known as the 'Grey Ghost', came down at night on 27 November as it was coming in to land at Jamba, the main base of the UNITA guerrillas fighting Angola's Marxist Government. The aircraft was carrying a cargo of weapons, plus several guerrillas, as well as the Europeans and Americans.
The plane in question was N9205T. The head of Tepper at the time was in fact named Pharies 'Bud' Petty (both The Independent and Flight International managed to get this wrong). "The Book of Honor" by Ted Gup describes the ill-fated mission in some detail:
- "The lumbering cargo plane that would take him into Angola was to be one of the 'Gray Ghosts,' so named for their slate-colored paint. The plane had four seats in the front -- for a pilot, copilot, navigator, and loadmaster. The fuselage was largely open for cargo. On board that night was a seasoned crew of six. Even by Agency standards, it had a distinctly international flavor. Heading the team was Pharies 'Bud' Petty, a veteran Agency pilot who, at least on paper, presided over a Florida firm called Tepper Aviation, located in CrestviewCrestview, FloridaCrestview is a city in Okaloosa County, Florida, United States. Crestview’s name was chosen because of its location on the peak of a long woodland range between the Yellow and Shoal rivers which flow almost parallel on the east and west side of the City....
, just off Eglin Air Force BaseEglin Air Force BaseEglin Air Force Base is a United States Air Force base located approximately 3 miles southwest of Valparaiso, Florida in Okaloosa County....
. The other crew members were all ostensibly employees of Tepper."
Gup's book identifies Gracie T. Petty as Petty's widow. She is currently secretary and treasurer of Tepper Aviation.
Aircraft operated by Tepper
- N1018H - Cessna TR-182, c.n. R18201649 - owned by Tepper
- N2189M - Lockheed L-100-30 c.n. 4582 (registration no longer valid) Lars OlaussonLars OlaussonLars Olausson is a retired Lieutenant Colonel of the Swedish Air Force, who has published an annual volume on the history of the Lockheed C-130 Hercules airlifter currently titled the Lockheed Hercules Production List 1954-2012, the twenty-eighth edition having been printed March 2010...
's entry for c.n. 4582 in the 25th edition of the "Lockheed Hercules Production List - 1954-2008" (self-published, Såtenäs, Sweden), reads: L-100-30 (Model 382-G-30C), delivered April 1975 - Gabon Air Force TRK-KA, April 1975, same April 1980. Registered TR-KKA by August 1981, same, February 1989. Sold to Pegasus Aviation, registered N2189M, 1989, registered to Alaska World Trade Corporation, Anchorage, AlaskaAnchorage, AlaskaAnchorage is a unified home rule municipality in the southcentral part of the U.S. state of Alaska. It is the northernmost major city in the United States...
, January 1990, same, March 1990. Registered to Flight Cargo Leasing, Dover, DelawareDover, DelawareThe city of Dover is the capital and second largest city in the U.S. state of Delaware. It is also the county seat of Kent County, and the principal city of the Dover, Delaware Metropolitan Statistical Area, which encompasses all of Kent County. It is located on the St. Jones River in the Delaware...
, April 1990, same, September 1990. Leased to Tepper Aviation [from Rapid Air Trans (?), June 1990 (?)]. As of January 1992, marked in overall white w/ a blue line, no markings, blister on top of fwd. fuselage. Flights to RigaRigaRiga is the capital and largest city of Latvia. With 702,891 inhabitants Riga is the largest city of the Baltic states, one of the largest cities in Northern Europe and home to more than one third of Latvia's population. The city is an important seaport and a major industrial, commercial,...
and KievKievKiev or Kyiv is the capital and the largest city of Ukraine, located in the north central part of the country on the Dnieper River. The population as of the 2001 census was 2,611,300. However, higher numbers have been cited in the press....
, February 1992. As Rapid Air Trans, November 1993, same January 1994. To Pegasus Aviation, February 1995, same, May 1997. Carrying Tepper Aviation titles, June 1998. At BasraBasraBasra is the capital of Basra Governorate, in southern Iraq near Kuwait and Iran. It had an estimated population of two million as of 2009...
