Author: Robert H. Edwards
Publisher: Schiffer Publishing
ISBN: 9780764362569
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 256
Book Description
The "D. B. Cooper" case is the only unsolved act of air piracy in US history. On November 24, 1971, a polite, nondescript, and dark-complexioned man calling himself "Dan Cooper" hijacked Northwest Airlines Flight 305, Boeing 727, between Portland, Oregon, and Seattle, Washington. At Seattle International Airport, he demanded and received $200,000 and four parachutes, released the passengers, and ordered the crew to take him to Mexico. Somewhere along the way, he jumped. He was never found or identified. Forty-five years later, the FBI gave up the hunt. This book looks at the case from the perspective of a mathematician and pilot. It uses previously unexamined data and original-source documents, combined with the tools of statistics, aeronautics, and meteorology, to show where and how the FBI could resume the search and possibly find out at last who "D. B. Cooper" really was.
D. B. Cooper and Flight 305
Author: Robert H. Edwards
Publisher: Schiffer Publishing
ISBN: 9780764362569
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 256
Book Description
The "D. B. Cooper" case is the only unsolved act of air piracy in US history. On November 24, 1971, a polite, nondescript, and dark-complexioned man calling himself "Dan Cooper" hijacked Northwest Airlines Flight 305, Boeing 727, between Portland, Oregon, and Seattle, Washington. At Seattle International Airport, he demanded and received $200,000 and four parachutes, released the passengers, and ordered the crew to take him to Mexico. Somewhere along the way, he jumped. He was never found or identified. Forty-five years later, the FBI gave up the hunt. This book looks at the case from the perspective of a mathematician and pilot. It uses previously unexamined data and original-source documents, combined with the tools of statistics, aeronautics, and meteorology, to show where and how the FBI could resume the search and possibly find out at last who "D. B. Cooper" really was.
Publisher: Schiffer Publishing
ISBN: 9780764362569
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 256
Book Description
The "D. B. Cooper" case is the only unsolved act of air piracy in US history. On November 24, 1971, a polite, nondescript, and dark-complexioned man calling himself "Dan Cooper" hijacked Northwest Airlines Flight 305, Boeing 727, between Portland, Oregon, and Seattle, Washington. At Seattle International Airport, he demanded and received $200,000 and four parachutes, released the passengers, and ordered the crew to take him to Mexico. Somewhere along the way, he jumped. He was never found or identified. Forty-five years later, the FBI gave up the hunt. This book looks at the case from the perspective of a mathematician and pilot. It uses previously unexamined data and original-source documents, combined with the tools of statistics, aeronautics, and meteorology, to show where and how the FBI could resume the search and possibly find out at last who "D. B. Cooper" really was.
The Unsolved Hijacking of Flight 305
Author: Burt H. Slaughter
Publisher: Xlibris Corporation
ISBN: 1493129953
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 342
Book Description
The UNSOLVED HIJACKING OF FLIGHT 305/ How Justice Was Denied is a work of fiction wrapped around an actual event: the hijacking of Flight 305 between Portland, OR, and Sea-Tac Airport near Seattle, WA, November 24, 1971, by a man who came to be known as D. B. Cooper. This is the only unsolved case of air piracy in United States history. This is the story of a love so strong as to cause the compromise of principles and morals and to overcome the fear of death by jumping from an airplane into the freezing darkness. Our character, Dan Wilson, is backed into a corner when he discovers that Melita, the love of his life, will die without a costly liver transplant. He decides the only way to get a large sum of money fast is to hijack an airliner and demand a $200K ransom. After collecting the ransom money and surviving the jump, he struggles through the wilderness to his means of escape and makes it to Mexico only to lose all the money in a fiery crash. Still in a corner, he makes a deal with the devil. Will Melita, the love of Dannys life, be saved? Can Danny find redemption for his deeds? Will the drug lord, Luis Esperanza, be brought to justice? Who was this Dan Cooper? What really caused him to risk his life for $200K? Did he die in the wilderness, as many in the F.B.I. believe? If he did survive, where did he go? What happened to the bulk of the money? Many questions.few answers. If you like a tale of love and adventure, this book is for you. This is a plausible story and I hope for you, an enjoyable read! Burt H. Slaughter
Publisher: Xlibris Corporation
ISBN: 1493129953
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 342
Book Description
