Official History of the Bay of Pigs Operation- Volume 2- Part 1

August
TOP~ET
of the air operations, it had been decided, particu-
larly since it had been favored by the President of
Guatemala, that the Retalhuleu airstrip, a graded
sod-strip of approximately 4,300' in length, lying
in the NW corner of Guatemala, roughly 40 km from
the Pacific coast and 50 km from the Mexican border,
would be expanded to 5,000'xlOO' with a crushed stone
and asphalt surface. Suitable hanger type structures
and other necessary airfield facilities would be in-
stalled at that site for the air training base. 13/
Although the details are given in another history,
a word should be said here about the highly commendable
performance of one of the Agency's engineers from th~
Office of Logistics, I r who on 3
1960 was assigned to the Retalhuleu project as the
resident engineer arld who on 13 September saw President
Ydigoras officially ina~gurate the opening o~ the air-
strip with the landing of some DC-3's, a C-46, and a
couple of Aero Commanders. By 30 September all con-
struction was completed including the extension of the
airstrip to 5,000' and the base was ready for the inau-
guration of training activities. 14/*
* Despite some severe criticism from the A/DDP/A, C.
Tracy Barnes, about cost overruns, inefficient
(fa;~:;~~:nued on following page)
/