I have started a new thread on David Ferrie as there was a danger of it being lost in another debate.

To all:

Regarding Stephen quote about the training camp:

I was not aware of Dave going out to any training camp personally, but I know he was involved later in a minor incident with a couple of the people who were out there.

I am not saying this amounts to any overt anti-Castro acticity, as such, by Dave in July and August of 1963. I saw no indication that it was overt.

Stephen Roy has written: "On the July 1963 camp(s), we really have only Delphine Roberts (not a bad source, but not a great one) and Tannenbaum's film recollection."

Tanenbaum (one n, is it not?) stated unequivocally that he saw the film, that it came from Georgetown.

The statements that come to mind were that many respondents were asked if Dave Ferrie RAN the camp. They were not asked if he were involved in any other way. One remarked that he couldn;t keep his mind on any one thing long enough to RUN a training camp.

I make a distinction between running a camp and having ANY involvement whatsoever, and I hope that Mr. Roy will publish the quotations that are behind the statements he just made of the interviews that centered on whetrher or not Dave was running the camp.

That is not what I claim or some others have claimed. I know that Dave was obviously aware of the camp's existence because I saw a portion of the training film.

I previously stated to Stephen in an email sent to him and a number of others that I saw a portion of that same training film, as it was being spliced in Dave Ferrie's apartment. I cannot state that Dave Ferrie was at the training camp. I did not see him in the film. But he was handling this rather poorly lit or underexosed film. I remember telling Stephen that Dave had some porn films and a Donald Duck film called "Moving Day"(no sound, black and white) that I noticed as some stacked reels in his apartment. It seems to me that though Stephen has not remembered or did not wish to mention my additional voice in this matter, that even if it means he adds a qualifier to my name, as he has done in the case of Delphine Roberts, such as "alleges she has seen" that it would reveal the true situation concerning witnesses.

The quotations to back up what Stephen has said should be given to members here so they can decide for themselves if Dave Ferrie, simply because he was described as not RUNNING the camp, was thereby disqualified from ever BEING at the camp. I do not know anything except that he had to have contact with some of those people because he did have access to the training film at its earliest stage of creation.

Best Regards,

Judyth Vary Baker

[quote=Judyth Baker,Jan 13 2005, 05:19 PM]
To all:

The quotations to back up what Stephen has said should be given to members here so they can decide for themselves if Dave Ferrie, simply because he was described as not RUNNING the camp, was thereby disqualified from ever BEING at the camp. I do not know anything except that he had to have contact with some of those people because he did have access to the training film at its earliest stage of creation.

Judyth is defining a valuable point here IMO, in regards to Ferrie's participation in the camp and other issues as well. There needs to be some way for statements and sources to be compared, as objectively as possible. Judyth and Stephen are not going to have the same thinking -- their experiences are different, for one thing. It will also be helpful for the community to have the actual issues defined, so that those of us who are getting up to speed on LHO/NO can be better oriented to why these differences are significant.

So, it seems that the issue here is to add definition to what Ferrie's involvement at the camp was and to what extent he was or was not present at -- or seen at -- the camp?

Pamela

Posted on another thread but this might help here:

FEBRUARY 5, 1967


TO: JIM GARRSION, DISTRICT ATTORNEY


FROM: JIM ALCOCK, ASSISTANT DISCTRICT ATTORNEY


RE: ANGEL VEGA


At 10:00 PM on January 31, 1967, CHARLES JONAU and I spoke to
ANGEL VEGA. This meeting, arranged by LAUREANO BATISTA,
Took place at the headquarters of the Christian Democratic Movement
located at 1732 N.W. 7th Street, Miami, Florida….


ANGEL VEGA is a slightly built Cuban male appearing to be in his
late twenties. He was one of the twenty Cubans who trained at a camp
in the New Orleans area. VEGA arrived at eth camp sometime near
the middle or end of June, 1963. When he arrived, there were only
four or five others at the camp site. The house and grounds where they
stayed were completely run down, giving the appearance they had not
been inhabited for quite a while. Their first task was to refurbish the
house and its conveniences.