The UNSOLVED HIJACKING OF FLIGHT 305/ How Justice Was Denied is a work of fiction wrapped around an actual event: the hijacking of Flight 305 between Portland, OR, and Sea-Tac Airport near Seattle, WA, November 24, 1971, by a man who came to be known as D. B. Cooper. This is the only unsolved case of air piracy in United States history. This is the story of a love so strong as to cause the compromise of principles and morals and to overcome the fear of death by jumping from an airplane into the freezing darkness. Our character, Dan Wilson, is backed into a corner when he discovers that Melita, the love of his life, will die without a costly liver transplant. He decides the only way to get a large sum of money fast is to hijack an airliner and demand a $200K ransom. After collecting the ransom money and surviving the jump, he struggles through the wilderness to his means of escape and makes it to Mexico only to lose all the money in a fiery crash. Still in a corner, he makes a deal with the devil. Will Melita, the love of Dannys life, be saved? Can Danny find redemption for his deeds? Will the drug lord, Luis Esperanza, be brought to justice? Who was this Dan Cooper? What really caused him to risk his life for $200K? Did he die in the wilderness, as many in the F.B.I. believe? If he did survive, where did he go? What happened to the bulk of the money? Many questions.few answers. If you like a tale of love and adventure, this book is for you. This is a plausible story and I hope for you, an enjoyable read! Burt H. Slaughter
Skyjack
Author: Geoffrey Gray
Publisher: Crown
ISBN: 0307451305
Category : True Crime
Languages : en
Pages : 330
Book Description
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • The true, unsolved story of D. B. Cooper’s 1971 airplane hijacking, one of the greatest cold cases of the twentieth century, by an author featured in D.B. Cooper: Where Are You?!, now streaming on Netflix “Here is writing and storytelling that is vivid and fresh—a delectable adventure.”—Gay Talese “I have a bomb here and I would like you to sit by me.” That was the note handed to flight attendant Florence Schaffner by a mild-mannered passenger now known as D. B. Cooper on a Northwest Orient flight in 1971. It was also the start of one of the most astonishing aviation whodunits in the history of American true crime: how one man extorted $200,000 from an airline before parachuting into the wilds of the Pacific Northwest, never to be seen again. The case of D. B. Cooper is a modern legend that has obsessed and cursed his pursuers for generations with everything from bankruptcy to suicidal despair. Now, with Skyjack, Geoffrey Gray obtains a first-ever look at the FBI’s confidential Cooper file, uncovering new leads in the infamous case. Starting with a crack tip from a private investigator, Gray plunges into the murky depths of the decades-old mystery to chase down new clues and explore secrets of the case’s most prominent suspects, including Ralph Himmelsbach, the most dogged of FBI agents, who watched with horror as a criminal became a counter-culture folk hero; Karl Fleming, a respected reporter whose career was destroyed by a D. B. Cooper scoop that was a scam; and Barbara Dayton, a transgender pilot who insisted she was Cooper herself. With explosive new information, Skyjack reopens one of the great cold cases of the twentieth century.
Publisher: Crown
ISBN: 0307451305
Category : True Crime
Languages : en
Pages : 330
Book Description
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • The true, unsolved story of D. B. Cooper’s 1971 airplane hijacking, one of the greatest cold cases of the twentieth century, by an author featured in D.B. Cooper: Where Are You?!, now streaming on Netflix “Here is writing and storytelling that is vivid and fresh—a delectable adventure.”—Gay Talese “I have a bomb here and I would like you to sit by me.” That was the note handed to flight attendant Florence Schaffner by a mild-mannered passenger now known as D. B. Cooper on a Northwest Orient flight in 1971. It was also the start of one of the most astonishing aviation whodunits in the history of American true crime: how one man extorted $200,000 from an airline before parachuting into the wilds of the Pacific Northwest, never to be seen again. The case of D. B. Cooper is a modern legend that has obsessed and cursed his pursuers for generations with everything from bankruptcy to suicidal despair. Now, with Skyjack, Geoffrey Gray obtains a first-ever look at the FBI’s confidential Cooper file, uncovering new leads in the infamous case. Starting with a crack tip from a private investigator, Gray plunges into the murky depths of the decades-old mystery to chase down new clues and explore secrets of the case’s most prominent suspects, including Ralph Himmelsbach, the most dogged of FBI agents, who watched with horror as a criminal became a counter-culture folk hero; Karl Fleming, a respected reporter whose career was destroyed by a D. B. Cooper scoop that was a scam; and Barbara Dayton, a transgender pilot who insisted she was Cooper herself. With explosive new information, Skyjack reopens one of the great cold cases of the twentieth century.
