Winston
Lorenzo von Matterhorn
- Joined
- Jan 31, 2009
- Messages
- 9,560
- Reaction score
- 1,749
DB Cooper Was Former Military Paratrooper From Michigan, Publisher Claims
17 May 2018
https://www.military.com/off-duty/2...ry-paratrooper-michigan-publisher-claims.html
The mysterious plane hijacker known as "D.B. Cooper," who has eluded authorities for more than 45 years, was an ex-military paratrooper from Michigan who boasted about the daring heist to a friend, a publisher plans to reveal Thursday.
Michigan publisher Principa Media says Cooper was former military paratrooper and intelligence operative Walter R. Reca, and Principa worked with Reca's best friend, Carl Laurin, in compiling the evidence. While the publisher did not disclose if Reca was still alive, an obituary online lists Reca, of Oscada, Mich., as having died in 2014 at the age of 80.
"Evidence, including almost-daily discussions over a 14-year period and 3+ hours of audio recordings featuring the skyjacker, was compiled by Recas best friend. It was then analyzed by a Certified Fraud Examiner and forensic linguist," the publisher said in a news release. "The audio recordings, created in 2008, include Reca discussing skyjacking details that were not known to the public prior to the FBIs information release in 2015."
The publishing company worked with Laurin for the memoir "D.B. Cooper & Me: A Criminal, A Spy, My Best Friend," and plans to present evidence at a press conference on Thursday in Grand Rapids linking the crime to Reca. Evidence includes:
Witness testimony from an individual who spoke with Reca within an hour of his jump
Documentation concerning how the $200,000 in stolen cash was spent
Confessions from Reca to two individuals at two different times
An article of clothing Reca wore during the jump
In 1971, on the night before Thanksgiving, a man calling himself Dan Cooper, wearing a black tie and a suit, boarded a Seattle-bound Boeing 727 in Oregon and told a flight attendant he had a bomb in a briefcase. He gave her a note demanding ransom. After the plane landed he released the 36 passengers in exchange for $200,000 in ransom money and parachutes. The ransom was paid in $20 bills.
D. B. Cooper
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/D._B._Cooper
He extorted $200,000 in ransom (equivalent to $1,210,000 in 2017).
Evidence suggested that Cooper was knowledgeable about technique, aircraft, and the terrain. He demanded four parachutes to force the assumption that he might compel one or more hostages to jump with him, thus ensuring he would not be deliberately supplied with sabotaged equipment.[99] He chose a 727-100 aircraft because it was ideal for a bail-out escape, due not only to its aft airstair but also the high, aftward placement of all three engines, which allowed a reasonably safe jump without risk of immediate incineration by jet exhaust. It had "single-point fueling" capability, a recent innovation that allowed all tanks to be refueled rapidly through a single fuel port. It also had the ability (unusual for a commercial jet airliner) to remain in slow, low-altitude flight without stalling; and Cooper knew how to control its airspeed and altitude without entering the cockpit, where he could have been overpowered by the three pilots.[100] In addition, Cooper was familiar with important details, such as the appropriate flap setting of 15 degrees (which was unique to that aircraft), and the typical refueling time. He knew that the aft airstair could be lowered during flighta fact never disclosed to civilian flight crews, since there was no situation on a passenger flight that would make it necessaryand that its operation, by a single switch in the rear of the cabin, could not be overridden from the cockpit.[101] Some of this knowledge was virtually unique to CIA paramilitary units.[102] [102 = Himmelsbach, Ralph P.; Worcester, Thomas K. (1986). "Norjak: The Investigation of D. B. Cooper." West Linn, Oregon: Norjak Project. ISBN 978-0-9617415-0-1. (Himmelsbach was the FBI's chief investigator on the case until his retirement in 1980; "Norjak" is FBI shorthand for the Cooper hijacking.)]
17 May 2018
https://www.military.com/off-duty/2...ry-paratrooper-michigan-publisher-claims.html
The mysterious plane hijacker known as "D.B. Cooper," who has eluded authorities for more than 45 years, was an ex-military paratrooper from Michigan who boasted about the daring heist to a friend, a publisher plans to reveal Thursday.
Michigan publisher Principa Media says Cooper was former military paratrooper and intelligence operative Walter R. Reca, and Principa worked with Reca's best friend, Carl Laurin, in compiling the evidence. While the publisher did not disclose if Reca was still alive, an obituary online lists Reca, of Oscada, Mich., as having died in 2014 at the age of 80.
"Evidence, including almost-daily discussions over a 14-year period and 3+ hours of audio recordings featuring the skyjacker, was compiled by Recas best friend. It was then analyzed by a Certified Fraud Examiner and forensic linguist," the publisher said in a news release. "The audio recordings, created in 2008, include Reca discussing skyjacking details that were not known to the public prior to the FBIs information release in 2015."
The publishing company worked with Laurin for the memoir "D.B. Cooper & Me: A Criminal, A Spy, My Best Friend," and plans to present evidence at a press conference on Thursday in Grand Rapids linking the crime to Reca. Evidence includes:
Witness testimony from an individual who spoke with Reca within an hour of his jump
Documentation concerning how the $200,000 in stolen cash was spent
Confessions from Reca to two individuals at two different times
An article of clothing Reca wore during the jump
In 1971, on the night before Thanksgiving, a man calling himself Dan Cooper, wearing a black tie and a suit, boarded a Seattle-bound Boeing 727 in Oregon and told a flight attendant he had a bomb in a briefcase. He gave her a note demanding ransom. After the plane landed he released the 36 passengers in exchange for $200,000 in ransom money and parachutes. The ransom was paid in $20 bills.
D. B. Cooper
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/D._B._Cooper
He extorted $200,000 in ransom (equivalent to $1,210,000 in 2017).
Evidence suggested that Cooper was knowledgeable about technique, aircraft, and the terrain. He demanded four parachutes to force the assumption that he might compel one or more hostages to jump with him, thus ensuring he would not be deliberately supplied with sabotaged equipment.[99] He chose a 727-100 aircraft because it was ideal for a bail-out escape, due not only to its aft airstair but also the high, aftward placement of all three engines, which allowed a reasonably safe jump without risk of immediate incineration by jet exhaust. It had "single-point fueling" capability, a recent innovation that allowed all tanks to be refueled rapidly through a single fuel port. It also had the ability (unusual for a commercial jet airliner) to remain in slow, low-altitude flight without stalling; and Cooper knew how to control its airspeed and altitude without entering the cockpit, where he could have been overpowered by the three pilots.[100] In addition, Cooper was familiar with important details, such as the appropriate flap setting of 15 degrees (which was unique to that aircraft), and the typical refueling time. He knew that the aft airstair could be lowered during flighta fact never disclosed to civilian flight crews, since there was no situation on a passenger flight that would make it necessaryand that its operation, by a single switch in the rear of the cabin, could not be overridden from the cockpit.[101] Some of this knowledge was virtually unique to CIA paramilitary units.[102] [102 = Himmelsbach, Ralph P.; Worcester, Thomas K. (1986). "Norjak: The Investigation of D. B. Cooper." West Linn, Oregon: Norjak Project. ISBN 978-0-9617415-0-1. (Himmelsbach was the FBI's chief investigator on the case until his retirement in 1980; "Norjak" is FBI shorthand for the Cooper hijacking.)]