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DB Cooper

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I made an offhand reference to the National Geographic documentary leaving out the Cooper sex stuff.

Apparently the FBI has taken the sex theory seriously, as all "hot babe" photos are being studying intently.

I looked closely at the photo on the FBI web page here.
http://www.fbi.gov/headlines/d-b-cooper/coopersci500.jpg

At first glance, one's eye is drawn to the peeling mylar or other sun screen material on the window. Why is the conference window blocked from the outside? What happens in that conference room?

Then I saw the picture on the table.

I have cropped, zoomed and circled the relevant photo on the table so you can examine the black haired "hot babe" that has long been rumored. You can compare it to the original at the fbi site using the url above.

Two theories
1) Did Ckret leave this as an "easter egg" for us? Is there a secret message in the photo? Note that it appears to be a photo of a photo, or a photocopy of a photo. Her legs don't appear to be crossed, but held closely together.

2) Is this the woman we have been discussing? Is there a tie-in?

Note the two men in the photo are feigning indifference to the circled photo.

(edit) I believe the picture is at the Oregonian.

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http://www.fbi.gov/page2/march09/dbcooper031709.html

I don't know why they posted it on 3/17/09.



I do not know why Carr would use the most fanciful idea that was presented on this forum as a profile on Cooper. He projected a profile base on the Comic book? This might add humor and imagination, but no more connected to the Real Cooper than other ideas presented.

I am sorry I don't know if I should cry or laugh. Funny, Carr did NOT touch other profiles in this forum - such as the information Orange provided - which makes for another very good profile.

You know, I was thinking tonight there should be another HA HA HA by D.B.Cooper book. Shawn was not the only person who contacted me - there were countless others.

There was a girl who contacted me saying her mother told her that her father was Cooper. She sent me a picture and it was really nice as the girl was fresh and country - someone I would like to know. The information she sent was as it was on the other person - no correlating information with what we know about Cooper or Weber.

Wonder how many men did one night stands claiming they were Cooper and how many women out there think they gave birth to Cooper's child? I have had 4 such contact in the last few yrs -

All of these contact and yet I didn't find Edna, a former wife (or common-law) and her daughter Zona. Each time I had a contact I tried to make the dates work - but they were just too far off.

There are lots of HA HA HA's that I did not find necessary to mention in the forum. These are definitely not Ha Ha Ha's to these individuals looking for their father.
My heart went out to each of them, but I couldn't help them. One even sent a birth certificate and I verified that it was legitimate.
Cooper or Cooper wannabe's and impersonators sure kept busy thru the yrs.:)
Women were really gullible in the 70's - and I was one of those women except I got the REAL Cooper - Ha ha Ha. How is this with keeping in the comic spirit that Carr is in?
Copyright 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012 2013, 2014, 2015 by Jo Weber

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Apparently the FBI has taken the sex theory seriously, as all "hot babe" photos are being studying intently.

I looked closely at the photo on the FBI web page here.
http://www.fbi.gov/headlines/d-b-cooper/coopersci500.jpg

I have cropped, zoomed and circled the relevant photo on the table so you can examine the black haired "hot babe" that has long been rumored. You can compare it to the original at the fbi site using the url above.

Two theories
1) Did Ckret leave this as an "easter egg" for us? Is there a secret message in the photo? Note that it appears to be a photo of a photo, or a photocopy of a photo. Her legs don't appear to be crossed, but held closely together.

2) Is this the woman we have been discussing? Is there a tie-in?

Note the two men in the photo are feigning indifference to the circled photo.

(edit) I believe the picture is at the Oregonian.



I saw that photo also and thought it quiet out of context with the Cooper investigation - wondered why IT would be in Cooper files. Probably just a joke - seems like Carr likes jokes. NOTE: the picture is turned toward the Camera as if deliberate. I can tell you this - that woman has on some really HIGH heels, probably flatforms also.
Copyright 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012 2013, 2014, 2015 by Jo Weber

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If people search with google, they can find the forum georger is trying to get a thread started on.

It reminded me of something.

People want to be able to add value..i.e. assume that if you just look at the data with a good mind, it should be obvious. This is because the FBI theories previously reported for 37 years seemed inconsistent with any sort of rationality.