DB COOPER and the FBI
Author: Bruce a Smith
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781952439384
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 506
Book Description
The 3rd Edition of DB Cooper and the FBI - A Case Study of America's Only Unsolved Skyjacking
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781952439384
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 506
Book Description
The 3rd Edition of DB Cooper and the FBI - A Case Study of America's Only Unsolved Skyjacking
Bloodless
Author: Douglas Preston
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
ISBN: 1538736713
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 397
Book Description
INSTANT #1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER: Agent Pendergast faces his most unexpected challenge yet when bloodless bodies begin to appear in Savannah, GA. A fabulous heist: On the evening of November 24, 1971, D. B. Cooper hijacked Flight 305—Portland to Seattle—with a fake bomb, collected a ransom of $200,000, and then parachuted from the rear of the plane, disappearing into the night…and into history. A brutal crime steeped in legend and malevolence: Fifty years later, Agent Pendergast takes on a bizarre and gruesome case: in the ghost-haunted city of Savannah, Georgia, bodies are found with no blood left in their veins—sowing panic and reviving whispered tales of the infamous Savannah Vampire. A case like no other: As the mystery rises along with the body count, Pendergast and his partner, Agent Coldmoon, race to understand how—or if—these murders are connected to the only unsolved skyjacking in American history. Together, they uncover not just the answer…but an unearthly evil beyond all imagining.
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
ISBN: 1538736713
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 397
Book Description
INSTANT #1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER: Agent Pendergast faces his most unexpected challenge yet when bloodless bodies begin to appear in Savannah, GA. A fabulous heist: On the evening of November 24, 1971, D. B. Cooper hijacked Flight 305—Portland to Seattle—with a fake bomb, collected a ransom of $200,000, and then parachuted from the rear of the plane, disappearing into the night…and into history. A brutal crime steeped in legend and malevolence: Fifty years later, Agent Pendergast takes on a bizarre and gruesome case: in the ghost-haunted city of Savannah, Georgia, bodies are found with no blood left in their veins—sowing panic and reviving whispered tales of the infamous Savannah Vampire. A case like no other: As the mystery rises along with the body count, Pendergast and his partner, Agent Coldmoon, race to understand how—or if—these murders are connected to the only unsolved skyjacking in American history. Together, they uncover not just the answer…but an unearthly evil beyond all imagining.
Unsolved Case Files: Escape at 10,000 Feet
Author: Tom Sullivan
Publisher: HarperCollins
ISBN: 0062991531
Category : Juvenile Nonfiction
Languages : en
Pages : 108
Book Description
An ALA Top Ten Best Graphic Novel for Children A thrilling new graphic nonfiction series about real FBI cases, launching with a gripping, minute-by-minute account of the only unsolved airplane hijacking in the U.S. CASE NO. 001: NORJAK NOVEMBER 24, 1971 PORTLAND, OREGON 2:00 P.M. A man in his mid-forties, wearing a suit and overcoat, buys a ticket for Northwest Orient Airlines flight 305 bound for Seattle. 3:07 P.M. The man presents his demands: $200,000 in cash and four parachutes. If the demands are not met, he threatens to detonate the explosive device in his briefcase. So begins the astonishing true story of the man known as D.B. Cooper, and the only unsolved airplane hijacking case in the United States. Comic panels, reproductions of documents from real FBI files, and photos from the investigation combine for a thrilling read for sleuths of all ages. What better way to draw readers into nonfiction than through an exciting graphic novel? This series will appeal to readers of series such as Nathan Hale’s Hazardous Tales. Fans of history and whodunits, CSI-club kids, and graphic novel enthusiasts alike will be pulled in by the suspenseful, complex, and kid-appropriate cases in this series. Sidebars provide fun facts about pre-2001 air travel, serial numbers on currency, airplane design, and more. Backmatter showcases period photos and primary source material in FBI archives.
