MYSTERY PLANE TIED TO DELAWARE FIRM

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00552R000303420034-4
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: January 18, 2011
• Sequence Number: 34
• Publication Date: October 7, 1983
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/01/18: CIA-RDP90-00552R000303420034-4
ARTICLE ArrP AR21
PH PAGL A~ -
1" I L ,? INGTON NEWS- JOLRuAL
7 October 1983
Mystery plane feed
to D~law~r~ firm
Summit.Aviation's shadowy role traced
By PHIL MILFORD
Staff reports
.1A civilian' airplane that crashed
last month on what may have been
a secret CIA mission to bomb Nica-
ragua's international airport was
acquired by anti-Sandinista rebels
through a Delaware aircraft outfit-
ting company..
The firm, Summit Aviation Inc.,
on Delaware 896 near Middletown,
is being-scrutinized by-U.S. Sen.
Joseph R. Biden Jr,, D-Del., a mem-
ber of the Senate lntelligence Com
mittee.
Biden said Thursday that he had
received an inquiry in June from a
Delaware resident about allegedly
secret aviation work being done by
Summit. The senator expressed
concern about the allegations rela-
tive to.Reagan adminittration pol-
icy in Central America.
Neither Summit's president,
Richard C. "Kip" du Pont of Green-
ville. nor other key.company offi-
cers could be reached for comment,
despite repeated calls to their
homes and offices Thursday and
today. Financial officer Edmund N.
Conaway of Wayne, Pa., refused to l
speak to a,reporter when contacted'
at home Thursday night.
Du Pont was reportedly "away,
out !lying'," and a spokesman said
he could not be contacted.
According to Federal Aviation
Administration records and a
Cessna dealer in Ohio, Summit`
bought the ill-fated aircraft in
1982.
Summit installed unspecified
equipment. and then sold the plane
to a Delaware corporation based in
McLean. Va. - which transferred
it to Central America, the dealer
and the FAA said.
Richard C. Wagner, of the Trager
Aviation Center inc. of Lima, Ohio,
said- Thursday that be recalls Sum-
mit officials teTiing him that they
were going to sell the 10-seat, twin-
engine 198)-model plane to 'some-
one in England.' Wagner said he
sold the plane to Summit "for about
:5390.000."
A News-Journal newspapers'
investigation of Summit Aviation
this summer has revealed a shad-
ow network of companies involved
in Summit's ref urbishing -program,
under a government contract about
-which Summit officials -won't corn-
men
Of 10 --multi-engine civilian air-
craft-reportedly ,equipped by Sum-
mit in -the past year some of
them apparently -with highly
.sophisticated military electronics
and surveillance equipment - six
are untraceable through public
FAA records.
The others were leased-from set}
arate companies in Virginia and
North Carolina, whose officers con-
firmed their presence at 'Summit
but weren't sure what the planes
were being used for.
The plane that crashed in Mana-
gua last month was acquired from
Summit by lnvestair Leising Corp..
which has links to the CLA.,.the New
York Times reported Thursday.
Delaware corporation files show
Investair Leasing Co. 'was formed
July 28, 1982. by two -women with
Washington addresses. The Times
reported that Invest-air's manager
is a former top official-of a -com-
pany that was owned by the CIA.
The piston-driven Cessna crashed
Sept. 8 during an abortive bombing
run on Managua. according -to the
Times.-The pilot - identified by the
Nicaraguan government-as an anti-
Sandinista rebel. according to the
Times - was killed.-The Nicara-
guan government recovered the
aircraft .documents. subsequently
-traced to Summit.
A Nicaraguan official claimed
that the plane was being used as
part of a secret CiA operation. the
Times reported.
The Reagan administration has
,alined itself in Central America
with El Salvador and Honduras,
and opposes what it says is a move-
ment toward international Commu
rt:srn by the Sandinista regime i.
;TNicaragua - a movement sup-
ported, according to defectors.'ty
the Soviettinion.
Congress has approved secret
appropriations to the CIA to halt
arms flows from Nicaragua to El
Salvadoran guerillas. But Congress
will not approve monies for the CIA
to 'overthrow the Nicaraguan San-
dinista government.
Sources Jim Nicaragua say. bow;.
ever, that the CIA is illegally trying
to do lust .that - in -part using
planes like the Cessna 404 from-.
Delaware that -was downed while
bombing Managua airport.
Eiden through his press secret:
tar-. Peter Smith - said Thursday
that his staff Js investigating -atte
gations about Summit, which were
contained it 2 letter his office
received in June.
It's no secret that I have been a'
persistent critic of the. adrri.nistra- .
bon's policies in Central America,',
Biden said in a statement.'But.be
said that, as a member of the irate)-_
ligence committee, "by law, I awn:
constrained from any -public com-
ment on this particular matter"
When asked about Summit's pos
sib)e connection with the CIA
agency spokeswoman Kathryn Rie-'
del said. 'We don't talk about who
we have contracts with. Write-a
letter.` In written correspondence,.
CIA spokesman Larry R. Strawder-
man said. "It is CIA policy to nei-.
the, confirm no. deny and
confidential or covert relationship.-
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/01/18: CIA-RDP90-00552R000303420034-4