Chris Cox Posted October 7, 2004 Share Posted October 7, 2004 Nathaniel, How did you come to write "I Was Castro's Prisoner" with Martino? How did you end up with these fellows in (places like Green Mansions- Miami Springs) Cuban operations? Did these opportunities present themselves to you by chance or did you persue/initiate them? Were you, like many others supportive of Castro and then not? Looking back on your life did you come to these events and people through military or journalistic associations? For instance, Andrew St. George and Dickey Chapelle seemed to have gotten involved in Cuba operations through earlier events - WWII, Mil.Intelligence operations in various theatres of overt/covert War, their experiences in Hungary for example. Have other q and a's regarding Red Star Over Cuba save for another post. Thanks for sharing this history with us here. Chris Cox daughter of US pilot lost in Cuban operations '60 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Simkin Posted October 25, 2004 Author Share Posted October 25, 2004 Did you know that G. Robert Blakey was (and is) close friends with Dick Billings? He had also seen the photographs taken of the operation. Do you know why Dick Billings was sent on the Pawley/Bayo Mission. It seems very strange for a CIA operation to include a journalist armed with a camera. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Cox Posted October 25, 2004 Share Posted October 25, 2004 Andrew St. George was the photographer on that op, I believe. James is my expert on photog. but I believe it was Andy on that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Larry Hancock Posted October 25, 2004 Share Posted October 25, 2004 Hi Chris, nope for a change they passed on St George and it was Billings who went on the mission. And Billings would go on to join the Life team in Dallas, to spend time on the Garrison investigation and then to take a contract from Blakey to write the summary for the HSCA. And some of the other TILT alumni would go on to Watergate - guess Billings got the best of the deal. -- Larry Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
James Richards Posted October 25, 2004 Share Posted October 25, 2004 Terrence Spencer also took photos on Operation Tilt. Here he is below on the mission itself. James Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Cox Posted October 25, 2004 Share Posted October 25, 2004 Okay, you two smarty pants! Could've sworn I saw St. George mentioned as on this raid. I'm going to prove you wrong (wink) St. George when I spoke with him sure liked to talk about this. Maybe this was when he said he was too sick to join and opted out, but I thought he was on for this one. Best to you guys, Christy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Cox Posted October 25, 2004 Share Posted October 25, 2004 James, what have you got on Spenser. He wrote a great deal on Masferrer ops involving (other El Indio) Fuller and those Navas Bay raiders? Was he from Swank Mag? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
James Richards Posted October 25, 2004 Share Posted October 25, 2004 James, what have you got on Spenser. He wrote a great deal on Masferrer ops involving (other El Indio) Fuller and those Navas Bay raiders? Was he from Swank Mag? (Christy Cox) Christy, I don't have a lot on Spencer except that he was British and was famous for taking lots of terrific shots of The Beatles. I believe a book was published with these images. Andrew St George is interesting though and it would be easy to put him on Op Tilt but he wasn't there - not in any official capacity anyway. He did mix with several of the guys who participated as this photo below shows. That is St. George in the middle. Luis Cantin is on the far left and he was one of the Tilt guys. So much for going missing. The other guys in the photo were from Commandos L. I may have something interesting on one of these guys in the near future. James Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Cox Posted October 25, 2004 Share Posted October 25, 2004 Now, I'm furiously searching. James those photos will be the death of us. You da man. Spencer and Beatles pix, well that's a book in making. The life of freelancer was da kine back in those days. Where are these fellows now, I wonder? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Simkin Posted October 26, 2004 Author Share Posted October 26, 2004 Where are these fellows now, I wonder? Terry Spencer went to Southwood College. Its website provides an interesting biography of him. Terry Spencer was in Southwood from 1932 to 1936 when it was in Lypiatt Road under the housemastership of the formidably tall Mr Bishop. After College, he read Engineering at Birmingham University. During the war, he served with distinction in the RAF, flying both Spitfires and Hurricanes and commanding two squadrons. He was shot down twice and escaped from the Germans once. In one instance, he parachuted out over the Baltic at 30ft above the water and once held the entry in the Guinness Book of Records for the lowest parachute jump on record. He was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross and the Belgian Croix de Guerre with Palme. This gave him a taste for excitement and after he was demobbed, he flew single-handed to South Africa where he became involved in some diamond smuggling, flying across the African borders with the diamonds hidden under the front seat of his single-engine plane. Fortunately, he soon became much more interested in photography, a hobby he had pursued since he was given a