Publisher: HarperCollins
ISBN: 0062991531
Category : Juvenile Nonfiction
Languages : en
Pages : 108
Book Description
An ALA Top Ten Best Graphic Novel for Children A thrilling new graphic nonfiction series about real FBI cases, launching with a gripping, minute-by-minute account of the only unsolved airplane hijacking in the U.S. CASE NO. 001: NORJAK NOVEMBER 24, 1971 PORTLAND, OREGON 2:00 P.M. A man in his mid-forties, wearing a suit and overcoat, buys a ticket for Northwest Orient Airlines flight 305 bound for Seattle. 3:07 P.M. The man presents his demands: $200,000 in cash and four parachutes. If the demands are not met, he threatens to detonate the explosive device in his briefcase. So begins the astonishing true story of the man known as D.B. Cooper, and the only unsolved airplane hijacking case in the United States. Comic panels, reproductions of documents from real FBI files, and photos from the investigation combine for a thrilling read for sleuths of all ages. What better way to draw readers into nonfiction than through an exciting graphic novel? This series will appeal to readers of series such as Nathan Hale’s Hazardous Tales. Fans of history and whodunits, CSI-club kids, and graphic novel enthusiasts alike will be pulled in by the suspenseful, complex, and kid-appropriate cases in this series. Sidebars provide fun facts about pre-2001 air travel, serial numbers on currency, airplane design, and more. Backmatter showcases period photos and primary source material in FBI archives.
My Father Was D. B. Cooper
Author: Bradley S. Collins
Publisher: Bookbaby
ISBN: 9781543905359
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 0
Book Description
Around Thanksgiving (2010) my wife Robin and I were sitting on the sofa watching the 11:00pm late news when they announced it was once again the anniversary of the "D.B. Cooper skyjacking event. On television, they always talk about it...this time they showed the original film footage of the airliner, taken during a stormy night in Seattle around 40 years earlier. In addition, they also displayed the composite sketch of the skyjacker, drawn from the memories of the few passengers and crew members to have observed him on the night of the skyjacking. "Look", I told my wife, "That guy was my father. I swear to God, he's the one who did it." She was astonished. I went on to tell her my Dad's brother, Bud, was in on it also. That he was a jet captain for the very airline, Northwest Orient, that was hijacked! Now, outside of conversations with my mother, I'd not mentioned a word of all this to anybody in over 40 years! The newscast went on to say that the FBI had discovered additional new evidence in the case, (In the form of DNA) again they asked for the public's help in finally solving the case. I not only decided to tell my wife, I told her of my decision to contact the authorities including the FBI as soon as possible to reveal what I knew. I was excited that evening, I began to tell my wife more about the story. Before the newscast on television was over, I walked her to our living room wall, pointing to a portrait of my father and his brother Bud standing next to each other in front of an airplane, (front cover photo on book). "Robin, I took this photograph just over 3 weeks before the skyjacking. Dad, on the left, is "Cooper"...I wasn't quite 15 years old when I took the picture. I'll never forget the day. It was Saturday, October 30th 1971. I was outside on the Edmonds ferry dock selling newspapers. Next, Dad and Bud show up and basically kidnap me with an offer to buy me lunch. I was already starved, so I climbed into the back of my uncle's car. Despite my protests my uncle Bud, with Dad to his right, drives me out to Snohomish airport, where we took off, with my uncle Bud at the controls, (Dad co-pilot), and I in the back in the rear cargo section. Immediately after taking off, and climbing, uncle Bud banks sharply to the right, flies out over Puget Sound, and begins circling. This goes on for quite some time. We seemed to be flying from Everett to Seattle, passing Edmonds, and sharp circles back to Everett. Dad and him were going over calculating and discussing about things, I, in the back, starving and wondering what they were up to! "Uncle Bud, Dad! What are you guys doing? Why are we flying circles? I'm starving, when are we gonna eat? You said you'd buy me lunch, Uncle Bud!" Finally, Uncle Bud turns and says "Don't worry Bradley, were going to land, we'll get you lunch soon... After we landed at Renton Municipal Airport, we entered the café, and only I had lunch, they had eaten earlier. After lunch, we walked out to the plane where I took the famous front cover photo. We took off, and landed back at Snohomish. The main reason I enjoy telling this part of the story and sharing the photograph with people is because it's all tells the story: What Dad and Bud really did that day was take me along with them during the "Final dress rehearsal" of what my dad did just over 3 weeks later. Complete with flying circles of Puget Sound and landing our small plane at Renton, only 3 miles from Sea-Tac Airport, where Dad had the Boeing -727 jet landing on the night of the skyjacking.
