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[georger]

So the Cooper-Snoopers scooped the gatekeepers at the HC, eh?

We are just so, um...pesky, aren't we....

I guess you could call it "scooped". I have a google alert set for DB Cooper. So I get a notification any time DB Cooper is mentioned in a news article.

Today, I received another article about the History Channel summer show lineup. According to the contact I have spoken with it is still inaccurate information.  However, it will air in July 2016.

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"DB COOPER – 4x60min – Premieres Sunday, July 10 at 9 p.m.

On November 24th, 1971 a man dressed in a suit and tie hijacked a Northwest Orient flight bound for Seattle, Washington. He said he had a bomb and demanded 200-thousand dollars in cash and four parachutes.  Once he got his ransom, the man jumped into the night, never to be seen again.  In the more than 45 years since the epic heist, the FBI has looked at over a thousand potential suspects, but the questions remain: Who is DB Cooper? Did he die? Did he live? And is he still out there?  Now, in this four hour documentary series, viewers will go on the trail gaining an unprecedented perspective from the FBI, including exclusive access to the evidence, while a former FBI agent and a crime journalist dive deep into the case revealing new information through exclusive interviews with nearly 20 experts and insiders, including the only people ever to come face to face with the hijacker.  Plus, a citizen sleuth and his team of forty investigators reveal the findings of their five year investigation arriving at an explosive conclusion.

“DB Cooper” is produced by LMNO for History."

who is the producer?

[georger]

So the Cooper-Snoopers scooped the gatekeepers at the HC, eh?

We are just so, um...pesky, aren't we....

Instead of playing your usual games, Smith, why dont you tell us about it since you were one of the 'investigators/sleuths' interviewed? 

[EVickiW]

who is the team of 40 investigators?

The citizen sleuths that they referenced in the article is the person who pitched the DB Cooper show to the History Channel. LMNO Productions is the production company that filmed and completed the the interviews for the History Channel. Such as, the FBI agents who have worked the case (past and present)  and witnesses on the plane, as in William Mitchell.

His 40 investigators are people who worked with him to write the script and do the investigations. Some are former FBI agent's. This citizen slueth found me through LinkedIn after reading the Cooper articles on The Mountain News. He had read that I was in contact with William Mitchell and asked me to forward a letter to him regarding his involvement on the plane that night.

[377]

Look what Snowmman found: Some very interesting info on CIA/SAT 727 operations. See below the ****** line.

One thing I find curious is the statement that SAT has crews trained in 727 airdrop operations. If it was just a test in Thailand and was not followed up by operational use why would they have crews (plural) trained to do this? You can also see utilization metrics for the CIA/SAT 727s.

Another interesting bit is the document dated November 29 1971 (just days after Norjack) again mentioning the 727 airdrop capability through the ventral opening.

Thanks Snow!

******************************************

197110.pdf: page 2 is notable for mentioning "The Boeing 727 aircraft also have drop capabilities out the ventral exit which can be opened in flight and Southern has crews trained in this procedure"
The date implies April 29, 1971, but the last page has a Asia flight route map dated Nov. 1971
It also references orders issued on October 26, 1971 on page 3, and page 4 has a November 26, 1971 mention
I think it is similar to another longer doc which is stamped Nov 1971 (see following pdf)
Note the page 5 before the Asia flight route map (Interisland MAC schedule) appears to be fully redacted in this doc.
"1971-04-29 Southern Air Transport, Inc. Introduction"
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197109.pdf: In name, numerically before the previous doc. Page 4 mentions the L100 has air drop capability and also  mentions the 727 "The Boeing 727 aircraft also have drop capabilities out the ventral exit which can be opened in flight and Southern has crews trained in this procedure"
Page 9 seems to have the same Asia flight route map as the prior doc. Notably though, page 8 (the preceding page) is not redacted. It has a list of cities in the world (approx 144 unique) with the same "SOUTHERN AIR TRANSPORT, INC." underlined header, but followed by "Points Served During First Ten Months of 1971" followed by the 3 columns of city/state or country names. I think those two details suggest it's the same as the redacted page 5 in 197110.pdf
Note the foia title is the same as above, just no "Inc". which also makes me think they are derivative docs.
"1971-04-29 Southern Air Transport, Inc."

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197111.pdf is a note on personnel and facilities for SAT on April 30, 1971
"1971-04-30 Southern Air Transport Personnel And Facilities Personnel"

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196302.pdf is an interesting doc from Jan 1963 that details when the CIA bought Southern Air Transport...some of the dollar figure are redacted (specifically the Agency's total investement). Personnel count and aircraft count at that time are noted, along with lease arrangements at Miami International Airport (which is noted in later docs also)

"1963-01-22 Review of Air Support Activities Southern Air Transport, Inc. & Southern Air Holding"

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197015.pdf  talks about the expense and revenue from the two 727's in Feb 1970 and the loss of flight hours per day and possibly dealing with it thru subleasing. Last page has monthly income/costs (which are a loss) but interestingly has a $2.4M slush fund that seems to cover losses (monthly income/costs are $220K/$364K)
 
"1970-06-08 SAT"

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377
   

[377]

Bismuth info from Snow:

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additional comment on why bismuth is added: improve Machining!

