The Red Bird Airport Leads

[Ron Bulman]

22 hours ago, John Butler said:

Thanks Larry,

It's hard to see such a large plane landing in a grassy field or roughed out unpaved road.  The C-54 was probably too large to land on the unfinished road at North Houston down by the river.  Whenever I think of airplanes landing in grassy fields or rough areas I think of the DC3.  It was a plane built in the 1930s and used for the next 80 years.  Dope runners found it particularly useful in smuggling dope.

Thanks again.  

I rode on a DC3/ Gooneybird 3 years ago for Fathers Day out of Meacham Field in Fort Worth.  Turned around over AT&T stadium.

I'm familiar with the Trinity river basin near Dealy Plaza  from having traveled over the three closest bridges, two of them multiple times.  The terrain in years gone by was overgrown and Very uneven.  Most of it still is. Trying to land a Military version, the C-47 would not only be stupid but likely deadly for occupants.

Greatest Generation Aircraft (gga1.org)

I rode from Denver to Love Field in Dallas on one of these maybe, many years ago.

 

Edited February 15, 2022 by Ron Bulman

[Larry Hancock]

I've always been a fan of the Douglas aircraft, both the DC-2 and DC-3.....excellent examples of designs which, like the earlier Ford Trimotor,  that live seemingly forever.   Same could be said for the Piper Cub.  And of course the Buff.

[John Butler]

Thanks Ron, Larry

In 1987 I moved out of the town that I lived in for more privacy in the country.  That summer two DC3 landed, on different occasions, in a grassy field nearby.  The plane was on the ground (in both episodes) for about 15-20 minutes.  The plane came in very low over the trees, maybe 150 to 200 feet, and landed.  Had to be dope smuggling runs.   

[David Boylan]

On 2/13/2022 at 2:57 PM, Ron Bulman said:

David, I see no name on this and don't recognize him myself.  Who is he?

Ron,

This guy.

 

Edited October 17, 2022 by David Boylan

[Ron Bulman]

5 hours ago, David Boylan said:

Ron,

This guy.

Thanks David.  Now I'm more confused.  I enlarged this and got out the magnifying glass, looking at the second name.  Does it say Carlos Hernandez Sanchez?  The Sanchez part throws me.  Is this Carlos Hernandez, military leader of the DRE (Tipping Point)?  Brother of Victor?  Didn't I read more on them and their father here recently?  Sorry for my failing memory on the details.  I'm probably wrong because this seems somewhat preposterous, head of the DRE as Oswald's contact at the TT.  Unless the name was a dangle for Oswald.  But Hernandez was nowhere around the TT when push came to shove.  Way off track?

[Larry Hancock]

Ron,  I'll let David reply in more detail on his document but Carlos Hernandez, while a significant military figure for DRE (especially in 1962 on its Cuba boat raid) was not its senior leader in 1963. His resume goes way beyond that - he was a long time WAVE maritime operations guy having come out of a special CIA cadre created under Jenkins for Cuban infiltration prior to the Bay of Pigs.  He was both a propaganda and military asset for JMWAVE as of 62/63 and he engaged in very independent activities in 63 including both an abortive bombing missions against Cuba which took him to the New Orleans area that summer and an association with a JURE affiliated group in Miami.

You will read a lot about him in Lead 2 of the Red Bird research paper  (and in Tipping Point).  He was a close friend Victor, not his brother, and the two had been associated since the original Cuba project.  Both were in the New Orleans area in 1963 - but while Victor went to Chicago, Carlos is the best candidate for going on to Houston (and McKeown) and for very possibly having gone on to Dallas. 

He had been one of Artime's earliest recruits for AMWORLD but was being taken off the WAVE grid to go into black exfiltration out of the country to join AMWORLD by the end of 1963.  He would turn up offshore after the assassination. .

 

 

[David Boylan]

Hi Ron,

There's always a question on certain Latin names. The problem lies with the patronym vs. matronym. Hernandez being Carlos' patronym, true last name. Sanchez being his mother's last name. Victor's patronym being Espinosa although he was sometimes referred to as Victor Hernandez. They were close friends, along with Miguel Alvarez, having trained together in Guatemala, in Panama with Carl Jenkins, Col. Glenn "Rocky" Farnsworth, and "Alton Pirnack". They would also train in New Orleans just prior to the BOP. 

[Ron Bulman]

Thanks again for straightening me out.  I know I'm in over my head here.  Too many names to keep them all straight.  Carlos Hernandez was an associate but not brother to Victor.  I think I have them confused with two other brothers.