Publisher: Bookbaby
ISBN: 9781543905359
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 0
Book Description
Around Thanksgiving (2010) my wife Robin and I were sitting on the sofa watching the 11:00pm late news when they announced it was once again the anniversary of the "D.B. Cooper skyjacking event. On television, they always talk about it...this time they showed the original film footage of the airliner, taken during a stormy night in Seattle around 40 years earlier. In addition, they also displayed the composite sketch of the skyjacker, drawn from the memories of the few passengers and crew members to have observed him on the night of the skyjacking. "Look", I told my wife, "That guy was my father. I swear to God, he's the one who did it." She was astonished. I went on to tell her my Dad's brother, Bud, was in on it also. That he was a jet captain for the very airline, Northwest Orient, that was hijacked! Now, outside of conversations with my mother, I'd not mentioned a word of all this to anybody in over 40 years! The newscast went on to say that the FBI had discovered additional new evidence in the case, (In the form of DNA) again they asked for the public's help in finally solving the case. I not only decided to tell my wife, I told her of my decision to contact the authorities including the FBI as soon as possible to reveal what I knew. I was excited that evening, I began to tell my wife more about the story. Before the newscast on television was over, I walked her to our living room wall, pointing to a portrait of my father and his brother Bud standing next to each other in front of an airplane, (front cover photo on book). "Robin, I took this photograph just over 3 weeks before the skyjacking. Dad, on the left, is "Cooper"...I wasn't quite 15 years old when I took the picture. I'll never forget the day. It was Saturday, October 30th 1971. I was outside on the Edmonds ferry dock selling newspapers. Next, Dad and Bud show up and basically kidnap me with an offer to buy me lunch. I was already starved, so I climbed into the back of my uncle's car. Despite my protests my uncle Bud, with Dad to his right, drives me out to Snohomish airport, where we took off, with my uncle Bud at the controls, (Dad co-pilot), and I in the back in the rear cargo section. Immediately after taking off, and climbing, uncle Bud banks sharply to the right, flies out over Puget Sound, and begins circling. This goes on for quite some time. We seemed to be flying from Everett to Seattle, passing Edmonds, and sharp circles back to Everett. Dad and him were going over calculating and discussing about things, I, in the back, starving and wondering what they were up to! "Uncle Bud, Dad! What are you guys doing? Why are we flying circles? I'm starving, when are we gonna eat? You said you'd buy me lunch, Uncle Bud!" Finally, Uncle Bud turns and says "Don't worry Bradley, were going to land, we'll get you lunch soon... After we landed at Renton Municipal Airport, we entered the café, and only I had lunch, they had eaten earlier. After lunch, we walked out to the plane where I took the famous front cover photo. We took off, and landed back at Snohomish. The main reason I enjoy telling this part of the story and sharing the photograph with people is because it's all tells the story: What Dad and Bud really did that day was take me along with them during the "Final dress rehearsal" of what my dad did just over 3 weeks later. Complete with flying circles of Puget Sound and landing our small plane at Renton, only 3 miles from Sea-Tac Airport, where Dad had the Boeing -727 jet landing on the night of the skyjacking.