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Lead (Pb) and Bismuth (Bi) – Lead and bismuth are added to aluminum to assist in chip formation and improve machinability. These free machining alloys are often not weldable because the lead and bismuth produce low melting constituents and can produce poor mechanical properties and/or high crack sensitivity on solidification.

377

[377]

More Snowfall:
Propeller Magazine -July 1970 Cover Photo What a way to Go! APBA 850 hydro driver F.C. (Doc) Moor of Hialeah, Florida drives his station wagon and hydro into a Southern Air transport cargo plane bound for Phoenix, Arizona. Doc tuned up his boat in a San Diego, California race prior to the Inboard Eastern Divisionals at Miami's Marine Stadium. Little Jon Nuta bids Doc farewell.


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apparently Moor's son published a book in 2011
Then Came the CIA – The Early Years of Southern Air Transport (Privately published, 2011) by Fred C. Moor III (y-17q.com)

“The article pointed out, in 1960, Percival Flack Brundage, Director of the Bureau of the Budget under President Eisenhower, and Perkins McGuire, Assistant Secretary of Defense under Mr. Eisenhower, paid Dad $260,000 and Stanley Williams $40,000 for their interests in Southern Air Transport. After that purchase, SAT was awarded a government contract or inter island operations among Japan, the Philippines, and Taiwan. Competitors objected that SAT had no operating experience in that part of the world and no current equipment to perform on the contracts. One of them was told that SAT was ‘owned or controlled by the Central Intelligence Agency that no objections would be heard.’”

“Dad started Southern Air Transport in 1947 and grew it into a modestly successful company. Dad had told me in a phone conversation in 1960 or 1961 that he had sold the company and was staying with the new organization as Chairman. He did not elaborate and I did not push for particulars. Certainly I had no idea of any connection to the CIA. In a later conversation, he told us that he had a trip planned to the west coast and would stop in Tuscon to see us as he ‘had a lot to tell us.’ He died before he made that trip.” 

nice article here too about SAT and the CIA. Note SAT was separate from Air America
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377

[Shutter]

377, is this all new info from snow? would he mind if I add them to our Cooper Vault?

Thanks Vicki 

[Shutter]

Interesting....

The Boeing 727 aircraft also have drop capabilities out the
ventral exit which can be opened in flight and Southern has crews
trained in this procedure.

[Shutter]

Captain Hicks received his Boeing 727 training at Boeingfs training
headquarters near Seattle, Washington and received a diploma of competence.

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[Bruce A. Smith]

Instead of playing your usual games, Smith, why dont you tell us about it since you were one of the 'investigators/sleuths' interviewed? 

My usual games? Georger! I always tell you everything I know!!!

As for the History Channel docu, here is what my involvement is/was:

1. A couple of insightful and substantive phone calls with a producer/asst producer last summer .
2. Two hours in front of a camera last September answering questions from guys (the hired interlocutors) who were reading my e-Book on their I-Pads as they "interviewed" me.
3. The LMNO crew bought me a wonderful chocolate cake for my birthday.
4. Several phone calls post-shoot with the producer discussing the obvious limitations of #2.

As for the "citizen sleuth and his team of forty investigators" I have not a clue. Tom Kaye and the CS, plus a few more? Maybe it's an oblique biblical reference? Midrash literature uses the number "40" to mean "a lot," such as 40 days and 40 nights. That was my first thought when I read Evick's post, as in "The winds of the Cooper Vortex swirled around me at 40 knots as I wrote my manuscript." Or, "Jo Weber has called me 40 times in the past 40 days..."

[georger]

More Boeing 727 trvia - You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login

[Bruce A. Smith]

Snowfall

It is wonderful to have his treasures on display here once again. Ahhhhh.

[377]

377, is this all new info from snow? would he mind if I add them to our Cooper Vault?

Thanks Vicki 

No problem. All fresh Snowfall. I'm channeling him but he's still alive. 😉
As usual he finds stuff I missed. I thought I'd found all published online info about SAT 727 airdrops. But nope.

377

[sailshaw]

377   Just read an article in June 2016 PLAYBOY about DNA and it points out that multiple DNA's on the DB Cooper tie tack would not be usable to ID anyone from their DNA. Also note that the last three PLAYBOY issues are now PC and the girls all wear cloths! Hugh Hefner has lost his mind and I predict the readership will fall badly. He has forgotten what made the mag popular in the first place (MM with no cloths). It is getting harder to be a "nasty old man".

Bob Sailshaw
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[Shutter]

  Just read an article in June 2016 PLAYBOY

So, it's true. men do read Playboy for the articles