All personnel stayed in the house which consisted of three rooms, a
kitchen and two baths. In addition to this, there was a screened porch
on the front and back of the house. The grounds had a swimming pool
which was constantly fed by an underground spring. Also, there was a
stream or bayou running through the property. Within sight of the property
was another house. The camp was served by a dirt road which VEGA recalls
was never used by vehicular traffic during his entire stay at the camp. ANGEL VEGA is positive he could find this camp site today, and would be willing to come to
New Orleans on a weekend for that purpose.


Training at the camp was principally limited to a physical fitness program. Daily exercises were taken along with swimming lessons. The men at the camp also practiced fording the stream that ran through the property. At no time did the men stray farther than about 200 yards from the house. No shooting whatsoever took place at the camp. They had two or three old Springfield rifles and M-1 carbine. These weapons were never fired. The M-1 carbine was used to show the men how to disassemble and assemble the weapon. During the course of many of the exercises, the men would carry small logs to simulate the weight of a weapon. Also, these logs were used in mock hand-to-hand combat training.


About two days before the cache of explosives was found at the other camp, ANGEL VEGA and two other camp members left for Miami with the Castro agent, FERNANDO FERNANDEZ. Shortly thereafter all Cubans at the camp returned to Miami. This was about August 1, 1963. Therefore, the camp was in operation for about five or six weeks.


While at the camp, ANGEL heard rifle shots and explosions from the direction of the other camp. However, at no time did VEGA and his fellow Cubans know of the existence of the other camp. This came to their knowledge only after the explosives were found.


As ANGEL recalls, the camp site was owned by two American males in their fifties or sixties. He feels they were in the insurance business. All contacts with them were made by RICARDO (DICKEY) DAVIS. They came to the camp occasionally to see if the men needed any food. DAVIS came to the camp about 8 to 10 time, mostly bringing food when he came. On one occasion, he brought his wife and he did some target shooting with a 22 caliber pistol.


ANGEL VEGA never heard the name of SERGIO ARCACHA SMITH or LINDBERGH mentioned and never saw any other Americans at the camp with the exception of the two previously mentioned. Angel remembers the following men to have been at the camp with him:


VICTOR PANEQUE 2ND in Command
FIDEL ZALDIVAR 1st in Command
……PERIU VICTORIA
MIGUEL CARBALLIDO
HENRY INFANTE
RAUL FANTONE
FERNANDO FERNANDEZ
SERGIO (NOT ARCACHA SMITH)


As you can see, ANGEL could only remember the first name of one man and only the last name of another. LAUREANO BATISTA, however, is still trying to locate a complete camp roster for us. He is also trying to locate the names if the Americans who owned the camp. If he is successful, he has promised to mail the information to me in New Orleans.


I feel that ANGEL VEGA was completely candid and cooperative throughout the interview. However, as far as the movement and its key personnel are concerned, we should expect some hedging.


JIM ALCOCK


..............----


This is the Slidell camp that was financed by "a group of very wealthy Texans and Louisianeans (Oil men) who had a lot of money and were willing to back any anti-Castro plan that would give them land were they could have a camp to train."


Most of the men were recruited by Victor "Diego" Panique who was then in New Jersey. They were to train for Somoza's "Nicaraguan Operation." Somoza had actually gone to Miami to do some personal recruiting.

Hi Stephen,

Larry DeJoseph is a pretty interesting character. Not a lot is known about him but he was associated with Gerry Hemming and Frank Sturgis in the early 1960's. The photo below shows him at Paul Poppenhager's flight school. That is him in the black shirt. Hemming is on the far right and Sturgis is in the center of frame (white shirt partially obscured by the pedestrian).

The photos of he and Ferrie show them scouting a location for the Louisiana camp. I believe the relationship between the two and how it came to be might just prove significant.

