It was Thanksgiving Eve 1971 when a hijacker named D B Cooper parachuted out of the trail door of a North-West Airlines 727. Storyville: The Hijacker Who Vanished: The Mystery of D B Cooper, contemporary news report, BBC 2020
In November 1971 a man who became known as D B Cooper hijacked a plane flying out of Portland, Oregon. After demanding a $200,000 ransom, D B Cooper parachuted out of the hijacked 727 at 10,000 feet over Washington State. The case is still the only unsolved act of air piracy in American history. ibid. captions
Handed me this note, and it said, Miss, you’re being hijacked, I’ve got a bomb, come sit next to me. He opened the briefcase and showed me … He wasn’t going to be taken alive … On a 727 there’s nowhere to run. ibid. stewardess’ testimony
Northwest Orient Flight 305 departs Portland 2:50pm on a 37-minute flight to Seattle. ibid. caption
Four parachutes: that was our concern – that he wanted us to bail with him. ibid. pilot
With the money onboard D B Cooper demands the plane fly to Mexico City. It departs at 7:36 via planned stop to refuel at Reno, Nevada. ibid. caption
How arbitrary is was! Why had some people been destroyed while others had escaped with just a black eye? Storyville: Stranded! The Andes Plane Crash Survivors, BBC 2022
Until we hit a big air pocket, what fun! ibid.
So the older ones took charge of distribution. ibid.
If by December 24th Christmas Eve they hadn’t appeared, I was going to let myself die. ibid.
It’s a mystery that’s confounded law enforcement for 48 years. On November 24th 1971 a man who would become known as D B Cooper hijacks a plane and then jumps out, taking with him a ransom of $200,000. History’s Greatest Mysteries with Laurence Fishburne s1e3: The Final Hunt for D B Cooper, Eric Ulis reporting, History 2021
He gave the name Dan Cooper to the ticket agent. He would end up taking a seat in the very back row of the jet – 18E to be exact. The flight attendants recalled D B Cooper being a guy who was in his mid-forties dressed as a business person wearing a back suit, wearing loafers with a skinny black suit and a raincoat. And he would later put on a pair of dark sunglasses as the jet was about to take off. ibid.
There was no possibility that the money just washed ashore. The bundles of twenties were found just below the surface of the sand neatly stacked upon each other with the rubber bands still intact. ibid.
The FBI investigated more than a thousand suspects. ibid.
Eric believes this man could be D B Cooper – his name is Sheridan Peterson … Sheridan was 45 at the time of the skyjacking, and Eric believes his appearance is similar to the original sketch of D B Cooper. Sheridan lived in Seattle prior to the skyjacking, and was photographed in a suit and tie while posing as a skydiver. As a Boeing employee it’s also likely that Sheridan knew the inner workings of the 727. And finally, Eric does not believe Sheridan’s alibi can be corroborated at the time of the skyjacking. ibid.
One of the most chilling aviation mysteries in modern day. 239 people vanish over the Indian ocean without a trace … What really happened to Malaysia Flight MH370? History’s Greatest Mysteries s3e7: Malaysia Flight 370
March 8th 2014: Just 38 minutes into the flight Malaysia MH370 simply disappears from radar. ibid.
There is no substantial evidence to tie the pilot or crew members to any wrongdoing. ibid.
One of the worst aviation disasters in American history. 230 killed when a jetliner explodes off the coast of Long Island. History’s Greatest Mysteries s4e21: TWA Flight 800, History 2024
July 17th 1976: TWA 800 takes off into mostly clear skies … Just 12 minutes after take-off Flight 800 disappears from radar. ibid.
‘Something has exploded and the debris just rained down into the water [Long Island Sound].’ ibid. astrophysicist
What happened to TWA Flight 800? ibid.
An historic catastrophe caught on film. For decades experts believed they knew what caused the disaster, that leaking hydrogen ignited causing the airship to burst into flames. But there may be more to this story. History’s Greatest Mysteries s5e9: The Hindenburg Disaster, History 2024
Frankfurt, Germany, May 3rd 1937: The world’s largest aircraft, The Hindenburg, prepares to depart for New Jersey. ibid.
The Hindenburg now carries 72 passengers and almost as many crew. ibid.
Miraculously about two-thirds of the people on [board] actually live through this disaster. ibid.
Investigators immediately suspect sabotage is involved. ibid.
Witnesses on the ground did not see lightning as a factor. But that doesn’t mean the stormy weather didn’t play a roll. ibid.
Maybe one the wires snapped. And that would explain the popping sound heard by some people on the ground. And that last turn caused that high-tension cable to snap, and it was somewhere in the tail section of the aircraft. ibid.
With so much transatlantic travel, The Hindenburg may have experienced wear and tear. ibid.
There were some witnesses on the ground who said right before the explosion they could see parts of the outer covering flapping in the wind on top of the ship. ibid.
[Addison] Bain said his first clue came from the colour of The Hindenburg flames [orange not blue]. ibid.
Explosive paint: a substance known as aircraft dope … The materials in the lacquer contain iron oxide and powdered aluminium, elements used today in rocket boosters. Bain believes this ultimately doomed The Hindenburg. ibid.
All sorts of combustible materials burning all at the same time that contributed to the colour that flame was. ibid. man in the know
In 2000 an 81-year-old witness [Bobby Rutan] to The Hindenburg comes forward to tell his story publicly for the first time. He was just 17 when the Zeppelin went up in flames … As the Hindenburg is coming in, Bobby thinks he smells some diesel fuel, and then he hears what he thinks is an engine backfire. ibid.
Powered flight was just eleven years old when the First World War began. But a dedicated group of men transformed the airplane into one of the most important weapons in helping to win that war. Timewatch: WWI Aces Falling, BBC 2009
The top British aces were two little known working class heroes: Edward Mannock and James McCudden. And they were called knights of the sky. ibid.
Shockingly dangerous profession. Of the 14,000 British pilots killed in World War I, over 8,000 died while training. ibid.
But it was the Germans who first adopted an ingenious device that synchronised the machine guns so they could fire between the blade of the propeller. ibid.
The life expectancy of a new pilot in 1917 was just eleven days. ibid.
Aircraft were now being used to support the troops … They were even more vulnerable to attack from the ground. ibid.
And the first of those aces to be brought crashing to the earth was the now infamous German pilot Manfred von Richthofen. ibid.
Major J T Byford McCudden VC DSO and Bar, MC and Bar MM – at the time of his death he was just twenty-three years old. ibid.