gebbie
01-21-2008, 08:18 PM
Ah, 2008, you are a cool year so far, but not as cool as 1958, when the Fulton Air Surface-to-Air Recovery System started to operate: attach yourself to a helium ballon using a nylon cable capable of sustained 4,000 pounds, shoot it into the air and wait until a cargo plane grabs you and takes you of dangerous areas, literally flying, Spiderman style. If you are a special operations soldier and have the guts to try it after seeing it in video, that is:
PErEsNhDmo8
The system began its life as a variation of another crazy scheme using by spec-ops in World War II. Then, instead of a helium balloon they used a pair of poles, which were then grappled with a plane towing cable and hook. At the beginning of the 50s, Robert Edison Fulton Jr.—and inventor working for the CIA— thought about using a weather balloon and a nylon line.
He presented his invention to his boss, director of CIA technical research (http://gizmodo.com/gadgets/supersonic-aircraft/secret-a+12-spy-plane-officially-unveiled-at-cias-headquarters-no-x+men-found-inside-302164.php)Admiral de Florez, who directed him to the military. The Office of Naval Research put him to work and by 1958 the first real Skyhook pick-up took plac, when a Navy P2V got US Marines' Staff Sergeant Levi W. Woods with less shock than a parachute opening.
Th Air Force stopped using it in 1995, after years of winching people to the skies using C-130 Hercules and with only one casualty in 17 years of use. Long range helicopters made the system less useful, but Fulton's invention is still alive in other armies: in 2001 a British Hercules rescued an injured spec-op soldier in Afghanistan.
And besides, any device that gets to be used in an actual James Bond movie (Thunderball) gets extra points for us. [wikpedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fulton_surface-to-air_recovery_system)]
source (http://gizmodo.com/347064/skyhook-surface+to+air-human-recovery-system-looks-like-craziest-ride-ever)
PErEsNhDmo8
The system began its life as a variation of another crazy scheme using by spec-ops in World War II. Then, instead of a helium balloon they used a pair of poles, which were then grappled with a plane towing cable and hook. At the beginning of the 50s, Robert Edison Fulton Jr.—and inventor working for the CIA— thought about using a weather balloon and a nylon line.
He presented his invention to his boss, director of CIA technical research (http://gizmodo.com/gadgets/supersonic-aircraft/secret-a+12-spy-plane-officially-unveiled-at-cias-headquarters-no-x+men-found-inside-302164.php)Admiral de Florez, who directed him to the military. The Office of Naval Research put him to work and by 1958 the first real Skyhook pick-up took plac, when a Navy P2V got US Marines' Staff Sergeant Levi W. Woods with less shock than a parachute opening.
Th Air Force stopped using it in 1995, after years of winching people to the skies using C-130 Hercules and with only one casualty in 17 years of use. Long range helicopters made the system less useful, but Fulton's invention is still alive in other armies: in 2001 a British Hercules rescued an injured spec-op soldier in Afghanistan.
And besides, any device that gets to be used in an actual James Bond movie (Thunderball) gets extra points for us. [wikpedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fulton_surface-to-air_recovery_system)]
source (http://gizmodo.com/347064/skyhook-surface+to+air-human-recovery-system-looks-like-craziest-ride-ever)