box camera at the age of twelve. He opened an aerial photography business and settled down to a career in South Africa. In 1952, Terry stared to freelance for Life magazine and continued working for the magazine for the next twenty years until it closed in 1972. During this period, he covered news, features, and show-business stories as well as every war and trouble spot all over the world, including Kenya, the Congo, Vietnam, Algeria, the Middle East, Cuba and Indonesia. In a recent article in Amateur Photographer, he was asked if he worried about dying while on assignment. H replied, 'After surviving the Second World War, I never worried about being killed in Vietnam or any other war. I have never been afraid of death but I was always terrified of being hurt or wounded and carried a hypodermic syringe of morphine in my camera bag at all times. I've never even had a scratch in all the wars I covered. The only time I was ever hurt was when I was attacked by Paul McCartney after I discoved his hideaway in Scotland. After Life closed, Terry moved on to People, where he worked for the next twenty years and although he is stilshooting pictures an syndicating his work through Camera Press in London, he whas spent most of his time recently writing, with his wife, the actress, Lesley Brook, a book about his life, Living Dangerously. Spencer published a book called It Was Thirty Years Ago Today in 1995. Can be obtained cheap from Abe Books. Description on jacket reads: "An album of photographs capturing the inside life of the Beatles (taken by photographer Terry Spencer whilst travelling with the band in 1963)." His publisher provided this biography: TERENCE SPENCER was born during a Zeppelin raid in England in 1918. He took an engineering degree at Birmingham University but was saved by the outbreak of World War 11 in which he served as a Spitfire pilot, eventually commanding two squadrons. He was twice taken a prisoner of war and escaped once, and he was also awarded a place in the Guinness Book of Records for having made the lowest authenticated parachute jump on record. He ended the war with a DFC and a Belgian Croix de Guerre avec palme. After the war he flew a single-engine aeroplane 8,000 miles to South Africa without a radio or emergency supplies, and with only makeshift maps. There he set up a successful aerial photography business and met and married a London stage and screen actress, Lesley Brook. In 1952 Terence Spencer started working for American Life magazine, covering the rise and fall of the African continent; he then went on to cover stories in trouble spots all over the world. In 1963 he returned to England to cover the Beatles and the 60s cults and fashions, and when the magazine folded in 1972 he freelanced for The New York Times and other US publications. He then began to work for a new American magazine, People, which gave him the opportunity of covering numerous UK pop groups, writers, and stage and screen celebrities. His photograph collection today comprises some one million transparencies and black and white negatives, and must rank as one of the largest private collections. He continues to freelance. I also found on the Internet information that Spencer is a friend of Alan Diaz, a photographer from Miami. Is that significant? Dick Billings is still alive. G. Robert Blakey told me yesterday that they are still good friends. However, he refused to give me any contact details. By the way the G stands for George (never used). However, his mother said it stood for "Great". (Not many people know that). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Simkin Posted October 26, 2004 Author Share Posted October 26, 2004 Terry Spencer's book. Living Dangerously (2002) might be worth reading. http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/0...0714390-5521206 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Cox Posted October 26, 2004 Share Posted October 26, 2004 Wonderful info, John. I'll follow up. Great portrait addition to post, too. Chris Cox Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Simkin Posted December 4, 2004 Author Share Posted December 4, 2004 Did you have any dealings with George Smathers, Clare Boothe Luce, David Atlee Phillips, David Morales, Ted Shackley, Desmond FitzGerald, William Harvey, Tracy Barnes, Manuel Artime, or Tony Varona? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tim Carroll Posted December 21, 2004 Share Posted December 21, 2004 Ted Draper and I were fellow Communists in 1932 and were both editors of the magazine of the CPUSA-run college student org. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Mr. Weyl: You were a communist in college 72 years ago? And then took a sharp turn to the right? I'd like to hear more about that. Tim Carroll Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tim Gratz Posted December 21, 2004 Share Posted December 21, 2004 Ted Draper and I were fellow Communists in 1932 and were both editors of the magazine of the CPUSA-run college student org. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Mr. Weyl: You were a communist in college 72 years ago? And then took a sharp turn to the right? I'd like to hear more about that. Tim Carroll <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Tim, as I am sure you know, many of the most dedicated anti-communists were former communuists, e.g. Whittaker Chambers. I too would be interested in learning more about Mr. Weyl's history as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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