So it's easy for Tom, Dick and Harry to think "oh I can think of the answer". I got a PM from some guy asking about the weather, saying he wanted to do an analysis. etc.

However, it's obvious we don't have all the data the FBI does.
So the idea of "somehow one's mind is better than others" is patently silly.

All that matters is the information the FBI has, that they've not released.

And the FBI investigation.

The actual "thinking" or "minds" part is the easy part. Anyone can do that.

In terms of moving forward, you can see that Larry is constantly wrestling with how to get info from the public, without releasing more info about the FBI investigation.

So the trick for the FBI will be: solving it for free.

Obviously the strategy is still to generate new tips. i.e. science can't "solve" it, so it's just about creating a show so if there's a tip out there, someone will call it in.

The tantalizing thing for me is not really Cooper, since I have no tips. Or the jump, because we've analyzed it to death, but really the FBI investigation and how it could have gone so badly right away in '71-'72 with the search zone identification and then stayed bad with all the Himmelsbach stuff in the papers.

But we won't get any information on that.

I find it amazing that people still think it's a question of "science-ing" out stuff.

If we were going to science out something, we need more data about the FBI investigation. Without that, we're pretty much done, we've touched on all theories and possibilites.

Now could "data" eliminate any theories we've discussed?
I don't know. That would be interesting if so.

I'm leaning towards "no data can eliminate any theories we've discussed"

However, clearly data can eliminate theories the FBI has promoted.

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-- He served in the Air Force and at some point was stationed in Europe, where he may have become interested in the Dan Cooper comic books.



That is pretty far fetched because there were other sources related to the Dan Cooper comic books.
=======================



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-- He worked as a cargo loader on planes, giving him knowledge and experience in the aviation industry, which was in its infancy in 1971.



Well, guys (all the skyjumpers and others in the forum) at least you all scored on that one.
=======================



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-- Because his job required him to throw cargo out of planes, Cooper would have worn an emergency parachute in case he fell out. This would have provided him with working knowledge of parachutes but not necessarily the functional knowledge to survive the jump he made.



:)=====================



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-- He may have come from the East Coast, but taken an aviation job in Seattle when he got out of the military. It's possible he lost his job during an economic downturn in the aviation industry in 1970-71. If he was a loner with little or no family, "nobody would have missed him" after he was gone.



:|He is TOO FAR OUT here - if Cooper worked in 1970 - 71 in the Seattle area - he would have been pegged from get go. Try Ca or Az or Tx or Or and change the yrs to 1962 - 1966 or 1944 - 1949.



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Wow.

And this thread is worthless:S



:)Right on.
Copyright 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012 2013, 2014, 2015 by Jo Weber

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http://www.fbi.gov/page2/march09/dbcooper031709.html
I don't know why they posted it on 3/17/09.





Okay I will bite and do a HA HA HA - I am Dan Cooper.

1. March 27, 1978 - Jo and Duane married in Co.

2. March 17 1995 - Duane Weber confessed " I'm Dan Cooooper".

3. March 27, 1995 - Jo and Duane celebrated their Anniversary.

4. March 28, 1995 - Duane Dies.

5. March 27, 2003 - the FBI retireves DNA from his widow.

6. March 17 2009 - FBI announces a comic book character inspired the Skyjacking of a 727 in 1971.

What does sexy babes have to do with Cooper?
Copyright 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012 2013, 2014, 2015 by Jo Weber

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IHowever, it's obvious we don't have all the data the FBI does.
So the idea of "somehow one's mind is better than others" is patently silly.

All that matters is the information the FBI has, that they've not released.

And the FBI investigation.

Quote



I agree that the FBi's investigation is a salient feature to investigate. Hence, I'm going to share my writings so far, in four installments to help foster that discussion. I trust these 1,500 words segments won't plug up any servers or take up too much space on the thread at any one time. I'm aiming for a chapter a day. Here's my first post:

Part I, of four


Why Can’t the FBI Find DB Cooper?

Is it because he was a woman?