Paratrooper of Fortune
Author: Drew Hurst Beeson
Publisher: Independently Published
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 308
Book Description
Ted B. Braden was "the perfect combination of high intelligence and criminality." - Jo Ann, Ted Braden's sister-in-lawNovember 24th, 2021 will mark the 50th Anniversary of the only unsolved skyjacking case in American history. The case, nicknamed "Norjack" by the FBI as it involved the hijacking of a Northwest Orient 727 Airliner, would create a folk hero, if not a legend, of a mysterious man who would be immortalized by the name D.B. Cooper. This fascinating case has garnered a myriad of colorful and interesting suspects. One of the "dark horse" suspects who emerged over the years was a member of the most elite Special Forces unit created by the United States Government to serve during the war in Vietnam: a secret and covert unit called the Military Assistance Command, Vietnam - Studies and Observations Group (MACV-SOG). This rather benign-sounding name served as a thin veil, masking what was known to a few as the "black ops" unit in Vietnam. Many of the soldiers who served in this elite unit consider one of their own to be the infamous D.B. Cooper who hijacked Northwest Orient Flight 305; demanded a ransom of $200,000 in cash; and jumped out of the lowered aft staircase of the plane into the stormy night, never to be seen again. It was even stated by some of the most highly-decorated members of MACV-SOG, legends such as Major John Plaster and Sergeant Billy Waugh, that one man in SOG had the parachuting expertise, the know-how, and, most of all, the "balls of steel" to pull off the D.B. Cooper skyjacking. This man was Ted B. Braden. Raised in the Mid-West during the Great Depression, young Ted could not have foreseen that the trajectory of his life would be set by events happening thousands of miles from his boyhood home. At age 16, Braden joined the army to fight in World War II, a decision that led to a twenty-year on-again/off-again military career marked by dangerous covert operations; C.I.A. intrigue; desertion, arrest, and incarceration (only for him to be freed without trial under mysterious circumstances); Cold War mercenarism; and ultimately, distrust in a government for whom he could have surrendered his life.The story of Ted B. Braden, master parachutist and soldier of fortune, trained by Uncle Sam in the art of war but not in the art of peace, is the quintessential American story, the story of the men of his generation and of a war that defined that generation. Ted Braden was an enigma as a person, driven by a brilliant, unorthodox mind that struggled to adapt to a society based on law and order and routine. He was a true super soldier who was suspected of having mental illness, most likely from post-traumatic stress disorder. He was a tortured soul with the burning frustration that he could never parlay his soldiering skills into big financial gains. He was fearless in his military endeavors to the point of risking lives but was endowed with natural instincts of survival that kept him and the men under his command alive.It is tragic that a man like this is no longer alive to share his story. It is tragic that a man like this never will be fully understood. He had an ability to be very kind and very cruel, an ability to be very forthright and very cunning, an ability to be very committed as a soldier and very adrift as a civilian. Was he the man who fearlessly leapt out of a Boeing 727 with $200,000 strapped around his body on a rainy Thanksgiving Eve in 1971? We may never know, but even if Ted Braden is not D.B. Cooper, he is one of the most fascinating people whose story you never knew - until now.
Publisher: Independently Published
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 308
Book Description
Ted B. Braden was "the perfect combination of high intelligence and criminality." - Jo Ann, Ted Braden's sister-in-lawNovember 24th, 2021 will mark the 50th Anniversary of the only unsolved skyjacking case in American history. The case, nicknamed "Norjack" by the FBI as it involved the hijacking of a Northwest Orient 727 Airliner, would create a folk hero, if not a legend, of a mysterious man who would be immortalized by the name D.B. Cooper. This fascinating case has garnered a myriad of colorful and interesting suspects. One of the "dark horse" suspects who emerged over the years was a member of the most elite Special Forces unit created by the United States Government to serve during the war in Vietnam: a secret and covert unit called the Military Assistance Command, Vietnam - Studies and Observations Group (MACV-SOG). This rather benign-sounding name served as a thin veil, masking what was known to a few as the "black ops" unit in Vietnam. Many of the soldiers who served in this elite unit consider one of their own to be the infamous D.B. Cooper who hijacked Northwest Orient Flight 305; demanded a ransom of $200,000 in cash; and jumped out of the lowered aft staircase of the plane into the stormy night, never to be seen again. It was