James

OK, so I'm going to jump in with some observations about what we do know about camps circa 1963. Virtually all of this comes from i) the FBI bust of a U-Haul full of explosives at the McClaney farm and ii) investigations by Garrison staff including Harold Weisberg - who were obviously eager to place any of Garrison's suspects ranging from Ferrie and some misc. Cuban exiles to Oswald himself at "camps" in the summer of 1963. Here's what we have on camps; these are completely separate from pre-Bay of Pigs training at Belle Chase and the abortive CRC sponsored summer/fall CRC/Hemming/Sturgis/DeJoseph/Ferrie camp that never actually jelled.

1) The McClaney farm bust was not a training camp, it was a holding area for a parked U-haul and the FBI had full details on what was in it from an informant in Miami before they made the bust, even an inventory list. However this is often written up in early JFK works as a full fledged training camp - the local media coverage may have created that impression?

2) A ""target range" which was apparently used by local Minuteman and possibly other right wing groups and which might have been loaned out to virtually any anti-communist folks for target practice. Firing was heard coming from that location by the Cuban exiles who were at the camp described below...

3) A camp organized by Ricardo Davis, purportedly to be funded by wealthy Texans (per Davis) and sponsored with personnel from the Christian Democratic Movement out of Miami. The funding Davis promised never emerged and when the FBI busted the McClaney farm U-haul these folks were taken off and sent immediately back to Miami. David Boylan's memo discusses this and there is much other documentation on it as well. Again, in early JFK material this is sometimes discussed as an Artime/SNAFE/CIA camp but that appears to be totally untrue and would be in direct conflict with the CIA's deal with Artime to do all his training and preparations outside the U.S.

On a side note, in regard to the Tannenbaum film, I need to point out that a host of good researchers have spent much time looking for that including the archivist where Tannenbouam says it went - with zero results. For myself I find it pretty incredible that anyone associated with the HSCA could have concrete evidence of Oswald associating with potential conspiracy suspects only months before the assassination and i) never write an internal memo on it, ii) apparently never show it to any other staff, iii) not make a copy of it or blow up any frames as momentos and iv) of course not do anything to get it into the HSCA report. Also given that Garrison himself was in frequent communication with HSCA staff you might supsect they would mention it to him as they did a variety of other leads relevant to his supects including Thomas Beckham. And I don't think anybody has been able to get a straight answer from Tannenbaum on why he did nothing with such a smoking gun piece of evidence...if it really existed.

PPS...it's also worth noting that Arcacha Smith was long gone from New Orleans by the summer of 1963 and that Ferrie's exile related activities seem to have significantly tapered off with his departure - although as Russo documents in his book, they had been intense proior to the Bay of Pigs fiasco.

Thanks, Larry. Excellent stuff.

Regarding the alleged Tannenbaum film which I agree is highly unlikely, didn't Col. Bishop also claim to have seen a training film showing Oswald at a New Orleans camp?

James

James, Bishop did say that when in New Orleans, Bishop had seen Oswald in a training film, apparently Oswald had simply been in a group at the camp where Bishop felt he was trying to "get in" with Anti-Castro exiles.

The problem is, that while some of Bishop's stuff can be corroborated and hangs together a good deal does not; one person known to me was with Bishop during a group of polygraph tests and said Bishop would come across totally truthful for
about 3 minutes out of ever 10 or 15 but would consistently just start going off apparently just generating stories. Obviously it made him difficult to use as a source.

Oh, and on another note, in early JFL literature there was often speculation that it was Oswald, in his infiltrator role, who exposed the supposed camp that was busted in the McClaney raid. Perhaps he did but now that we have the full FBI documentation on it we also have their sources - in reports written in the summer of 1963 - and their informants were exiles and not Oswald. They go into considerable detail into how the informants came to them and who they were, probably because they had to evaluate bringing charges. In the end their was no prosecution because no individuals were at the scene when the bust was carried out.

Thanks, Larry.

I'm actually surprised that Bishop sat for polygraph tests in the first place. I do remember that some of his information seemed to back up what Richard Nagell was saying.

