“On 23 January 2025, Basler Turbo Conversions…delivered the two most recently finished BT-67s…to an unknown customer in Tullahoma, Tennessee. Both were finished in overall gray colors, without any company or operator markings. This raised speculation that they were destined for a CIA front company.” — Aerospace Global News, January 30, 2025.
Basler Turbo Conversions of Oshkosh, Wisconsin, was founded in 1990 to convert existing Douglas C-47 Skytrain and DC-3 Dakota airframes into modernized and upgraded BT-67 aircraft in order to extend their serviceable life. They are currently operated by the air forces of Colombia (6), Guatemala (1), Mali (1), Mauritania (1), and Thailand (7), and by civilian organizations in Australia, Canada, China, Germany, South Africa (1), the United Kingdom, and the United States.
The conversion process consists of strengthening the airframe, lengthening the fuselage by 40 inches, upgrading the avionics, and making modifications to the wing leading edges and wingtips. But the primary upgrades are fitting the aircraft with Pratt & Whitney Canada PT6A-67R turboprop engines, each rated at 1,281 horsepower, and adding Hartzell HC-B5MA five-blade propellers for improved thrust. The rugged BT-67 holds up to 38 passengers, or up to five tons of cargo, and cruises at 210 knots (240 miles per hour.)
In 2006, the Colombian Air Force began operating five Basler BT-67s, known locally as the AC-47T Fantasma (“Ghost”), for counterinsurgency operations against armed guerrillas. They are each armed with two side-firing, GAU-19/A three-barrel, Gatling guns in .50 caliber, and a sixth aircraft (#1658) mounts a single GAU-19/A, alongside a Nexter (French) M621 20mm cannon for hard targets, slaved to an electro-optical/infrared, Star SAFIRE FLIR III (AAQ-22) sensor beneath the nose of the Fantasma. These special gunships are dispersed among the 113th and 713th Tactical Combat Squadrons at Palanquero and Calí, operating jointly with other counterinsurgency aviation assets.
Most recently, Basler completed the conversion of its 70th aircraft, N856RB, a former U.S. Marine Corps DC-3 Dakota from 1942, in late April, and it was delivered to Desert Air Alaska airline by June 25, 2025. Conversion #71, N700CA, will go to the Argentine Air Force this summer, for Antarctica resupply duties, particularly for their strategic Petrel Base.
But the most interesting recent development was the delivery of Conversions #68 (N1350A) and #69 (N941AT) to Tullahoma, Tennessee, in January and February 2025. These were originally built for the Theia Group, Inc., an aerospace start-up company in New York City, but Theia ran into severe problems with a multi-year scheme to defraud investors and lenders out of $250 million, and was officially charged by the IRS with fraud, fraud conspiracy, and tax evasion.
N1350A was originally a TC-47B Skytrain, delivered in April 1945. It later flew with Iberia Airline, then for the Spanish Air Force until 1981, and eventually ended up with Baron Aviation Services of Vichy, Missouri, before its conversion by Basler Turbo.
The second aircraft, N941AT, was a C-47A transport in World War Two, towing a Waco CG-4 glider to a landing zone at Hiesville, Normandy, on D-Day, June 6, 1944. After the war, it served with Pioneer Airlines, then back to USAF service in 1952, and it finally went to Air Tejas in 1995, flying cargo out of its homebase, Gainesville Municipal Airport, Texas, before being acquired by Basler.
Aerospace Global News reported on January 30, 2025, that “Basler delivers two new BT-67s…but to whom? On 23 January 2025, Basler Turbo Conversions…delivered the two most recently-finished BT-67s…to an unknown customer in Tullahoma, Tennessee. Both were finished overall in gray colors, without any company or operator markings. This raised speculation that they were destined for a CIA front company.
“There are historical links between the nearby Arnold AFB (Air Force Base) and the CIA, with ARO, Inc. (Arnold Research Organization, once the operating contractor for the Arnold Engineering Development Center, or AEDC), being designated as an authorized channel for the receipt and dissemination of foreign intelligence information between national intelligence community agencies and departments.”
The AEDC is an Air Force Test Center organization, the most advanced and largest complex of flight simulation test facilities in the world. The center operates 58 aerodynamic and propulsion wind tunnels, rocket and turbine engine test cells, space environmental chambers, arc heaters, ballistic ranges, and other specialized units.
According to Flight Aware, these two new BT-67 conversions are registered to “Cognisphere, LLC, of Wilmington, Delaware,” as of February 25, 2025. Oddly enough, Cognisphere’s street address at 251 Little Falls Drive is exactly the same as that of Corporation Service Company (CSC), an organization providing corporate, legal, and tax services, headquartered in Delaware, but with agent offices in all 50 states. So, it appears that Cognisphere may be owned by CSC, but CSC’s agent office in Tennessee is in Nashville, 62 miles north of Tullahoma, which doesn’t make sense. Why Tullahoma?