In another thread on here I think one of you two spoke of two Cuban brothers, and their father who were involved in anti Castro activities.  Suspicion that one of the brothers could have been a shooter In Dealy Plaza?  I guess not named Hernandez.  Did I dream this? 

[Andrej Stancak]

I wonder if anyone from surviving DRE or Miami Alpha station members could still be contacted. Maybe someone would be willing to spill confirmatory information, e.g., after reading David and Larry's  article, if they know how much is already known. 

[Larry Hancock]

Ron, its not just you - David remembers them all - I have to look them up myself before I make mistakes.  The brothers you probably remember are the Rodriquez brothers, who provided a key link between New Orleans and SAS/WAVE in Miami in regard to Oswald. Arnesto Rodriquez Jr. was the owner of the language school whom Oswald approached and who referred him to Bringuier and the DRE  (his father, Arnesto Sr was a long time ultra right figure in the New Orleans Cuban community).  The key is that Arnesto Jrs brother Emilio had been a key, very deep cover CIA stay behind officer in Cuba but had come out and in 1963 was running some key counter intelligence programs for SAS targeting Cuban embassy personnel in Mexico City and at the UN.

The Rodriquez connections are critical and you can find them starting on page 149 in Tipping Point.  To be clear, this family was not related to the well known CIA officer Felix Rodriquez who had been sent into Cuba on sniper missions agaisnt Castro and whom some suspect as a shooter in Dallas.

Andrej, Jeff Morley has worked the DRE community in Miami intensely - its hard to think that if they knew or wanted to say something they would have by now.  However in the scenario where a couple of people hijack Oswald and set him up as a Castro link in the conspiracy only they would know - and even the folks at Red Bird with Oswald might well have seen it as an extension of the DRE propaganda effort using Oswald that had started back in New Orleans. 

I'm afraid the best you are going to get is third and fourth party repeats of gossip from the Cubans that were either involved or who knew them well enough to speculate - it would be on the same level as what Wheaton heard from Quintero.  And as far as family, children, grandchildren - that gets you no further, they either suspect or (as I've been told) their uncle or grandfather isa sweet old fellow who just sits in the sun, plays with children and would never do something like that.

 

[Ron Bulman]

15 hours ago, Larry Hancock said:

Ron, its not just you - David remembers them all - I have to look them up myself before I make mistakes.  The brothers you probably remember are the Rodriquez brothers, who provided a key link between New Orleans and SAS/WAVE in Miami in regard to Oswald. Arnesto Rodriquez Jr. was the owner of the language school whom Oswald approached and who referred him to Bringuier and the DRE  (his father, Arnesto Sr was a long time ultra right figure in the New Orleans Cuban community).  The key is that Arnesto Jrs brother Emilio had been a key, very deep cover CIA stay behind officer in Cuba but had come out and in 1963 was running some key counter intelligence programs for SAS targeting Cuban embassy personnel in Mexico City and at the UN.

The Rodriquez connections are critical and you can find them starting on page 149 in Tipping Point.  To be clear, this family was not related to the well known CIA officer Felix Rodriquez who had been sent into Cuba on sniper missions agaisnt Castro and whom some suspect as a shooter in Dallas.

Andrej, Jeff Morley has worked the DRE community in Miami intensely - its hard to think that if they knew or wanted to say something they would have by now.  However in the scenario where a couple of people hijack Oswald and set him up as a Castro link in the conspiracy only they would know - and even the folks at Red Bird with Oswald might well have seen it as an extension of the DRE propaganda effort using Oswald that had started back in New Orleans. 

I'm afraid the best you are going to get is third and fourth party repeats of gossip from the Cubans that were either involved or who knew them well enough to speculate - it would be on the same level as what Wheaton heard from Quintero.  And as far as family, children, grandchildren - that gets you no further, they either suspect or (as I've been told) their uncle or grandfather isa sweet old fellow who just sits in the sun, plays with children and would never do something like that.

 

Yes Larry, I must have been thinking or the Rodriguez brothers and their father.  I also likely confused Felix as part of the family regarding being potentially in Dallas as an assassin.  Then again, you say Emilio was a close friend of David Morales.  Maybe I inferred such a thought about him as a result even though he had no military training that you mention.

[David Boylan]

Here's our podcast with Doug Campbell form last weekend. 

https://www.spreaker.com/user/7338953/cubans-planes-guns-money-the-pre-assassi

 

List of podcasts - www.spreaker.com/show/the-dallas-actions-tracks

 

Edited October 17, 2022 by David Boylan