It's been 37 years since the famed skyjacker, DB Cooper, parachuted from a 727 jetliner with $200,000 in twenties tethered to his waist. Not only has he never been seen since, his identity is still a mystery; and if he died in the jump not a single shred of his parachute, his briefcase, or any trace of his remains has ever been found. Not even the loot has surfaced, except for a $5,800 bundle discovered nine years later at a Columbia River beach that the FBI acknowledges was deposited there many years after the hijacking.

So, why can’t the feds find DB Cooper?

Is it because they’re looking for a man? What if DB Cooper were a woman who donned the ultimate disguise and posed as a man?

That’s the hypothesis presented by a Pierce County, WA pilot and his wife in their new book, The Legend of DB Cooper: Death by Natural Causes. Authors Ron and Pat Forman say that their life-long friend and fellow pilot at Thun Field, Barb Dayton, had confessed she was the legendary Cooper, and had detailed many of the finer points of the crime over the years before her death from pulmonary disease in 2002.

Barb Dayton also revealed that she had once been Bobby Dayton, and in 1969 at the age of 43, had received a sex-change operation – the first ever in Washington state.

The core of her story is that in 1971, two years after her operation, she reverted to her male persona to perform the hijacking.

Never fully believing her, the Formans waited until her passing to research her story. Compiling a noteworthy amount of supporting documents and family testimony, the Formans make a compelling case that their old sky-mate was DB Cooper.
Even more surprising is that the true story of Barb Dayton points to an even deeper and darker mystery than just a hijacked airplane, and suggests that the FBI’s Cooper investigation has been compromised.

But let’s begin at the beginning:


Barb Dayton confesses to being DB Cooper-

I met the Formans while reporting on an air show at Thun Field in August, 2008. Wandering amongst a few dozen vintage aircraft, I found Ron beside his 1939 Fairchild 24, a single-wing, four-seater restored to perfect condition. He clearly reveled in sharing the details of his plane, down to the tiny vase and fresh flowers affixed to the rear port window.

When the summer heat forced us to seek shade under the starboard wing, I noticed a book with DB Cooper written on its front cover.

“Are you into DB Cooper?” I asked.

“You bet!” he roared. “My wife and I just wrote that book.”

“Really?”

“Yup!”

For the next four hours Ron regaled me with his story.

Ron and Pat first met Dayton at Thun Field in 1977. Dayton, a quiet and respected research librarian at the University of Washington during the week, became on the weekends, a passionate flyer of a Cessna 140, a tiny, fun plane to operate – kind of like a Chevy Nova of airplanes.

Ron, an Air Force mechanic stationed at the near-by McChord Air Base, had come to Thun looking to purchase an affordable plane, and Barb told him about another Cessna 140 that was available. Although it was in very used condition, the engine and structural elements were still sound and the Formans bought it. As they restored their new airplane, Barb Dayton, a top-notch mechanic, pitched in.

Although she was socially reserved to the point of being a near-isolate, their shared love of flying allowed Barb Dayton to build a guarded, yet warm, relationship. Nearly every weekend for the next year or two, the Formans and Barb flew their 140s to a myriad of Pacific Northwest airfields, and cemented what was to become a life-long friendship. Often, other Cessna 140 pilots from Thun would join them in a kind of informal flying club.

As Ron tells it, during these weekend fly-abouts Barb began dropping little tidbits about the Cooper skyjacking case. Typically, a cynical newspaper report or radio commentary would trigger Barb to offer a robust defense of DB Cooper, saying, “Well, he could have jumped over the flatlands of Oregon and not the wooded mountains of Washington. That way he could have easily survived.”

During one instance of these friendly debates, Ron remarked to his friend, “Yeah, I know Barb – you’re DB Cooper!” and laughed.

The joke landed flat with Dayton, who gave Ron a “look that could kill” according to Pat, and the huddled pilots hastily finished their coffee and returned to their planes. Crossing the tarmac, Barb sidled up to Ron and announced in a low, no-nonsense tone of voice, “Ron, I don’t want you to ever, ever, say that again. Not even as a joke.”


The Facts of the DB Cooper Case-

Indeed, the DB Cooper case is no joking matter for it is the only unsolved airplane hijacking in the history of the United States. Not only is it unsolved, there is very little known about it.

