Tosh Plumlee

Tosh Plumlee

Robert Tosh Plumlee was born in 1937. He joined the United States Army in April 1954 and was assigned to the Texas 49th Armored Division. Later he was transferred to Dallas where he joined the 4th Army Reserve Military Intelligence Unit.

After leaving the army Plumlee worked as an aircraft mechanic before obtaining his pilot's license in 1956. Soon afterwards he began work as a pilot for clandestine CIA flights. This included working for William Harvey, Tracy Barnes and Rip Robertson. Plumlee also transported arms to Cuba before Castro took power. Plumlee was also associated with Operation 40.

In 1962 Plumlee was assigned to Task Force W which operated at the time from the JM/WAVE station in Miami. Plumlee claimed that in November, 1963, he was a co-pilot on a top secret flight supported by the CIA. Plumlee's flight left Florida on 21st November and stopped in New Orleans and Houston before reaching Dallas in the early morning hours of 22nd November. On board was Johnny Roselli. Plumlee testified that their assignment was to stop the planned assassination of John F. Kennedy.

Plumlee also worked as an undercover operative and contract pilot for the federal government during the "Drug War" during the presidency of Ronald Reagan.

In 1977 Plumlee testified before Frank Church and his Select Committee on Intelligence Activities. He also testified before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in 1990 and 1991.

Primary Sources

(1) Bob Vernon, testimony (18th November, 1994)

Robert Tosh Plumlee... has piloted and co-piloted clandestine CIA flights for over 31 years. He testified before the Church Committee in the 1970s and his CIA escapades have been well chronicled in magazine articles, books and congressional reports.

Mr. Plumlee testified before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on August 2nd, 1990, and again in May of 1991. His testimony under oath has been classified as Top Secret. Senator John Kerry served as Chairman of the Senate Committee, John Wyner, I believe his name is, and Dick McCall, staff aides to Senator Kerry, questioned Mr. Plumlee in relation to the Contra resupply network behind closed doors.

Mr. Plumlee testified to the U.S. Senate Committee and to Truth Truth Truth, Incorporated, that on the morning of November 22nd, 1963, he was a co-pilot on a top secret flight supported by the CIA. Mr. Plumlee's flight left Florida on November 21, 1963, and stopped in New Orleans and Houston before heading into Dallas, Texas, during the early morning hours of November 22nd, 1963.

Mr. Plumlee testified that Philippe or Philippo Socko, alias John Roselli, a known Mafia/CIA double operative was onboard the plane to Dallas. Mr. Plumlee stated that Mr. Roselli departed the plane at Dallas Garland Airport shortly after 6:30 a.m. on the morning of November 22nd, 1963. Mr. Plumlee testified that he was informed that the flight was an abort mission, and that their assignment was to stop the assassination attempt on Kennedy's life.

Mr. Plumlee testified that he was told this by his superior officers, and he has identified those officers. Mr. Plumlee testified that he was present in Dealey Plaza on the South Knoll at the time of the assassination.

(2) Tosh Plumlee, interviewed on 6th April, 1992.

Q: Where were you on November 22, 1963?

A: I was observing the attempt on Kennedy's life. I was at Dealey Plaza on the South Knoll.

Q: Did you have occasion on that day to see John Roselli?

A: Yes, I did. I saw John Roselli. John Roselli was on board the flight coming out of Houston. We had taken a flight out of Tampa, Florida and went through New Orleans, New Orleans to Houston and Roselli had boarded the flight at Tampa, Florida, and he was staying at the Congress Inn the night before he boarded the flight. Our team flew out of West Palm Beach, a place called Lantana, and to Tampa and then Roselli and a couple of other people got on board in Tampa. We flew to New Orleans where two people got off, three other people got on, Roselli stayed on board. We flew to Houston and then the next morning, we had some weather, and we left for Dallas, and we had to... we were heading for Thunderbird, I mean for Redbird Airport, and we had to make a stop a Dallas/Garland because of weather. We did not have an IFR flight plan filed at that point. We did not want to file a flight plan. The impression I was under at that time is we were flying a team into Dallas to abort the assassination and John Roselli was on board that flight as well as a couple of other Cubans and people that were connected with organized crime in New Orleans.