Interesting information regarding the McClaney raid. Did the documents actually name the Cuban informants?

James

James, that's correct....but then he said a great deal about a bunch of stuff...the polygraphs were during a period when he was trying for some serious media coverage and possibly book deals...

Probably the safest core to what we can belive about him is from his notebook and the addresses and phone numbers in his possession. From that we can pretty clearly say that he did have intel connections going back to the OSS, he did have connections to certain exiles including those associated with Alpha 66 and its very likely he had connections to some of the Op 40 people and may have been used in that program even after the Bay of Pigs when it assumed a life of its own independent of any official Agency sanction. His notebook also confirms he knew and was in contact with both Vidal and Hargraves. And based on some of his activities in Florida post assassination its clear that he was tuned into the Florida National Guard and Reserve military structure and had some sort of undefined political clout in the Miami area.

On your other question, yes the FBI reports do give the source and also the informant by name. That should be in the documents on the book CD if memory serves; I think its also corroborated in Carlos Hernandez HSCA testimony but that may be incorrect. I don't know if I put the names in the book or not, might be in a footnote?

Larry,

The whole Bishop deal has me scratching my head a bit. I think we agree that Bishop was actually John Adrian O'Hare. We also have Hargraves saying that the photograph supposedly showing a uniformed Col. Bishop (Dick Russell's 'The Man Who Knew Too Much') was not actually him.

That aside, we have the connection between Bishop and Rolando Masferrer which is about as interesting as things get. We also have Bishop claiming he was flown to Dallas via military aircraft and was present at Parkland Hospital when JFK's body was there. Talk about being in the thick of it.

Regarding the FBI reports, I'll have to have a hunt around on your CD as I don't have your book on hand at the moment. You'll be pleased to know it is being passed around amongst some Australian military personnel in Indonesia at the moment. I know you would be even happier if they all purchased a copy for themselves but they don't make that much money.

James

Larry:

Though PURELY hypothetical, I wonder what we would find if we compared the time-frame of Tanenbaum's tenure with the HSCA with the date on which CIA's Regis Blahut was busted for rifling through [and pilfering from?] HSCA's evidence locker.

It always seemed to me that whatever Blahut was after must have been of the highest significance, in order to justify taking so great a risk. I've never been able to figure out what that might have been; certainly his claim of 'personal curiosity' [if memory serves] doesn't seem like much of a rationale.

It seems to me that CIA might wish to make disappear photographic evidence that the lone nut, about whom they evidenced so casual an indifference, was demonstrably connected with a camp under their nominal control. Since Blahut lied about having rifled through that evidence locker, and only admitted to this violation when it was proved his fingerprints were found on photographs therein, we know that he seemed particularly interested in photographic evidence.

If the time-frames match [I'll try to check on that], perhaps we can speculate our way to solving several minor mysteries.

James, I admire them for being in Indonesia - I hope the book provides some
diversion.

I think Bishop was in the thick of the things that we are interested in alright
but I suspect he represents the off the books side of things. If there were any
records on him before the BOP I suspect its in some files we won't see. Just
as Victor Hernandez was officially booted out of the New Orleans area training
camp (as far as the records on him go) but according to his own testimony went on to go on several missions into Cuba. If Bishop/O'hare was really working with
Op 40 in its darkest political action/elimination side I don't expecteto find any
memos...

Robert, that's a very interesting point. What bothers me though is why wouldn't Tannenbaum (not your bashful type) raise a stink. Even if it had been taken all he would have to do is give a legal deposition that he had viewed it and enter that in the record. Just think how much of an impetus that would have given to the Committee?

The other thing that's always bothered me is why he never discussed where he/they got it? Even if it were stolen the implications are so immense that its hard to see nothing happening with it - and if some powers that be had totally shut down discussion about it why would he have ever mentioned it?

....I'd sure like to see him interviewed about that one subject...

