[3] Evergreen also maintained a large aircraft maintenance and storage facility at the Pinal Airpark in Marana, Arizona, that the company acquired from the CIA's Air America operation.

[3] Evergreen also purchased the assets of Air America which had provided fixed wing and helicopter support for the CIA in southeast Asia during the Vietnam conflict.

Evergreen's hardware was so inextricably linked with political intrigue that rumors swirled that the company was owned by, or a front for, the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA).

"[8]Evergreen bought assets during the 1970s that were previously linked to CIA operations including the CIA's aviation 'skunk works' located at the Pinal Airpark in Arizona where Evergreen subsequently performed special maintenance such as servicing the NASA operated Boeing 747 Shuttle Carrier Aircraft used to transport the Space Shuttle.

Its Boeing 747 Supertanker aircraft was used as an firefighting air tanker from Israel to Mexico; its unmanned systems division flew drone flights over disaster zones; NASA hired it to operate its flying infrared observatory;[2] its aircraft supported United Nations peacekeeping operations in 30 countries; flew insect-eradication missions throughout Africa; provided helicopter support for the National Park Service and the U.S. Forest Service; and operated helicopters for FEMA following Hurricane Katrina in Louisiana.

[8] One of Evergreen's Boeing 747 airplanes (registered N473EV, which suffered an in-flight engine separation in 1993)[10] appeared in the 1990 action film Die Hard 2.

[20] By the time of Smith's death November 7, 2014, the remains of his once billion-dollar Evergreen Aviation empire had been sold off, shut down, or was in bankruptcy and under investigation by tax authorities.

[26] Compared to existing large water bombers and airtankers, the Evergreen Supertanker was planned to offer at least seven times more fire retardant capacity.

[27] In December 2010, Israel hired Evergreen's fire-fighting aircraft to assist in firefighting efforts of the 2010 Mount Carmel forest fire.