Douglas DC-3

Well, actually, let me take that back.

I was disassembling the space shuttle, all right? And I went to repairing a, a, a DC-3 from World War II.

It was just that kind of difference in terms of technology or lack of or... [laughs] And it's, it kind of reminds you of why you're a mechanic, of what you like about mechanics.

I met Tom from a local repair shop at the pizzeria Wednesday night, Tuesday night.

What I find most interesting is that Miami is obviously a very, very, very busy airport with a lot of, let's call it weird operations, from ancient 767s to DC-8s to 707s, the Convairs, all sorts of equipment that could be-

DC-3s, let's say, that would be more prone to mechanical disadvantages at MIA.

Yet none of its runways, not a single one, not one end of any of the runways, has EMAS deployed, which is engineered material arresting system, I believe is the terminology, which is the crushable concrete at the end of the runway where if an aircraft rolls its way into this material, the material crushes underneath it, which helps dramatically to slow that aircraft to prevent it from leaving a safe area where it can come to rest.

In this case, the end of Runway 30 had a sufficiently long enough null space or runway safety area where, I think this was about 1,300 feet, where it wasn't crucial that this runway have it.

He then leveraged his expertise and connections within Eastern Europe built up during the Eastern Front offensive to convince U.S. military officials that he was indispensable.

So he, unlike other German captives who get temporarily interned within the U.S. Midwest or worse yet sent to BS tribunals, he got transported out on a DC-3 and he was moved into comfortable quarters at Fort Hunt, Virginia.

And there he was introduced personally to Alan Dulles, who decided on the spot to bring Mr. Gellin into U.S. government operation.

So they were then sent back to Germany in the service of the United States.

So they would either use foreign governments or they would use DOD.

Now, for the DOD to have fake members created for the agency, that requires DOD approval of the creation of those operatives.

So the way that the US government, and in particular the CIA, conducted offensive operations was they would have this, like, uh, like a DC-6 or like a DC-3, a Douglas, uh, aircraft, which is a fairly large aircraft at the time, propeller-driven.

They would make everyone in there a member of the Department of Defense.

one evening around nine o'clock, and we flew due north, along the arms of the North Sea, known by the wonderful names of Kattegat and Skagerrak.

The northern sun blazed red in the sky, and our Danish DC-3 pointed its nose straight toward it.

At 10.15 p.m. Norwegian time, the sun was still bright, and although it sank below the horizon a half hour later, we could easily make out in the lingering twilight.

the excitingly beautiful and complex Christiania Fjord, at the apex of which sits Oslo.