, May 2004, no titles as of October 2005. N2189M registration passed to JJS&D, LLC, 824 Market Street, Suite 1000, Wilmington, DelawareWilmington, DelawareWilmington is the largest city in the state of Delaware, United States, and is located at the confluence of the Christina River and Brandywine Creek, near where the Christina flows into the Delaware River. It is the county seat of New Castle County and one of the major cities in the Delaware Valley...
, 19899-1680, registration date 7 December 2006; reregistered N2731G to JSS&D, January 2007. Operating with no titles, May 2007. N2731G was previously assigned to a York, Pennsylvania-registered Cessna 182B, c.n. 52031, registered June 28, 1996, and delisted as destroyed. - N8183J - Lockheed L-100-30 c.n. 4796 - Lars OlaussonLars OlaussonLars Olausson is a retired Lieutenant Colonel of the Swedish Air Force, who has published an annual volume on the history of the Lockheed C-130 Hercules airlifter currently titled the Lockheed Hercules Production List 1954-2012, the twenty-eighth edition having been printed March 2010...
's entry for c.n. 4796 in the 25th edition of the "Lockheed Hercules Production List - 1954-2008" (self-published, Såtenäs, Sweden), reads: L-100-30 (Model 382G-39C), delivered November 1978 and sold to SafairSafairSafair is an airline based in Kempton Park, Ekurhuleni, Gauteng, South Africa. Operator of one of the world's largest fleets of civil Lockheed L-100 Hercules cargo aircraft, it also conducts aircraft chartering, leasing and sales, contract operations and leasing services, flightcrew leasing and...
, November 1978. Leased to SCIBE, ZaireZaireThe Republic of Zaire was the name of the present Democratic Republic of the Congo between 27 October 1971 and 17 May 1997. The name of Zaire derives from the , itself an adaptation of the Kongo word nzere or nzadi, or "the river that swallows all rivers".-Self-proclaimed Father of the Nation:In...
, registered 9Q-CBJ, November 1978. Stored at BrusselsBrusselsBrussels , officially the Brussels Region or Brussels-Capital Region , is the capital of Belgium and the de facto capital of the European Union...
by October 1988, same January 1989. Registered to Pegasus Aviation as N123GA, January 1989. Registered to Rapid Air Trans as N8183J, February 1989, operated by Aero InternationalAero InternationalAero International is a German monthly magazine devoted to civil aviation. It was established in 1993. The editor in chief since 1997 is Dietmar Plath....
. Leased to Tepper Aviation, December 1989?, same, March 1990. As of April 1993, white overall, no titles. Operation for U.S. government, October 1993, same, November 2004. Registration N8183J transferred to Q2P, L.L.C., Wilmington, DelawareWilmington, DelawareWilmington is the largest city in the state of Delaware, United States, and is located at the confluence of the Christina River and Brandywine Creek, near where the Christina flows into the Delaware River. It is the county seat of New Castle County and one of the major cities in the Delaware Valley...
, October 2006. Registration changed to N2679C, November 2006, TA on tail, November 2006. Operation by Tepper, March 2007 (Lars OlaussonLars OlaussonLars Olausson is a retired Lieutenant Colonel of the Swedish Air Force, who has published an annual volume on the history of the Lockheed C-130 Hercules airlifter currently titled the Lockheed Hercules Production List 1954-2012, the twenty-eighth edition having been printed March 2010...
, Production List, 2008, 26th Ed., page 95). - N9205T - Lockheed L-100 c.n. 4129 (crashed November 27, 1989) Lars OlaussonLars OlaussonLars Olausson is a retired Lieutenant Colonel of the Swedish Air Force, who has published an annual volume on the history of the Lockheed C-130 Hercules airlifter currently titled the Lockheed Hercules Production List 1954-2012, the twenty-eighth edition having been printed March 2010...
gives this history: L-100 c.n. 4129, (Model 382G-30C) delivered to ZAC-Alexander, registered 9J-RBW, April 1966, sold to Maple Leaf Leasing, 1969, leased to Pacific Western AirlinesPacific Western AirlinesPacific Western Airlines was an airline that operated scheduled flights throughout western Canada and charter services around the world from the 1950s through the 1980s...
