Evergreen International Aviation

Evergreen International Aviation, Inc. was a global aviation services company based in McMinnville, Oregon. Delford M. Smith founded it in 1960 as Evergreen Helicopters, and it became known for commercial helicopter work in agriculture and forestry, including spraying and firefighting. In 1975 it formed Evergreen International Airlines, which grew into a worldwide operator of cargo Boeing 747 freighters and a fleet that flew in 168 countries. The company worked for the United States government and was widely rumoured to be a front for the Central Intelligence Agency. It sold Evergreen Helicopters to Erickson Air-Crane for 250 million dollars in 2013, ceased all aviation operations that year and shut down in 2014, when it declared Chapter 7 bankruptcy and began liquidating its assets.