P.S. It reminds me of the other HACA wild card story about a staffer who talked about a plane found out in West Texas with Oswald's prints in it. Seems like that never made it into any memos either...

I think Bishop was in the thick of the things that we are interested in alright but I suspect he represents the off the books side of things. If there were any records on him before the BOP I suspect its in some files we won't see. Just as Victor Hernandez was officially booted out of the New Orleans area training camp (as far as the records on him go) but according to his own testimony went on to go on several missions into Cuba. If Bishop/O'hare was really working with Op 40 in its darkest political action/elimination side I don't expecteto find any memos... (Larry Hancock)

I think you are right, Larry. As far as rogue operations go, he may have been the 'go to' man for Morales. I have always suspected that Bishop/O'Hare was the man Morales used to recruit Vidal and Hargraves for Dallas.

As you say, I won't waste any energy looking for documents to back that up.

James

Just a bit of background information, prior to a few posts of biographical info on David Ferrie.

I was interersted in the assassination from the start. JFK was "my generation's president." I don't have a clear recollection of it, but I shook hands with JFK when he was a Massachusetts senator visiting my city in the mid-50s. I was saddened when he was killed, as were many. A "researcher" even then, I saved not only the local newspaper accounts of the tragedy, but also the Nov 21 paper announcing the reasons for the trip! When Oswald was killed, I had the feeling we may never know why and how JFK was killed, and like many, I wondered if he had been silenced.

I collected various magaine and newspaper accounts of the WC investigation, and obtained a USGPO version of the report late in 1964, and the Hearings and Exhibits in 1965 ($75.). I followed some of the early critical literature, such as Lane's book. I followed the Garrison probe, to some extent, and by happenstance, spent that summer of 1967 near New Orleans.

By the early 70s I had obtained a bootleg Z-film and was lecturing on the assassination. I wrote a few articles for weekly papers and had a short dalliance with the Assassination Information Bureau, then in Cambridge. I continued to be fascinated by the New Orleans aspects of the case. Eventually I came to feel that David William Ferrie was the key, so I began collecting everything I could find about him, including from NARA. Few books covered him in detail, and even fewer seemed to have any hard info about his role in the assassination, so I decided to be the guy to "nail" Ferrie - to find the smoking gun.

(At around this point, I worked in a District Attorney's office for about 2 years, and my orientation became much more focused on evidence than theory.)

At around the time HSCA began its work, I started cold-calling witnesses, and got some great interviews. HSCA produced many new documents and new leads, and I followed many of them. Over the next decade, many FOIA releases helped my research and led to new interviews. By the early 90s, the ARRB forced the release of reams of new stuff on New Orleans. I arranged all my materials into a long chronology and began writing the text on a word processor. This led me to the Internet, and I became established as a Ferrie specialist, and I quietly helped a few researchers.

This also led to my being invited to speak at the 2000 Lancer November In Dallas conference on the topic of David Ferrie. During the site tour, I shook hands with a filmmaker - while sitting on the grassy knoll! - to work on a Ferrie film. A late marriage and two children severely slowed my writing, but I have begun again in earnest. I am about half done, and I already have publisher interest. (I continue the process of interviews, however, as time allows.)

My book will be more of a biography than anything else. Most of us have a cartoon-like Joe Pesci image of Ferrie, but I want to show who he really was, and introduce a whole bunch of new stuff into the record. I DO cover all of the usual information about his role (and a bunch of new stuff in that regard), but draw few conclusions. I let the reader decide.

I gave a talk to researchers recently (not Lancer) and asked for a show of hands: How many people think Lee Harvey Oswald should have been given a presumption of innocence? All hands go up. How many think David William Ferrie should have been given a presumtion of innocence? No hands, a buzz in the room, then a few timid hands go up. Ferrie was the Perfect Villain. Fiercely anti-Communist and anti-Castro, an apparent child molester, a near-genius with a few evil qualities, and those dramatic police booking photos with the "Universal Studios horror lighting", making him look even more evil. I have tried not to presume him guilty without evidence. Some things you have heard about Ferrie prove true, but others prove untrue. I will try to sort out what I can.

