Tepper Aviation, Inc. was a privately held aviation company operating a fleet of

Lockheed L-100 Hercules The Lockheed L-100 Hercules is the civilian variant of the prolific C-130 Hercules military transport aircraft made by the Lockheed Corporation. Its first flight occurred in 1964. Longer L-100-20 and L-100-30 versions were developed. L-100 pr ...

aircraft and was one of the largest civilian operators of L-100/L-382 aircraft. The airline may have suspended operations in 2006. On October 11, 2016 Tepper filed papers changing its name to Gulf Air Group, effective in 2017. In 2019, Gulf Air Group opened the Covington Maintenance Center at Southern Alabama Regional Airport in Andalusia, Alabama. Tepper was based at the

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 mi ...

in Crestview, Florida. The company had a long association with the

Central Intelligence Agency The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA ), known informally as the Agency and historically as the Company, is a civilian foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States, officially tasked with gathering, processing, ...

(CIA). In the late 1980s and early 1990s, it was widely reported to be flying weapons into

Angola , national_anthem = " Angola Avante"() , image_map = , map_caption = , capital = Luanda , religion = , religion_year = 2020 , religion_ref = , coordina ...

to arm the

UNITA The National Union for the Total Independence of Angola ( pt, União Nacional para a Independência Total de Angola, abbr. UNITA) is the second-largest political party in Angola. Founded in 1966, UNITA fought alongside the Popular Movement for ...

rebels.Alan George, "Airline 'carrying CIA guns to Unita'", ''The Independent'' (UK), February 18, 1989. In 2005, the

Council of Europe The Council of Europe (CoE; french: Conseil de l'Europe, ) is an international organisation founded in the wake of World War II to uphold European Convention on Human Rights, human rights, democracy and the Law in Europe, rule of law in Europe. ...

said it was investigating allegations that the CIA was using the company's aircraft for

extraordinary rendition Extraordinary rendition is a euphemism for state-sponsored Kidnapping, forcible abduction in another jurisdiction and transfer to a third state. The phrase usually refers to a United States-led program used during the War on Terror, which had t ...

transporting suspected terrorists through Europe."European rights watchdog probes CIA prisoner flights", ABC News (Australia), November 24, 2005
/ref>

Alleged CIA affiliation

In early 1989, the UK ''Independent'' reported Tepper's involvement in Angola:

The CIA has appointed a new airline to ferry weaponry to the US and South African-backed
Unita The National Union for the Total Independence of Angola ( pt, União Nacional para a Independência Total de Angola, abbr. UNITA) is the second-largest political party in Angola. Founded in 1966, UNITA fought alongside the Popular Movement for ...
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 Kamina is the capital city of Haut-Lomami Province in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Transport Kamina is known as an important railway node; three lines of the DRC railways run from Kamina toward the north, west, and south-east. The ...
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 Airways St. 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 b ...
, whose activities, in addition to the Angolan work, included the transport of Colonel North and weapons to
Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...
... Bud Petty, who heads Tepper, categorically denies that the Hercules has been in Zaire or Angola.

Petty died months later in the crash of Hercules aircraft N9205TAccident description for N9205T
Aviation Safety Network. Undated, accessed May 18, 2006. 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 Petty, 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."Angolan CIA Hercules air crash kills Tepper Aviation chief", ''Flight International'', December 13, 1989.

According to ''The Book of Honor'' by Ted Gup, Petty was the head of Tepper at the time:

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 Crestview, just off
Eglin Air Force Base Eglin Air Force Base is a United States Air Force (USAF) base in the western Florida Panhandle, located about southwest of Valparaiso in Okaloosa County. The host unit at Eglin is the 96th Test Wing (formerly the 96th Air Base Wing). The ...
. The other crew members were all ostensibly employees of Tepper.

Gup's book identifies Gracie T. Petty as Petty's widow.

Alleged CIA affiliation

See also

References

Further reading