Our hours
Breakfast: 6:30am - 10:45am
Lunch & Dinner: 11:00am - 10:00pm
(506) 2777-3378
manager@elavion.net
The Famous CIA/Iran Contra Plane rests in the heart of Manuel Antonio.
"She has gone from the Cold War to Sunsets and Cocktails in paradise..." A. Templeton
History of El Avion
Our Fairchild C-123 was a part of one of the biggest scandals in the 1980’s. The Reagan Administration set up a bizarre network of arms sales to Iran designed to win the release of US hostages held in Lebanon and raise money to fund the Nicaraguan, counter-revolutionary guerrilla fighters, commonly referred to as the “Contras”. By artificially inflating the prices of arms, “National Security Council” NSC official Oliver North, was able to reap profits that could be diverted to fund the counter-revolutionaries of the Cuban allied Sandinista government.
Our CIA~Contra Plane
Of the $16 million raised, only $3.8 million actually funded the Contras. With the CIA’s help, they purchased several items, including two C-123 cargo planes, two C-7 planes, a Maule aircraft, spare parts, and munitions. They also built a secret airstrip on an American-owned, 30,000 acre ranch in northwest Costa Rica.
On October 5, 1986, a US cargo plane, the twin sister of El Avion’s own Fairchild C-123, was shot down over Nicaragua. A crew member, Eugene Hasenfus, was a pilot hired by a private company to fly, airlift and resupply missions, parachuted to safety and was captured by the Sandinista army.
Led out of the jungle at gun point, Hasenfus’ existence set in motion an incredible chain of cover-ups and lies that would mushroom into one of the biggest scandals in American political history, known as the Iran-Contra Affair. As a result of this successful Sandinista strike on our Fairchild’s sister plane, the cargo operation was suspended and one of the C-123s was abandoned at the International Airport in San José.
Resting Place in Paradise
In August 2000, we purchased the abandoned Fairchild and shipped the pieces of the Iran-Contra relic to Quepos. The fuselage was shipped via ocean ferry because it was 10 inches too wide for the antiquated Chiquita Banana railroad bridges! After hauling seven sections up the Manuel Antonio hill, the C-123 finally found its current cliff-side resting-place.
Now, our C-123 has been retired to less risqué endeavors as a restaurant, bar and an enduring Cold War relic. Join us for food under its wings, drinks in the fuselage pub or climb into the cockpit!