But remember Jim Marrs' opening to Crossfire: "Don't trust this book." Take my book for what it's worth. In the long run, I think most will find valuable new stuff and a whole new understanding of Ferrie. That's enough about me and my orientation. Now, on to Ferrie.

David William Ferrie was born on March 28, 1918 at Cleveland, Ohio (about 10 months after his Irish-Catholic "counterpart" was born in Brookline, Massachusetts) to James Howard Ferrie and Burdette Couts Goldrick Ferrie. The Ferries were so-called "black Irish", having black rather than reddish hair, and had a family tradition of public service: Grandfather Patrick T. Ferrie served for 45 years with the Cleveland Fire Department, the last 20 as Fire Warden, his son William served 50 years with the CFD, and son James (David's father) spent 23 years with the Cleveland Police Department. James' cousin, A.J. Weatherhead, founded the Weatherhead Company and later, the Weatherhead Foundation, one of the Cleveland area's largest philanthropies.

James Howard Ferrie was a former motorman who started at the Cleveland PD as a patrolman and worked his way up to the rank of captain and Chief of Detectives. He obtained an LLB from Cleveland Marshall Law School (then located within Baldwin-Wallace College) in 1920, but deferred his law practice to remain on the CPD until 1937 in order to qualify for the pension. With his Cincinnati-born English-Catholic wife, he had 2 sons: David and Parmely. David was born with the assistance of a midwife in an apartment at 5411 Clark Avenue. By 1928, James had been promoted to lieutenant and had enough money to buy his family home at 17302 Laverne Drive, near Puritas Avenue and Rocky River Drive, very close to Cleveland Hopkins Airport, which probably contributed to young David's interest in flying. The family move brought him to a new parish and a new school, St. Patrick's. Evidence suggests that Ferrie may have been molested at that church, which may have had a bearing on his own orientation later in life. At about the same time, he dropped out of school for about a year and began to experience health problems, including Alopecia Areata, the loss of hair in clumps.

David Ferrie might have followed the family tradition and become a public servant, but his mother, who was very involved in church life, steered him toward a career path to the priesthood. At St. Ignatius High School, an all-male Catholic institution, he was a writer for the school newspaper, a champion debater, and a budding actor. In the class play, a murder mystery, he played the victim, a district attorney whose murder is solved by a man named Gill! As he was given to signing papers with his full initials (dwf), he was nicknamed "dwarf" by a fellow Ignatian!

Ferrie's first higher-education experience was at John Carroll University, a Jesuit institution. He was involved in the Glee Club and school newspaper, and again excelled at debate. But the school forced him to repeat a year due to certain emotional issues. They wrote: "Industrious and ambitious. Is somewhat socially immature. Is an enthusiast, wants attention and distinction. Wholly lacking in common sense; hard to direct or control."

In Spetember 1938 David Ferrie entered Saint Mary Seminary, then on Ansel Road. (Internal documents establish the correct spelling as "Saint Mary". not St. Mary or St Mary's). Over his two year stay, the rector noticed in Ferrie qualities he considered unsuitable for the priesthood: Brashness, a compulsive leadership complex, excessive criticism of superiors, and most important, he "came to be regarded among his associates as rather antinomian" (one who believes that faith is enough for salvation, that adherence to a moral code is not necessary.) He was asked to leave the seminary. The stress and depression once again caused an occurrence of hair loss.

He took a part-time job pumping gas and entered Baldwin-Wallace College, his father's alma mater. He was assigned to student-teach at Rocky River High School, but he still felt a calling to the priesthood. He applied for admission to the Society of the Precious Blood at St. Charles Seminary in Carthagena. The war was heating up, and his correspondence indicates that he asked for a hurry-up admission to avoid the draft, while his younger brother enlisted.