, line number 383, March 1969, damaged Eureka, NunavutEureka, NunavutEureka is a small research base on Fosheim Peninsula, Ellesmere Island, Qikiqtaaluk Region, in the Canadian territory of Nunavut. It is located on the north side of Slidre Fiord, which enters Eureka Sound farther west. It is the second-northernmost permanent research community in the world. The...
, August 1969, rebuilt as L-100-20, December 1969. Leased to Alaska International Air, (earlier Interior Airways, later MarkAirMarkAirMarkAir was a regional airline. It had its headquarters in Anchorage, Alaska, United States. It ceased operations and liquidated in 1995.-Former Code Data:* ICAO Code: MRK* IATA--BF* Callsign: MarkAir-History:...
), December 1969. Sold to Pacific Western AirlinesPacific Western AirlinesPacific Western Airlines was an airline that operated scheduled flights throughout western Canada and charter services around the world from the 1950s through the 1980s...
, registered CF-PWN, 1977, then sold to St. Lucia AirwaysSt. Lucia AirwaysSt. Lucia Airways Limited was a privately-owned company founded in 1975. General and tourist flights were operated mainly to Martinique and Barbados, but also extended throughout the Caribbean and South America. There was also a shuttle service between the two St. Lucia airports of Vigie and...
, registered J6-SLO, May 1985, named "Juicy Lucy", (after a rock and roll band), 1969–1972, transporting cargo for UNITAUNITAThe National Union for the Total Independence of Angola is the second-largest political party in Angola. Founded in 1966, UNITA fought with the Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola in the Angolan War for Independence and then against the MPLA in the ensuing civil war .The war was one...
, July 1987. Sold to Tepper Aviation, FloridaFloridaFlorida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...
, N9205T, January 1988, named "Grey Ghost" - crash landing at JambaJambaPlaces*Jamba, Cuando Cubango, Angola, former base of rebel group UNITA*Jamba, Huíla, Angola, location of the airport with the IATA code JMB *Jamba, Moxico Province, AngolaPeople*Almerindo Jaka Jamba, an Angolan politician...
, AngolaAngolaAngola, officially the Republic of Angola , is a country in south-central Africa bordered by Namibia on the south, the Democratic Republic of the Congo on the north, and Zambia on the east; its west coast is on the Atlantic Ocean with Luanda as its capital city...
. - Although it's not proven, it appears likely that the recently re-registered Lockheed L-100-30 N3867X, c.n. 4684, (Model 382G-35C) is also operated by Tepper. The airframe is registered to T3D&H, L.L.C., 824 Market Street, Suite 1000, Wilmington, DelawareWilmington, DelawareWilmington is the largest city in the state of Delaware, United States, and is located at the confluence of the Christina River and Brandywine Creek, near where the Christina flows into the Delaware River. It is the county seat of New Castle County and one of the major cities in the Delaware Valley...
- CIA front companies have been known as "Delaware corporationDelaware corporationThe Delaware General Corporation Law is the statute governing corporate law in the state of Delaware. Delaware is well known as a corporate haven. Over 50% of U.S...
s", as described by former Deputy Director of the CIA, Robert Amory, Jr., due to the lenient incorporation laws of that state. ("The CIA and the Cult of Intelligence", by Victor Marchetti and John D. Marks, Dell Publishing Company, Inc., New York, New York, 1974, chapter 5, page 146, ISBN 440-04698-175.) The Glomar Explorer was built in a Delaware shipyard. - N4557C, L-100-30, c.n. 5027, (Model 382G-69C) is widely supposed to be operated by Tepper, given that it is owned by the same shell companyShell (corporation)A shell corporation is a company which serves as a vehicle for business transactions without itself having any significant assets or operations. Shell corporations are not in themselves illegal and have legitimate business purposes. However, they are a main component of the underground economy,...