It’s interesting to note that, according to the Shannon Watch website, Path Corporation of Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, was a CIA shell company for Learjet 35 #N221SG, used by the Agency for “extraordinary rendition” flights of terrorism suspects. Path Corporation also provided various DHC-8, SA227-AT Expediter, and Cessna 208B aircraft for CIA flights. Eastern Shore Holdings of Rehoboth Beach provided Bell 407, Bell 412, AS332L1 Super Puma (three helicopters sold to the Los Angeles County Sheriff Department in 2012), and Mi-8MTV-1 Hip-H (Russian) aircraft, as well, so Delaware has been a hotbed of CIA aviation activity, including other companies, such as CFF Air, Inc., and VPC Planes, LLC, both of Wilmington (with Learjet 35As.)
Similarly, a CIA Cessna 208B, #N1016M, was registered to Pro-Air Leasing, of Wilmington, Delaware, and Crowell Aviation Technologies, of Dedham, Massachusetts, a CIA shell company with the same address as Premier Executive Transport Services, linked to Wilmington Trust Company of Delaware, Bayard Foreign Marketing of Oregon, and CIA-operated Gulfstream V #N44982. It’s quite a tangled web of intrigue and deception.
In addition, Stevens Express Leasing, Inc., of Cordova, Tennessee, has operated two BT-67s in the past, one of which, N707BA, was briefly flown by the Department of State Air Wing (DoSAW) in 2012, during the infamous and terrible, Benghazi Attack of September 11, 2012, when Hillary Clinton’s State Department actually denied a request by the late U.S. Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens’ security team at the U.S. diplomatic post in Libya for continued use of this particular, BT-67 aircraft. It had been deployed to Iraq before being moved to Libya. When commercial flights were resumed to Tripoli and Benghazi, the aircraft was finally restored “to other State Department business.”
The second Basler Turbo, N845S, a former C-47A Skytrain, from Stevens Express Leasing, has been mysteriously seen in Malta, Colombia, and Florida, and was “believed to be used for covert CIA or Department of State activities, along with a number of other BT-67s,” as reported this year by Aerospace Global News.
These two new, Basler Turbo BT-67 conversions at Tullahoma Regional Airport, Tennessee, very clearly appear on Google Earth satellite imagery, so their exact location is readily confirmed, only 10.5 miles west of Arnold AFB. They are definitely painted overall military, matte-gray, with no markings or insignia whatsoever, except for black registration numbers near the rear of each fuselage. Whatever their intended purpose, it does not appear to be civilian in nature. Also, it’s very difficult to locate any credible information on Cognisphere, LLC, of Wilmington, Delaware.
Furthermore, there has been reliable evidence that a North Carolina-based, aerospace contractor (probably Triangle Aviation Solutions, of Smithfield, NC) has provided at least one BT-67 and several light-gray, CASA CN-235-300 aircraft for parachute training of CIA paramilitary officers at the secret Camp Peary (“The Farm”), Virginia, and Harvey Point (“The Point”), North Carolina.
The Triangle Aviation Solutions (TAS) website clearly states that, “TAS provides aviation support and expertise for the United States Government (USG)…to include…training.” The Basler website specifically adds, regarding the TAS BT-67, “Triangle Aviation, Base: Smithfield, NC, Purpose: Paratrooper Training.” This particular BT-67 bears exactly the same, white-over-gray paint scheme and green stripes as BT-67 #N845S, formerly of Stevens Express Leasing in Tennessee, “believed to be used for covert CIA or Department of State activities.”
During a special operations assignment some time ago, this author briefly visited the CIA aviation office at a major, civilian airport in Western Europe, where a large, Boeing 737 commercial aircraft (one of at least four frequently associated with the Agency) was parked outside, bearing no markings at all, except for black registration numbers on the rear fuselage. So, the CIA definitely has a discreet presence in many areas of the world, with their aircraft openly parked outdoors, literally hidden in plain sight.
The one person who might be able to explain the ownership of these two mysterious Baslers is Jon Glass, the airport manager at Tullahoma Regional Airport. I emailed him on August 3rd, 2025, asking if he could provide any information on these specific BT-67s. He never responded, even after a second follow-up email on August 6th, because he clearly couldn’t risk revealing anything about these two new aircraft.
Given the historical links between Arnold AFB and the CIA, the proximity of these two aircraft to Arnold AFB, their definite, military appearance, the lack of public information about Cognisphere, LLC, the silent airport manager, the CIA’s demonstrated, past use of aviation front companies in Wilmington, Delaware, central Tennessee, and North Carolina, and previous, CIA use of various, Basler Turbo aircraft, these new BT-67s certainly seem to be “ghost planes,” with no clear ownership, perhaps intentionally.