Boun Oum Airways or BOA, was a Laotian airline owned by Prince Boun Oum. After 1965 BOA expanded using aircraft on loan from

Continental Air Services, Inc Continental Air Services, Inc (better known in abbreviations as CASI) was a subsidiary airline of Continental Airlines set up to provide operations and airlift support in Southeast Asia during the Vietnam War. CASI was formed as the South-East ...

(CASI). BOA's aircraft did not carry any logo or titles and their Thai pilots were integrated with CASI by early 1967.

History

The

CIA The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA; ) is a civilian foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States tasked with advancing national security through collecting and analyzing intelligence from around the world and ...

created BOA in 1964 by using resources from both Air America and Bird & Son. BOA was ostensibly owned by Prince

Boun Oum Prince Boun Oum (also Prince Boun Oum Na Champassak; ; ; ; 2 December 1911 – 17 March 1980) was the son of King Ratsadanay, and was the hereditary prince of Champassak and also Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Laos from March 1949 to Febr ...

of Laos and was created with the intention of flying missions in Laos with

Asia Asia ( , ) is the largest continent in the world by both land area and population. It covers an area of more than 44 million square kilometres, about 30% of Earth's total land area and 8% of Earth's total surface area. The continent, which ...

n crews (as opposed to

Caucasian Caucasian may refer to: Common meanings *Anything from the Caucasus region or related to it ** Ethnic groups in the Caucasus ** ''Caucasian Exarchate'' (1917–1920), an ecclesiastical exarchate of the Russian Orthodox Church in the Caucasus re ...

crews)

allegedly In law, an allegation is a claim of an unproven fact by a party in a pleading, charge, or defense. Until they can be proved, allegations remain merely assertions. Types of allegations Marital allegations There are also marital allegations: ma ...

for

plausible deniability Plausible deniability is the ability of people, typically senior officials in a formal or informal chain of command, to deny knowledge or responsibility for actions committed by or on behalf of members of their organizational hierarchy. They may ...

. BOA was based at Savannakhet, Laos. Boum Oum Airlines (sic) reportedly lost two Dornier Do28s on 12/03/67 and in 05/67. Due to its high aircraft loss rate, BOA was fully integrated into the CASI by mid-1967 and officially ceased to exist.

Incidents

* November 1964, a

Bell 47 The Bell 47 is a single-rotor single-engine light helicopter manufactured by Bell Helicopter. It was based on the third Bell 30 prototype, which was the company's first helicopter designed by Arthur M. Young. The 47 became the first heli ...

G-3B-1 Sioux helicopter crashed on its first mission. * December 1965, a

C-47 The Douglas C-47 Skytrain or Dakota ( RAF designation) is a military transport aircraft developed from the civilian Douglas DC-3 airliner. It was used extensively by the Allies during World War II. During the war the C-47 was used for troo ...

crashed after takeoff from Vientiane. * April 1966, a C-47 disappeared while dropping supplies near Ban Song, a town in

Surat Thani Province Surat Thani (, ), often shortened to Surat, is the largest of the southern provinces (''changwat'') of Thailand. It lies on the western shore of the Gulf of Thailand. Surat Thani means 'city of good people', a title given to the city by King ...

, Thailand. * In 1967, a Do-28 flown by a CASI pilot, C.V. Stone crashed into a hangar on take-off. * May 1967, a Dornier Do-28s was lost in a heavy rainstorm near Mahaxay, Laos, while dropping supplies.

Aircraft

* Beech Tradewind x 1 *

G-3B-1 x 1 *

Dornier Do 28 Dornier Do 28 is a type designation that comprises two different twin-engine STOL utility aircraft, manufactured by German company Dornier GmbH, Dornier Flugzeugbau GmbH. Most of them served with the German Air Force and ''Marineflieger'' and othe ...

x 2 *

Douglas C-47 The Douglas C-47 Skytrain or Dakota ( RAF designation) is a military transport aircraft developed from the civilian Douglas DC-3 airliner. It was used extensively by the Allies during World War II. During the war the C-47 was used for troo ...

s x 2 *

Helio Courier The Helio Courier is a cantilever high-wing light Short Take-Off and Landing, STOL cargo aircraft, utility aircraft designed in 1949. Around 500 of these aircraft were manufactured in Pittsburg, Kansas, from 1954 until 1974 by the Helio Aircraf ...

x 1 *

Piper PA-18 The Piper PA-18 Super Cub is a two-seat, single-engine monoplane. Introduced in 1949 by Piper Aircraft, it was developed from the PA-11 Cub Special, and traces its lineage back through the J-3 Cub to the Taylor E-2 Cub of the 1930s. In close ...

Super Cubs x 2

References

External links

BOA at Air-America.net
{{helicopter airlines Defunct airlines of Laos Airlines established in 1965 Airlines disestablished in 1967 Central Intelligence Agency front organizations Defunct helicopter airlines Vietnam War Military history of Laos

History

Incidents

Aircraft

References

Further reading

External links