The same traits that had plagued him at John Carroll and Saint Mary emerged at St. Charles. Among other things, he had engaged in a "doctrinal dispute" with others at the seminary and actually caused a split amongst faculty and staff. When he was declined Perpetual Membership in the Society in late 1943, he had a nervous breakdown and was ordered to seek psychiatric help. By late 1944, he was again forced out, and suffered a full breakdown. Ferrie spent about a year undergoing various psychiatric treatments, and he developed a fascination with psychiatry (and in 1946, a fascination with hypnosis.) His depression cannot have been helped by the fact that, while he dodged the draft, his younger brother had been shot down over France and parachuted to safety and was honored in the Cleveland VE-day parade.

His father steered him toward learning to fly, and he obtained his student pilot license on August 10, 1945. He now secured a job teaching Aeronautics at the Catholic all-male Benedictine High School, and his dad bought him a Stinson 150 monoplane. In 1947 Ferrie became a Cadet Instructor at the Civil Air Patrol unit at Hopkins. But his behaviour did him in once again. He was fired from Benedictine in 1948 for, among other things, rolling a car over in the driveway of the school and stealing school property. He was also chased out of the CAP for some unorthodox flying activities and taking a group of underage boys to a whorehouse. His father apparently hushed up some criminal charges over these incidents, and David again had a nervous breakdown.

He began flying small planes on a commercial basis for Jeda Oil and Drilling Company for about a year, devloping an interest in the Southeastern US. When the company folded in 1949, he became an insurance inspector for two companies. He was fired from the first for using his private plane in vioation of company rules. He served the second admirably, but was now interested in other things. With the cold war heating up in Asia, he joined the US Army Reserve and wrote highly anti-Communist letters to officials in hopes of a direct commission as a fighter pilot.

By June 1950, the Korean War was in full swing, and there was a shortage of pilots for the expanding US passenger airline industry. Ferrie applied at Eastern Air Lines and was hired as a pilot trainee on April 16, 1951. (Again, this is the correct spelling: President Eddie Rickenbacker deliberately chose the separate words "Eastern Air Lines" as a symbol of individuality.)

NEXT: FERRIE IN NEW ORLEANS

Eastern Air Lines (EAL) wasn’t quite sure what to make of Captain David Ferrie: He was a good (though not great) pilot (“He has a tendency to talk his way through flight school rather than follow the procedures“); He showed promise in company public relations and training, but he could be “an odd one at times.”

After training in Miami, he was assigned to LaGuardia. He had just requested a transfer to New Orleans (MSY) when an investigative report from the Retail Credit Company was delivered (May 21, 1951), showing that he had been less than candid about his work history. He omitted Benedictine High School, from which he had been fired, and extended his tenure with Jeda Oil and Drilling to cover the omission. Serious consideration was given to firing him then and there, but he managed to talk his way out of it.

Ferrie settled in to New Orleans, living on St. Louis Street, Perrier Street and Bourbon Street. One friend noted that he “liked the south but didn’t like southerners.” Initially a co-pilot, he qualified on the Martin 404 and the Douglas DC-4. Toward the end of 1951, Ferrie answered a call for “seniors” (adults) to help expand the New Orleans Cadet Squadron of the Civil Air Patrol (CAP) based at Lakefront Airport. He began making speeches to civic organizations about air travel to the southeast, and even appeared on a television program (I have been unable to locate a kinescope of this show). EAL actually thought he might be more valuable in Traffic and Sales than as a pilot. In 1953, he attended Tulane for one semester, and during the same period, he looked into the possibility of entering the priesthood again at a seminary in Corpus Christi.

In 1954, Ferrie was nearly fired again after it was found that he had allowed a 15-year old boy to fly on a pass as his “adopted son”, a claim quickly proven false. He was not making a good impression on the Louisiana CAP Wing Commander, either. After a CAP boy he trained to fly died in a crash in December 1954, he submitted his 1955 papers, but the Wing Commander instead appointed a new interim Squadron Commander. Ferrie was angry and hurt. In April 1955, his papers were returned unsigned.

