'Hank Gordon' & Redbird Airport

[Francesca Akhtar]

Does anyone know if the real identity of the mechanic 'Hank Gordon' was ever discovered/revealed by anyone? Gordon was the mechanic who worked on a plane at Rebird in the days leading up to the assassination and was told JFK would be hit by a cuban pilot who had worked with him. I believe only Matthew Smith, the and another researcher (Mary Ferrell I think) knew his real identity but promised never to reveal it.

[Ron Ecker]

According to Smith's book Conspiracy, the Cuban pilot told Wayne January, a partner in an aviation company at Red Bird, that JFK would be assassinated. Smith promised January he would not reveal his name. But January has since died, and his wife gave Smith permission to name him. Smith believes that the Cuban pilot flew the assassination team out of Red Bird on 11/22/63 in a DC3.

[Larry Hancock]

Hi Francesca, as Ron points out Wayne January was the actual person.

With some help we have managed to corroborate a good deal of information

about the actual aircraft involved, who bought it and where it eventually went.

The details certainly support January's remarks.

Certainly I belive that the pre-assassination link from the DC3 Cuban is extremely

important.

The expanded details on the incident and aircraft information will be in my

second edition.

There will also be further detail about the small four seater plane that caused

the tower operator so much concern on November 22.

-- Larry

[Francesca Akhtar]

Thanks Ron, Larry,

I had heard of Wayne January but I am somewhat confused because I had thought that he was a different person? I know in 'JFK:The Second Plot', Smith mentions Wayne January and the plane that was heard the afternoon of the 22nd November but he doesnt mention the story about the Cuban pilot. In the updated 'Say Goodbye to America' which mentions Gordon, it seems to imply they are two people. It says at one point:

'Little did I know that my talks with Wayne January would reach Hank Gordon.'

Have I misunderstood then?

Larry I'll be very interested to read the new info in your book, hope I can get a copy this time! Are you still hoping to release it in March?

Was the identity of the Cuban pilot ever discovered? I guess it's be hard to know for sure but any good guesses? When I first read of the story, I wondered if this Cuban pilot might have been 'Carlos' a Cuban associate of David Ferrie? According to Raymond Broshears, this Ferrie had gone to Houston the day of the assassination to wait for Carlos who was flying two members of the assassination team in from Dallas. Apparently Ferrie was supposed to then fly the men on to another location but this 'Carlos' never showed up.

[Ron Ecker]

Francesca,

In his new book Smith makes no mention of Hank Gordon, so I don't know who he was supposed to have been, unless it's a name that Smith used for January while the latter was still living.

Ron

[James Richards]

Larry may have to correct me but I believe the plane in question was actually a C-53 and at the time of the assassination, it was owned by Houston Air Center, which was a CIA front company.

As to the Cuban pilot, maybe we need to look at a certain high profile member of the DRE. It might be of interest that several DRE members were in Dallas at the time and had connected with Fermin DeGoicoechea and Manuel Orcaberrio. Could these guys have been the ones staying at the house on Harlendale? One would have to assume then that George Joannides knew all of this.

Let's not forget the DRE were very keen in tying Oswald to Castro. They produced literature on the day of the assassination stating that very clearly.

FWIW.

James

[Larry Hancock]

When Matthew first wrote on the subject January asked him not to reveal January as the

person with the experience in the plane sale - so Matthew used the Hank Gordon pseudonym.

A couple of years ago at Lancer he went through this in his presentation.

After his death, January's widow gave permission for the use of the real name in the

newer book.

As to the aircraft, indeed James is right and the aircraft was a C-54 built at the very

end of WWII, I have full paperwork on the plane and all its changes of ownership.

The plane title was not yet legally transferred to Houston Air Center as of November 22, that's

a long story I get into in the book.

And yes, with a bit of luck we are still looking to release the second edition by the end

of March, it's going into galley's at this time.

P.S. There seems no way at this point to get an exact ID on the Cuban but circumstances

suggest the aircraft was destined to be part of the Artime build up outside the U.S.

Most probably as a supply plane as all the seating had been stripped out at that time.

-- Larry

[George Bollschweiler]

Larry may have to correct me but I believe the plane in question was actually a C-53 and at the time of the assassination, it was owned by Houston Air Center, which was a CIA front company.

As to the aircraft, indeed James is right and the aircraft was a C-54 built at the very

end of WWII, I have full paperwork on the plane and all its changes of ownership.

The plane title was not yet legally transferred to Houston Air Center as of November 22, that's

a long story I get into in the book.

James and Larry,

what was it now a C-53 or a C-54?

George

[Larry Hancock]

George, James was correct...to quote myself from the second edition (grin):

"The aircraft in question was a C-53 (troop transport version of the DC-3); manufactured in 1944 and eventually sold by the US Liquidator of War Assets to Mid-Continent Airlines in 1949."