Q: Did this flight have any association with the CIA or do you know?

A: No, well, the CIA acted as support. Our flight was a military intelligence flight. How this flight originated was a few months prior to the Kennedy matter, there was a couple of Cubans that was CIA operations (Jim Wade) was to fire a bazooka on Castro in the Palace. That was aborted and then these same Cubans came back into Southern Florida, this was around the 15th/16th of November, and they were going to attempt to fire the bazooka on Air Force One which was parked at West Palm Beach at that particular time, November 17th, and as a result of that information coming out, that team, those Cubans, were picked up and from the interrogation of those Cubans that was the beginning of finding out about an attempt on Kennedy's life.

Q: On the morning of November 22, 1963, did the flight that arrived in Garland, Texas, just outside of Dallas, have anything to do with the CIA?

A: The CIA was... yes it did, the CIA was our support people. We were military intelligence. The CIA was running support and coordinating certain flights, making different arrangements, or necessary arrangements, for us.

Q: Where did you go after you got off the aircraft at Redbird?

(3) Tosh Plumlee, statement published on the Educational Forum (12th January, 2006)

I enlisted and was assigned to military specialized operations at Fort Bliss, Texas in April of 1954.(RA18389060; Recon Training Command, RTC-D8)

I was associated with various Military Intelligence units of the Fourth Army based at Fort Bliss, Texas, and also the Fourth Army Reserve, located at Dallas Love Field, Dallas Texas. This service period was in the early to mid fifties and into the early sixties.

Approximately 1962 through 1963, I was assigned to Task Force W Section- C-7 tab B and D know as the Cuban Project which operated at the time from the JM/WAVE station attached to Miami, Florida's 'Cuba Desk' of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA).

I operated as a contract "Undercover pilot" and also, at times, I was assigned to specialized Cuban operations of the CIA's "Covert Action Group" (CAG) I was engaged in many secret operations through out the early sixties.

Some years later, after brief retirement, known by some as the forum as 'The Farm'. I reactivated myself and became attached as an undercover operative and contract pilot for the federal government during President Reagan's "Drug War". (1979-86)

I was attached to a secret team known as 'America-Mexico Special Operations Group' ("AMSOG"), HQ'ed Panama Southern Command. I was also a pilot and associated with the Contra Resupply Network.

I have testified four times in close door session, to various Senate and congressional investigative committees (Director FBI 1964; J Hoover; Senator Church, 1976-75; closed-door testimony, classified TS; to Congressmen Tom Downing's investigators, before the HSCA was formed; (1975) to Senator John Kerry's Committee of 1988-91 Senate Foreign Relations Committee twice, August 2, 1991 & May 7-15, 1992 also classified " "TS Committee Sensitive" and the "Tri-State Drug Task Force", (Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico) chaired by Arizona Governor, Bruce Babbit.

The cover operation contact cut out was the Phoenix Organized Crime Div. Phoenix AZ,1975-86. I worked with Senator Gary Hart and his security adviser Bill Holden, on previous intelligence matters with the NSC and the drug war with Colombia and Costa Rica. I worked UC operations with KiKi Camarena and his pilot, before they were murdered and I was a Military/DEA contract pilot, attached to Panama and Colombia, Costa Rica Investigative Task Force on Narcotics.

I have a secret classified file as defined within the National Security statutes under the name of William Robert (Tosh) Plumlee aka William H "Buck" Pearson code named "Zapata", Miami Cuba Desk, 1960-63 MI/CIA OMC-TFW7; Section C (locate Tab B & D) classified information; portions declassified Aug 1998. Associated with Operation 40 connected to the NSC and the "White House Situations Rooms briefings. I was a contract operative for the CIA, associated with Tracy Barns, Wild Bill Harvey, Frank Bender, John Martino and many others. All my previous testimony concerning government investigations has been under oath.