In June 1955, Ferrie was approached by the Commander of the smaller (15-20 cadets) Moisant Airport CAP squadron to lecture the boys. On July 27, Lee Harvey Oswald joined the squadron. He had been taken by friends to the Lakefront Squadron but did not join, but one of the friends talked him into joining the Moisant squadron. It was on a SARCAP (search and rescue) event one Sunday in August that the famous Ciravolo picture was taken. Oswald apparently only stayed a month or two, and Ferrie didn’t stay much longer, becoming peeved at having a girls’ CAP group as part of the squadron. One cannot read too much into such an encounter with a 15-year old Oswald, 8 years before the assassination; However, in an October 1956 letter, Oswald said that he had been studying Marxism for “well over 15 months” - precisely the time he encountered Ferrie.

By 1957 he lived in apartment in Vinet Avenue, where he had many white mice and said he was doing cancer research. He soon qualified on the Lockheed 1049 Constellation series and the Convair 440. In the summer of 1957, he traveled to Italy with his mother to take exams for his Doctorate in Psychology from the University of Phoenix, then under investigation by US authorities as a “diploma mill.” Not long after, Ferrie invited his ailing mother to come live with him. She sold the family home in Cleveland to finance Ferrie’s first house on Airline Park Boulevard. At the back, he had something akin to a training lab for boys, including an ingenious skeleton with pumps, tubes and lights, nicknamed “Jonathan”.

In March 1958, a former cadet who had become Commander of the Lakefront CAP squadron invited Ferrie back as an advisor, and after a series of propaganda letters, he managed to be re-appointed as Executive Officer. He obtained a Taylorcraft L-2 for flight training for his cadets, started a cadet rifle club and a rocketry club. He was reprimanded by the FAA when the L-2 was used in a reckless manner by a cadet.

By now, his activities with the boys (classified as “ephemophilia”) were becoming reckless. With the boys, he became enmeshed in a bizarre investment (read: “con”) to develop a palm nut, whose fuel was allegedly to be used by NASA. He apparently taught a seminar in aeronautics at Loyola. He was involved in the runaway of a boy who was remanded to a youth center, then visited him claiming to be a doctor.

In June 1960, Ferrie became upset on a CAP encampment at Keesler, among other things, being ordered not to sleep in the cadet barracks, and quit in a huff, taking several boys with him. they considered starting a group called the Omnipotents, but ultimately formed their own unauthorized group, the Metairie Falcon Squadron in October 1960.

By now, Ferrie had other things on his mind. He had been interested in the politics of Cuba for about a year, and was about to become involved.

NEXT: FERRIE AND THE ANTI-CASTRO MOVEMENT

Stephen,


NEXT: FERRIE AND THE ANTI-CASTRO MOVEMENT

Do you happen to have a transcript of the speech Ferrie was making before some group - I'm sorry, I can't remember the name right now, where his anti-Kennedy rhetoric was so vitriolic that he was asked to leave the stage?

Thanks,

Steve Thomas

Do you happen to have a transcript of the speech Ferrie was making before some group - I'm sorry, I can't remember the name right now, where his anti-Kennedy rhetoric was so vitriolic that he was asked to leave the stage?

I am pretty sure no recording was made and no transcript was made. I DO have the official minutes, but the description is vague, that Ferrie indicated his talk would be controversial, that he got into areas that the MOWW considered inconsistent with an official meeting, and asked him to stop while they adjourned the official meeting. Some people say Ferrie continued, some say he didn't.

I did talk to one person who was there. He caveated it by saying it was a long time ago, and it didn't seem significant in that political climate, but he recalls that Ferrie described the failure of the invasion and the cancellation of the air strike, and he said that the president did this. Motioning to a Cuban he had brought with him, he said that in Latin America, the crowds would be chanting "To the wall with him!", presumably a firing squad. Or some such thing. That is, as he recalls, when Adm. Ryan asked him to stop.

This long after the event, it is very hard to determine what happened, but the bottom line is that it was so critical of the President that the MOWW considered it out of line.