Book Review of
CIA Paramilitary Operations in Tibet 1957-1975
Author: Ken Conboy
Helion & Co. Ltd. Asia@War Series no. 35
ISBN: 978-1-804510-21-6
By Ray Mehlberger
Copyright: 2022
MSRP: $29.95
ISBN: 978-1-804510-21-6
By Ray Mehlberger
Copyright: 2022
MSRP: $29.95
HISTORY:
CIA Paramilitary Operations I Tibet is the story of how the US government – primarily through the CIA and often in cooperation with India – came to harness, nature, and encourage Tibetan defense in one of the most extreme covert campaigns of the Cold War in particular. In particular, it details an important chapter in the CIA’s paramilitary history in Tibet. New kinds of equipment – aircraft and parachutes for example – were combat-tested under the most extreme conditions imaginable.
New communications techniques were tried and perfected in many cases. The lessons learned would be applied to other Cold War battlefields, like Vietnam, Laos and elsewhere. Tibet therefore became a vital proving ground for CIA case officers and their aircraft.
CIA Paramilitary Operations in Tibet’s back cover says the book contains over 60 color photos (I only counted 7), there are 43 black and white ones, of the participants in the campaign and 7 color illustrations of the insignias of the organizations involved, along with specially commissioned artworks illustrating the aircraft involved in the skies above Tibet.
The front cover of the book shows a black and white photo of Tibetan Special Frontier Force troops, line up and posing for the camera.
Below that is a color side-view profile illustration of a C-46C. It is overall white with blue stripe down its fuselage sides. There is a Tibetan flag on the sides of the rudder, over black code VT-DRX. This illustration is repeated again inside the book.
The back cover tells about the book, with another color side-profile illustration of a Boeing 727C that is overall bare metal. It has SOUTHERN AIR TRANSPORT on the sides of its fuselage, a U.S. flag on the rudder with small black serial no. N5055 below it. (also repeated again in the book).
THE BOOK:
This book is of soft-cover of 73 pages in 8 ¼” x 11 ¾” page format.
There are 3 maps. One of the Middle East as a line drawing and colorized maps of India and Nepal.
Pictures of combatants, buildings, aircrafts etc.
The color illustrations show 3 aircraft. Two are the ones on the covers, already described above. The third one is a Helio 500 Twin-Courier that was delivered to the Aviation Research Center (ARC). Seven unit badges are illustrated.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Ken Conboy is currently country manager for a private security and risk consultancy in Jakarta. Prior to that, he served as deputy director of the Asian Studies Center, an influential Washington based think tank, where his duties included writing policy papers on economic and strategic relations with the nations of South and Southeast Asia.
The author of nearly 30 books, about Asian military history and intelligence operations. Conboy’s most recent titles include a three-volume series for Helion on the war in Laos. Conboy, a graduate of Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service and of John Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies, was also a visiting fellow at Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok.
This is an interesting book for modelers and historians alike.
I sincerely wish to thank Casemate Publishers for this review sample.
All Helion & Co. Ltd. books can be viewed on Casemate’s website at:
CIA Paramilitary Operations I Tibet is the story of how the US government – primarily through the CIA and often in cooperation with India – came to harness, nature, and encourage Tibetan defense in one of the most extreme covert campaigns of the Cold War in particular. In particular, it details an important chapter in the CIA’s paramilitary history in Tibet. New kinds of equipment – aircraft and parachutes for example – were combat-tested under the most extreme conditions imaginable.
New communications techniques were tried and perfected in many cases. The lessons learned would be applied to other Cold War battlefields, like Vietnam, Laos and elsewhere. Tibet therefore became a vital proving ground for CIA case officers and their aircraft.
CIA Paramilitary Operations in Tibet’s back cover says the book contains over 60 color photos (I only counted 7), there are 43 black and white ones, of the participants in the campaign and 7 color illustrations of the insignias of the organizations involved, along with specially commissioned artworks illustrating the aircraft involved in the skies above Tibet.
The front cover of the book shows a black and white photo of Tibetan Special Frontier Force troops, line up and posing for the camera.
Below that is a color side-view profile illustration of a C-46C. It is overall white with blue stripe down its fuselage sides. There is a Tibetan flag on the sides of the rudder, over black code VT-DRX. This illustration is repeated again inside the book.
The back cover tells about the book, with another color side-profile illustration of a Boeing 727C that is overall bare metal. It has SOUTHERN AIR TRANSPORT on the sides of its fuselage, a U.S. flag on the rudder with small black serial no. N5055 below it. (also repeated again in the book).
THE BOOK:
This book is of soft-cover of 73 pages in 8 ¼” x 11 ¾” page format.
There are 3 maps. One of the Middle East as a line drawing and colorized maps of India and Nepal.
Pictures of combatants, buildings, aircrafts etc.
The color illustrations show 3 aircraft. Two are the ones on the covers, already described above. The third one is a Helio 500 Twin-Courier that was delivered to the Aviation Research Center (ARC). Seven unit badges are illustrated.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Ken Conboy is currently country manager for a private security and risk consultancy in Jakarta. Prior to that, he served as deputy director of the Asian Studies Center, an influential Washington based think tank, where his duties included writing policy papers on economic and strategic relations with the nations of South and Southeast Asia.
The author of nearly 30 books, about Asian military history and intelligence operations. Conboy’s most recent titles include a three-volume series for Helion on the war in Laos. Conboy, a graduate of Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service and of John Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies, was also a visiting fellow at Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok.
This is an interesting book for modelers and historians alike.
I sincerely wish to thank Casemate Publishers for this review sample.
All Helion & Co. Ltd. books can be viewed on Casemate’s website at:
Highly recommended.