…for Memorial Day, and I don’t know how old this story is. (It just came across Hacker News, for what that’s worth.)
From Hodinkee, a story about a Rolex watch. The serial number dates it to 1947.
But there’s more to the story than it being an old watch. It spent 52 years buried in an unmarked grave…because it belonged to a CIA pilot that was killed in action.
The method for recovering the agent in question was not only difficult, but it was also dangerous. This was one of the first implementations of the so-called “All American Pick Up.” It was a technique that Downey and Fecteau had only recently trained for, and this was their first time trying it in the field. The agent on the ground would retrieve some dropped equipment: a harness, a pair of poles, and a length of line. He would then set up the poles, string the line between them, and attach the harness. The C-47 would then come in low and slow, trailing a grappling hook. The hook would snag the line, lifting the harnessed operative off the ground and into the air behind the airplane, where he’d be winched on board.
(Previously.)
This entry was posted on Tuesday, May 31st, 2022 at 12:30 pm and is filed under Geek, History, Planes. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
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My wife told me that she saw that Donna Douglas passed away, I think on the 28th. She of course was most known for her role of Ellie May Clampett on The Beverly Hillbillies.
I think that she got it on her phone feed today while we were driving to a doctor’s appt.
Wishing you and yours the best for the coming summer.
Thanks, pigpen. I did not see that, and none of my usual sources have emailed me about it. I’ll have to go look.
I’m showing a date in 2015 for the death of Donna Douglas. Perhaps a colleague?
In other news that was an awesome article on catching a flight, in the way we routinely pick up banners to tow them across the skies.
I just saw the date of 2015 also. my wife must have missed that part. Sorry for the mix up.