What is public knowledge, however, is that on the day before Thanksgiving, November 24, 1971, a man named Dan Cooper bought a one-way ticket in Portland, Oregon for a flight to Sea-Tac International Airport in Seattle.

As his plane, Northwest Orient’s Flight 305, rolled down the runway, he handed a note to a stewardess that said he was hijacking the craft. He demanded $200,000 and four parachutes in exchange for the safe release of the 36 passengers at Sea-Tac. In addition, he wanted the plane, a Boeing 727, to be fully refueled. If these demands were unmet, Cooper wrote, he would blow-up the plane, and to prove his point he opened a cloth briefcase to show the stewardess what looked like sticks of dynamite, wiring and batteries.

After circling Sea-Tac for several hours, Cooper received the message from the FBI that his money, in twenties, and parachutes awaited him. Cooper allowed the pilot to land; and upon receiving the money and chutes he released the passengers and two flight attendants, retaining only the three cockpit crew and one stewardess. Cooper then instructed the flight crew to take-off and head to Mexico City, but within extraordinary parameters: fly no higher than 10,000 feet, keep the landing gear down and locked, and set the wing flaps at 15 degrees - all condition suitable for a parachute jump.

When the plane reached 10,000 feet and leveled off, Cooper asked the one flight attendant on board to help him lower the aft stairs on the 727, one of the few commercial aircraft that has such as feature. Once the stairs deployed, Cooper ordered the flight attendant to re-join the crew in the cockpit.

As she left, she caught a glimpse of Cooper tying a parachute cord around his waist that appeared to be attached to the money bag, a parachuting trick used by savvy combat paratroopers jumping at night - get your heavy stuff in a bag and off your knees, and tether it long enough so it’ll signal when you’re about to hit the ground.

That was the last anyone has ever seen of DB Cooper.

Although the FBI now proclaims to the public that DB Cooper was a fool and probably died in the jump - it did take place on a rainy November night - no trace of DB Cooper has ever been found. According to one FBI official, “We never even found so much as a belt buckle.”

The 10,000 twenty-dollar bills vanished, too; not a single one has ever showed up in circulation even though the FBI had recorded each serial number. However, in 1980, a neat stack of bills totaling $5,800 was discovered by an eight-year old boy under a bit of sand in a Columbia River mud bank. Since the rubber bands were still intact and most of the bills were in good condition, the FBI says that the money was buried on the river bank several years after the skyjacking.

How did they get there?

The Formans say they have an answer.


The Formans tell Barb Dayton’s Story-

Ron and Pat say that around 1978, when the statute of limitations on the hijacking had supposedly expired and Barb felt free of criminal prosecution, she began sharing the details of the caper and finally admitted that she was “Dan Cooper,” the name the hijacker actually used when he/she bought his/her ticket.

It is very telling that she called herself Dan and not DB, because the DB part of this legendary moniker was created by a mistaken newspaper reporter in the early hours of the hijacking. In those days, a passenger manifest only had first-initial, last-name recorded, so when the FBI was scratching names off their list as passengers de-planed at Sea-Tac, they were left looking for a D. Cooper in seat 18-C.

The Feds quickly alerted Portland police for information on any D. Coopers. In turn, Portland PD told the FBI they had a petty criminal by the name of DB Cooper. An eaves-dropping Associated Press journalist over-heard the conversation and reported to the world that DB Cooper was the skyjacker.

Obviously, the name stuck.

Dayton said she very easily survived the jump because she parachuted – not over the rugged terrain of Washington’s Cascade Mountains where the FBI says DB jumped - but nine minutes later above the flat, muddy hazelnut groves of Woodburn, Oregon.

The discrepancy derives from how to assess the floppy behavior of the aft stairs in flight. The FBI says the biggest bounce occurred over Ariel, Washington, presumably caused by DB Cooper jumping off the bottom step.

However, the Formans say Barb descended to the bottom step over Ariel to ascertain where the glow of Portland’s lights was in the cloud cover. That glaze of light became her primary beacon. Then, she climbed back up the stairs to await Woodburn.
After passing over Portland, Dayton looked next for the strobing lights of Aurora State Airport, waited until she got slightly south, and then, from the safety of the top step she dove into a rain-soaked night sky. After a free-fall of 9,000 feet to minimize detection, she pulled the rip cord at 1,000 feet, guided herself by the now-visible lights on Interstate-5, and made a soft landing just off the highway in the farming environs of Woodburn, about 30 miles south of Portland.