even stated by some of the most highly-decorated members of MACV-SOG, legends such as Major John Plaster and Sergeant Billy Waugh, that one man in SOG had the parachuting expertise, the know-how, and, most of all, the "balls of steel" to pull off the D.B. Cooper skyjacking. This man was Ted B. Braden. Raised in the Mid-West during the Great Depression, young Ted could not have foreseen that the trajectory of his life would be set by events happening thousands of miles from his boyhood home. At age 16, Braden joined the army to fight in World War II, a decision that led to a twenty-year on-again/off-again military career marked by dangerous covert operations; C.I.A. intrigue; desertion, arrest, and incarceration (only for him to be freed without trial under mysterious circumstances); Cold War mercenarism; and ultimately, distrust in a government for whom he could have surrendered his life.The story of Ted B. Braden, master parachutist and soldier of fortune, trained by Uncle Sam in the art of war but not in the art of peace, is the quintessential American story, the story of the men of his generation and of a war that defined that generation. Ted Braden was an enigma as a person, driven by a brilliant, unorthodox mind that struggled to adapt to a society based on law and order and routine. He was a true super soldier who was suspected of having mental illness, most likely from post-traumatic stress disorder. He was a tortured soul with the burning frustration that he could never parlay his soldiering skills into big financial gains. He was fearless in his military endeavors to the point of risking lives but was endowed with natural instincts of survival that kept him and the men under his command alive.It is tragic that a man like this is no longer alive to share his story. It is tragic that a man like this never will be fully understood. He had an ability to be very kind and very cruel, an ability to be very forthright and very cunning, an ability to be very committed as a soldier and very adrift as a civilian. Was he the man who fearlessly leapt out of a Boeing 727 with $200,000 strapped around his body on a rainy Thanksgiving Eve in 1971? We may never know, but even if Ted Braden is not D.B. Cooper, he is one of the most fascinating people whose story you never knew - until now.
The Skies Belong to Us
Author: Brendan I. Koerner
Publisher: Crown
ISBN: 0307886115
Category : True Crime
Languages : en
Pages : 338
Book Description
The true stroy of the longest-distance hijacking in American history. In an America torn apart by the Vietnam War and the demise of '60s idealism, airplane hijackings were astonishingly routine. Over a five-year period starting in 1968, the desperate and disillusioned seized commercial jets nearly once a week, using guns, bombs, and jars of acid. Some hijackers wished to escape to foreign lands; others aimed to swap hostages for sacks of cash. Their criminal exploits mesmerized the country, never more so than when shattered Army veteran Roger Holder and mischievous party girl Cathy Kerkow managred to comandeer Western Airlines Flight 701 and flee across an ocean with a half-million dollars in ransom—a heist that remains the longest-distance hijacking in American history. More than just an enthralling story about a spectacular crime and its bittersweet, decades-long aftermath, The Skies Belong to Us is also a psychological portrait of America at its most turbulent and a testament to the madness that can grip a nation when politics fail.
Publisher: Crown
ISBN: 0307886115
Category : True Crime
Languages : en
Pages : 338
Book Description
The true stroy of the longest-distance hijacking in American history. In an America torn apart by the Vietnam War and the demise of '60s idealism, airplane hijackings were astonishingly routine. Over a five-year period starting in 1968, the desperate and disillusioned seized commercial jets nearly once a week, using guns, bombs, and jars of acid. Some hijackers wished to escape to foreign lands; others aimed to swap hostages for sacks of cash. Their criminal exploits mesmerized the country, never more so than when shattered Army veteran Roger Holder and mischievous party girl Cathy Kerkow managred to comandeer Western Airlines Flight 701 and flee across an ocean with a half-million dollars in ransom—a heist that remains the longest-distance hijacking in American history. More than just an enthralling story about a spectacular crime and its bittersweet, decades-long aftermath, The Skies Belong to Us is also a psychological portrait of America at its most turbulent and a testament to the madness that can grip a nation when politics fail.
The D.B. Cooper Hijacking
Author: Marcia Amidon Lüsted
Publisher: Essential Library
ISBN: 9781617833014
Category : Hijacking of aircraft
Languages : en
Pages : 0
Book Description
"Essential library by ABDO Publishing Company"--P. [4] of cover.
Publisher: Essential Library
ISBN: 9781617833014
Category : Hijacking of aircraft
Languages : en
Pages : 0
Book Description
"Essential library by ABDO Publishing Company"--P. [4] of cover.