Allen Lawrence Pope - AUREV Service

AUREV Service

In April 1958, CAT recalled Pope from Saigon to Taiwan and sent him to Clark Air Base in the Philippines, where he was assigned a B-26 Invader that had been painted black and had its markings obscured. On April 27, 1958 Pope landed the bomber at Mapanget, a rebel-held Indonesian Air Force base on the Minahassa Peninsula of northern Sulawesi. The rebels were Permesta, led by dissident local army officers opposed to the government of President Sukarno. At Mapanget, Pope joined another CAT pilot and former Air Force officer, William H Beale, Jr, who had been flying a B-26 Invader for Permesta since April 19. The two bombers formed part of Permesta's Angkatan Udara Revolusioner ("Revolutionary Air Force") or AUREV.

Pope flew his first AUREV mission on April 27, attacking the government-held island of Morotai in the hours before a Permesta amphibious force successfully landed and took the island. The CIA instructed CAT pilots to target commercial shipping in order to frighten foreign merchant ships away from Indonesian waters, thereby weakening the Indonesian economy and undermining Sukarno's government. On April 28, Pope attacked the government-held province of Central Sulawesi. One source asserts that off the port of Donggala he bombed and sank three merchant ships: SS Aquila (Italian), SS Armonia (Greek) and SS Flying Lark (registered in Panama). Pope continued the sortie by attacking Palu, the provincial capital city, destroying 22 vehicles in a truck park.

Aquila was certainly bombed and sunk by an AUREV aircraft. However, a wreck off Ambon Island, more than 500 miles (800 km) east of Donggala, has now been identified as Aquila. Another source suggests that Aquila was bombed not on 28 April but on 1 or 2 May.

On April 29, Pope attacked the government-held province of South East Sulawesi. He struck the Indonesian Air Force base at Kendari, the provincial capital, with 500 lb (230 kg) bombs and machine-gun fire. He then strafed an Indonesian Navy patrol boat, KRI Intana, killing five crew and wounding another 23. On April 30, Pope again attacked Palu and Donggala; sinking a ship, destroying a warehouse and demolishing a bridge.

On May 1, Pope attacked the city of Ambon, the provincial capital of Maluku. His four 500 lb bombs missed his waterfront targets and fell in the sea. He then tried a strafing run but his starboard engine suffered an explosion. Pope aborted the attack and returned to Mapanget.

It took several days for the B-26 to be given a replacement starboard engine. Pope's next sortie was on May 7, when he again attacked the government airbase at Ambon. He seriously damaged a Douglas C-47 Skytrain and a North American P-51 Mustang and caused other damage on the airbase. On May 8 he attacked the Palu area in the morning and Ambon in the afternoon. On Ambon he bombed and machine-gunned the government-held Liang airbase in the northeast of the island, damaging the runway and destroying a Consolidated PBY Catalina. He then continued to Ambon city where he attacked an Indonesian Navy gunboat at anchor. His bomb missed but he then attacked with machine-guns, wounding two crew and damaging the gunboat.

Since May 1, Beale and his B-26 had been resting at Clark Air Base, leaving Pope's aircraft as AUREV's only active bomber. On May 9, Beale returned to Mapanget, releasing Pope who then took his turn to fly to Clark for several days' leave.

On May 15, Pope attacked a small transport ship, the Naiko, in Ambon Bay. She was merchant ship that the Indonesian Government had pressed into military service, and was bringing a company of Ambonese troops home from East Java. His bomb hit the Naiko's engine room, killing one crew member and 16 infantrymen and setting the ship on fire. He then attacked Ambon city, aiming for the barracks. His first bomb missed and exploded in a market-place next door. His next landed in the barracks compound but bounced and exploded near an ice factory. He then returned to Mapanget to find that in his absence the Indonesian Air Force had bombed the rebel air base, destroying a CIA/AUREV PBY Catalina and damaging a CIA/AUREV P-51 Mustang.

The Indonesian government alleged that Pope's bombing of a marketplace in Ambon city had killed a large number of civilians. This later turned out to be untrue, but in the meantime the US Embassy in Jakarta protested to the United States Department of State which then warned the CIA team in Manado. The CIA tightened its AUREV pilots' rules of engagement so that they could attack only airfields and boats. They were no longer allowed to attack buildings — not even military ones.