This story is so huge the Formans say they never completely believed their friend, but they believed enough to take notes surreptitiously once the flying was over for the day and they returned to the privacy of their home.

Their notes contain nuggets of information from Barb, including a full telling of how she stashed the money in an irrigation cistern in a hazelnut grove where she had once worked years before.

She then moved the money in 1980 after having a dream in which the ink on the money began to “float away.” She retrieved it all and re-deposited $5,800 of it in a mud bank along the Columbia to “keep the story going.”

Dayton said that the FBI never found the remainder of the money because she never spent any. In fact, the skyjacking was not done for the money at all, but rather, was done for therapeutic reasons.

The Formans says that Barb Dayton’s sex-change operation did not go well in the early stages. Initially, it was physically painful and she had to sit on special cushions for the first couple of months. Then, the agitation she had felt all her life, that she was more a woman than man and thus needed a woman’s body to properly experience herself, was only partially lifted. Clinical records from the period just before the skyjacking indicated that Barb Dayton was suicidal, unemployed and broke.

Yet, her psychiatrist, with whom she was seeing regularly for several years after the operation, reported a few months after the date of the hijacking that Barb Dayton had had an inexplicable mood shift, that she was noticeably happier and content with her situation. In fact, a month after the skyjacking Barb Dayton landed a job at the University of Washington as a research librarian, a position she held for many years.

This notion of skyjacking a plane to lift a suicidal depression, as bizarre as it sounds actuality fits the larger personality profile of Bobby/Barb Dayton.
The information the Formans have been able to collect from family re-enforces their own observations that Barb Dayton was an individual who constantly needed to challenge herself, as if in an epic search for self-worth. She indulged in high speed car races down country roads, challenged authority relentlessly, and flew fearlessly – even to the point of recklessness. Jumping out of a plane at night while wearing loafers was the kind of dare-devil stunt Barb thrived upon.

In fact, the Formans say that when Barb Dayton’s father heard about the skyjacking on TV the night of the crime, he remarked, “That’s the kind of thing Bobby would do.”

Then, after this period of self-disclosure to her friends, Barb Dayton learned the Department of Justice, literally at the last hour, obtained a “John Doe” indictment for the DB Cooper skyjacking. This meant Barb would remain on a legal hook forever, and she quickly refuted her claims of being Dan Cooper.

Nevertheless, Dayton had plenty of other wild stories to tell, such as being a guerilla fighter against the Japanese in the jungles of the Philippines during WWII, working as an explosive expert for logging companies, and surviving eight days without food in the Yukon while being chased by a grizzly bear.

Do you really believe this stuff? Barb’s friends would ask each other. Is Barb really DB Cooper? Jungle fighting with Moro tribesmen? Grizzlies?

So, on one hand they never fully believed her, but on the other they were also paralyzed with fear – what if Barb was telling the truth? Would the FBI consider them accomplices in the skyjacking if they didn’t turn her in? As a result, the Formans and the several other pilots who received Barb’s confession remained silent.

So, when Barb Dayton died of cardiac and pulmonary disease in 2002, Ron and Pat decided to investigate these tall tales.

Through extensive research that included military records and numerous conversations with Barb’s family, the Formans have been able to prove all of Barb Dayton’s stories are true, except for one, and for that they need the FBI to release the DNA profile of DB Cooper. For reasons that are unclear to me, the FBI has not publically revealed the DNA analysis of Cooper that they have been able to gather with the advent of new technology.

Further confounding the Formans, the FBI official currently in charge of the Cooper case, Larry Carr, has never met with them, nor returned a single phone call or email.

End of Part I.


©
Bruce A. Smith
2009
PO Box 1676 Yelm, Washington 98597

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Okay, since we're talking Comic Book, we should at least get the history of who proposed the connection first. It was almost two years ago, by a guy who's dead now.

It wasn't when Sluggo noticed it in the foreign news clip he posted here.