Larry may have to correct me but I believe the plane in question was actually a C-53 and at the time of the assassination, it was owned by Houston Air Center, which was a CIA front company.

As to the aircraft, indeed James is right and the aircraft was a C-54 built at the very

end of WWII, I have full paperwork on the plane and all its changes of ownership.

The plane title was not yet legally transferred to Houston Air Center as of November 22, that's

a long story I get into in the book.

James and Larry,

what was it now a C-53 or a C-54?

George

[Larry Hancock]

Just to help with any confusion over my earlier misposte, the following is from one of any number

of sites on WWII aircraft:

"By December 1941 when the USA entered the war, 500 DC-3's had been built and a further 369 were on order, the USAAC impressed 10% of operational airline aircraft, and requisitioned new airline aircraft direct from the production line, with those aircraft being designated C48, C49, C50, C52 dependant on the source and engine configuration.

The purpose designed military versions were the C53 "Skytrooper" Troop Transport and the C47 "Skytrain" Cargo"

The plane in question had originally been configured with seats as a troop transport

but the seats had been removed by the time the plane was being sold out of Redbird

by January...hence my remark on its possible use as a transport.

-- hope that helps, Larry

[Francesca Akhtar]

Thanks for the clarification on Wayne January, Larry and Ron, I'd been puzzled about it for a while!

James, interesting point on the exiles at the house on Harlendale - is this the 'safe house' that was allegedly run by Tammie True? I have read in 'The Taking of America, 1,2,3' that she provided a safe house for the assassins in Dallas but didn't mention exactly where. Sprague doesn't seem to list his source for this claim either so don't know if it is possible to verify.

I have not heard of Fermin DeGoicoechea or Manuel Orcaberrio - could you explain a little more about them? A quick google search failed to turn up anything.

Thanks

[James Richards]

Thanks for the clarification on Wayne January, Larry and Ron, I'd been puzzled about it for a while!

James, interesting point on the exiles at the house on Harlendale - is this the 'safe house' that was allegedly run by Tammie True? I have read in 'The Taking of America, 1,2,3' that she provided a safe house for the assassins in Dallas but didn't mention exactly where. Sprague doesn't seem to list his source for this claim either so don't know if it is possible to verify.

I have not heard of Fermin DeGoicoechea or Manuel Orcaberrio - could you explain a little more about them? A quick google search failed to turn up anything.

Thanks

Hi Francesca,

I believe the house on Harlendale was numbered 3128. It was a safe house where I believe militant Cubans were staying.

Fermin used the alias of George Perril. He was a Bay of Pigs veteran and the DRE secretary for military affairs. At the time he was securing weapons for a second invasion of Cuba. He was purchasing weapons through John Thomas Masen who had a contact at Fort Hood named George Nonte.

Orcarberrio was running the Dallas chapter of Alpha 66.

James

[Ron Ecker]

Orcarberrio was running the Dallas chapter of Alpha 66.

aka Manuel Rodriquez aka Manuel Rodriquez Orcaberrio.

[Adam Wilkinson]

Some additional info:

On Nov 22, at 2:30 PM, a plane took off from Redbird Airport, witnessed by Louis D. Gaudin, the air traffic controller. It is a white and green Comanche-type aircraft. Gaudin speaks with the planes three well dressed occupants. Fourty minutes later, the plane returns to the airport with only two occupants. It is met by a part-time employee who is moonlighting from the DPD. The plane then takes off again. According to CIA documents released in 1977, two Cuban men arrived at the Mexico City airport from Dallas, via Tijuana, on a twin-engine aircraft. The CIA receives "highly reliable" information that the men were met at the Mexico airport by Cuban diplomatic personnel from the Cuban embassy. One of the men then boarded either a FAR or Cubana Airlines plane, avoiding customs and traveled to Cuba in the cockpit so as to avoid mixing with the passengers.

[William O'Neil]

When Matthew first wrote on the subject January asked him not to reveal January as the

person with the experience in the plane sale - so Matthew used the Hank Gordon pseudonym.

A couple of years ago at Lancer he went through this in his presentation.

After his death, January's widow gave permission for the use of the real name in the

newer book.

As to the aircraft, indeed James is right and the aircraft was a C-54 built at the very

end of WWII, I have full paperwork on the plane and all its changes of ownership.

The plane title was not yet legally transferred to Houston Air Center as of November 22, that's

a long story I get into in the book.

And yes, with a bit of luck we are still looking to release the second edition by the end

of March, it's going into galley's at this time.

P.S. There seems no way at this point to get an exact ID on the Cuban but circumstances

suggest the aircraft was destined to be part of the Artime build up outside the U.S.

Most probably as a supply plane as all the seating had been stripped out at that time.

-- Larry

My chief suspect is Pedro Diaz Lanz......