as N2189M and N8183J. However, this is also not proven. The Landings database for U.S. civil registrations does not have a record of N4557C. Olausson lists the following registrations for 5027: Lockheed Aircraft Company N4278M, China Air Cargo CAAC B-3002, delivered November 1987, same, July 1991. China Eastern AirlinesChina Eastern AirlinesChina Eastern Airlines Corporation Limited is an airline headquartered on the grounds of Shanghai Hongqiao International Airport in Changning District, Shanghai, China. It is a major Chinese airline operating international, domestic and regional routes. Its main hubs are at Shanghai Pudong...
, September 1991, same, June 1992. Air ChinaAir ChinaAir China is the flag carrier and one of the major airlines of the People's Republic of China. Based in Beijing Capital International Airport, Air China is the world's 10th largest airline by fleet size. The airline ranked behind its main competitors China Southern Airlines and China Eastern...
, March, 1993, then China Air Cargo, February 1994, (according to Olausson, fish charter to Japan, October 1998). Sold to SafairSafairSafair is an airline based in Kempton Park, Ekurhuleni, Gauteng, South Africa. Operator of one of the world's largest fleets of civil Lockheed L-100 Hercules cargo aircraft, it also conducts aircraft chartering, leasing and sales, contract operations and leasing services, flightcrew leasing and...
ZS-JAG, May 1999, operating October 2003 in all white scheme, same December 2003. To Rapid Air Trans (Tepper) N4557C as of January 2004. At Mojave, California, August 2004, January 2007. Registration transferred to Northcap, L.L.C., Wilmington, DelawareWilmington, DelawareWilmington is the largest city in the state of Delaware, United States, and is located at the confluence of the Christina River and Brandywine Creek, near where the Christina flows into the Delaware River. It is the county seat of New Castle County and one of the major cities in the Delaware Valley...
, 06-Mar-2007, according to the Landings database. There are four companies operating Hercules that list the same Wilmington address, all with cryptic names. Update: The 2009 edition of the Olausson Production List (April 2008) reports that N4557C was reregistered N3796B, April 2007, (page 107). N3796B has been noted carrying out flight testing of an avionics modification at Mojave Air & Space Port, Mojave, CaliforniaMojave, CaliforniaMojave is a census-designated place in Kern County, California, United States. Mojave is located east of Bakersfield, at an elevation of 2762 feet...
in November-December 2008, wearing Tepper titles and colours.
Known officers and directors
From the Florida state government's website. Note that Tepper's company records prior to 1996 are not available online. Also note that "Jack Owen" was misspelt on filings before 2001 as "Jack Owens".| Name | Director | Vice President | President | Registered Agent | Sec/Treas |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Thomas M. Bledsoe | 1996–2000 | ||||
| Michael D. Chesser | 2005–2006 | ||||
| Scott L. Eder | 1998–2000 | ||||
| John M. Herms | 1996–1997 | ||||
| Jose L. Hernandez | 2006 | ||||
| Jayna L. Hill | 2001–2006 | ||||
| Bruce R. Lehfeldt | 1996 | 1996 | |||
| Jack E. Owen | 1996–2006 | ||||
| Bobby L. Owens | 1996–2005 | 2006 | |||
| Gracie T. Petty | 1997–2006 | ||||
| Dale E. Rice | 1996–1998 | 1996–2004 | |||
| Charles R. Shanklin | 2001–2006 |
See also
- Aero Contractors (US)Aero Contractors (US)Aero Contractors Ltd., a private charter company based in Smithfield, North Carolina, is said to provide discrete air transport services for the Central Intelligence Agency.The company was founded in 1979 by the late Jim Rhyne, a former pilot with Air America...
- Air America
- Pegasus Aviation Finance CompanyPegasus Aviation Finance CompanyPegasus Aviation, Inc. or the Pegasus Aviation Finance Company was a US based aircraft lessor formed in 1988. It is one of the world's largest commercial aircraft lessors, with a fleet of over 200 aircraft...
- Rendition aircraft