As far as I can tell, it was "leftcoast" one of the two guys who pushed Mayfield, and were on tv in 2007. I believe leftcoast is dead now. This happened on the websleuths site. I believe it was repeated by another poster after that also?

There could easily have been earlier references.

Here's leftcoast's post on 4/19/2007. RIP leftcoast.
from http://www.websleuths.com/forums/showthread.php?t=44859&page=14
----------------------------------------------------
Originally Posted by Mysticchic
Just a thought, but maybe he got his name from a grave marker from the area?
--------------------------------------------------------
Hey Mystic,

I don't know where he got the alias.

Some have suggested from Gary Cooper, and his movie, JOhn Doe

I think it is from a 1950's comic book test pilot popular in Canada who was named Dan Cooper.

Another thought is there was a Gorden Cooper who was a famous test pilot and astronaut in the early 60's. He never got any credit, as we all know in society, the first to anything, Armstrong, Yeager, etc., get all the credit. Cooper was also a great stick and rudder guy, according to articles.

Could be from a grave.

left
-----------------------------------------------------------------

Albert18 repeated it 4/5/2008 here
http://websleuths.com/forums/showthread.php?t=49742&page=24
A poster on another forum found a comic book character link to the name Dan Cooper.

http://www.coolfrenchcomics.com/dancooper.htm

http://pagesperso-orange.fr/francejohn/dc_page1.htm


Is this where the hijacker got the name "Dan Cooper"?

I have never heard of this comic book character before. What is interesting is this comic book series appears to have it's following in Canada and Europe.

And look at the first line of this web page.

http://www.marville.org/articles/dacooper.html

----------------------------------------------
leftcoast's death was announced here by rightcoast

http://www.websleuths.com/forums/showthread.php?t=49742&page=16

12-03-2007, 10:48 AM
rightcoast

as most assuredly nearly none of you knew, leftcoast has been very ill and in pain for a lot of years with a rare form of muscular dystrophy. it is my sad duty to inform you that he has passed away due to complications. i am sorry for the blunt nature of this post, but i know of no other way to inform cyber friends.
his name was Dan Dvorak. he was a good man and a very good friend. he will miss his time with you all here. he mentioned two people in particular, one being the nice woman that put us in touch with inside edition and especially Old Dominion. if either of you wish to email me, i would welcome it at dbcoopercatcher@gmail.com.

as for this thread, i will try to be here occasionally to contribute, but i will be a piss poor second to Dan's first.

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Wonder how many men did one night stands claiming they were Cooper



When I tried that Cooper pitch I always got a cold shoulder. I even offered to show the girl a C9 in the back seat of my car but she completely misunderstood.

I always did better saying I was Wayne Newton, was tired of the Vegas scene and was looking for a "girl next door" to settle down with.

377
2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

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Nevertheless, Dayton had plenty of other wild stories to tell, such as being a guerilla fighter against the Japanese in the jungles of the Philippines during WWII,



How was she involved in WW 2 combat and how old would that make her? Something doesn't add up age wise to fit the Dayton was Cooper story. The book says she is 43 in 1969 when he became a she through the wonders of surgery. That means he was a WW 2 Philippines theater combatant at about age 15? I guess its possible, but it seems far fetched.

Her story about jumping from near the top of the steps doesn't add up either. I don't think you'd get enough downward stair deflection for a clear exit. Sluggo, Snow?

Was she an experienced skydiver? The book says yes but where is the proof? What DZ? What jumpers knew her? If not experienced there is little chance she could do a jet exit, 8000 ft night freefall and pull at 1000 ft AGL. A flat spin and blackout is far more probable if she was a novice.

Sounds to me that Barb was a hell of a yarn spinner. Wonder if she got any one night stands with her Cooper story? Didn't work for me. Maybe it was my cheap sunglasses that wrecked the deal.

La La La La LOLA.

377
2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

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Intriguing that the profile targets loadmaster. There must be evidence or theories around that.



At some point ckret spoke about this part of his theory here.

I like the theory (or alternatively that of a cargo kicker) because it explains how someone who may not have jumped before would not really have door fear, as well as choosing the rig he did. if cooper was not airborne military, then the smokejumper/air america connection may be important.

377 - been busy/distracted. Around. trying to figure out merits of other forum but haven't really had time to check it out. been a dz.com junkie since i began jumping and that won't change, but real life intrudes occasionally ;)
Skydiving: wasting fossil fuels just for fun.

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If people search with google, they can find the forum georger is trying to get a thread started on.
.



To correction your misinformation:

Ah if you bother to look the thread already existed:
http://www.thescienceforum.com/D.B.-Cooper-9518t.php

Its a science forum where crackpots and Jo Weber arent allowed. It's too lo-profile for you seeking attention.

Its interesting you would be searching for DB Cooper
forums at this time? That's funny-predictable. Are
you looking to spread your feces on a bigger wall?

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If people search with google, they can find the forum georger is trying to get a thread started on.
.



To correction your misinformation:

Ah if you bother to look the thread already existed:
http://www.thescienceforum.com/D.B.-Cooper-9518t.php

Its a science forum where crackpots and Jo Weber arent allowed. It's too lo-profile for you seeking attention.

Its interesting you would be searching for DB Cooper
forums at this time? That's funny-predictable. Are
you looking to spread your feces on a bigger wall?



Hi Georger,

Yes, you're correct.

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If people search with google, they can find the forum georger is trying to get a thread started on.
.



To correction your misinformation:

Ah if you bother to look the thread already existed:
http://www.thescienceforum.com/D.B.-Cooper-9518t.php

Its a science forum where crackpots and Jo Weber arent allowed. It's too lo-profile for you seeking attention.

Its interesting you would be searching for DB Cooper
forums at this time? That's funny-predictable. Are
you looking to spread your feces on a bigger wall?



Hi Georger,

Yes, you're correct.



Maybe it was posted for your and Jo's benefit.

The experiment seems to have worked.

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Intriguing that the profile targets loadmaster. There must be evidence or theories around that.



At some point ckret spoke about this part of his theory here.

I like the theory (or alternatively that of a cargo kicker) because it explains how someone who may not have jumped before would not really have door fear, as well as choosing the rig he did. if cooper was not airborne military, then the smokejumper/air america connection may be important.

377 - been busy/distracted. Around. trying to figure out merits of other forum but haven't really had time to check it out. been a dz.com junkie since i began jumping and that won't change, but real life intrudes occasionally ;)


Ckret posted his Cooper as a former aircrew loadmaster/kicker theory long before the Air America stuff came to light here. Did the FBI already know about all that SE Asia covert air ops stuff including 727 jumps but did not disclose it?

377
2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

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[Cudos to you Orange:


:)
When they talked about the Dan Cooper Comics - I felt that totally out of place on an official FBI site, but each to his own. For Carr to establish a profile based on the Comic Book Character was unprofessional to me (note I said just to me).

Perhaps it was because I read it with a biased mind.:S

Copyright 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012 2013, 2014, 2015 by Jo Weber

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377, I think, has made some musings on the likelihood of men of Cooper's era, reading comic books and serving as a loadmaster.

The two seem a little incongruous.

The other thing about jump experience: I thought most military jumpers would have been static line. So pretty inexperienced with freefall.

And while a stick is going out, the airborne safety wears a emergency rig, right? But saying "airborne safety" experience doesn't make sense I guess. But loadmaster does? Why? Loadmasters understand parachutes.

So, I would think most paratroopers wouldn't have much experience in doing freefall, if any. We talked about the relatively small number of jumps involved in military training before.

I don't know why loadmaster was selected for profile. There are some mentions of Cooper using the phrase "interphone" in, say, the Real McCoy book, but I thought Ckret discounted that.
His use of "airstair" and "interphone" was mentioned as part of his "aviation knowledge"..but that could be myth or bogus, and even cribbed off Tina. (can anyone sort how this "airstair" or "interphone" stuff. Did Ckret discount it?)

Behaviorally, Cooper doesn't seem like loadmaster to me.
I think it is actually a dis to the professionalism of loadmasters?

Are there any loadmasters out there? Is it an insult or not to couple the "cluelessness" of Cooper with loadmasters?

What are people's theories on why loadmaster was a good choice? I have a hard time understanding Cooper as military.

(edit) Would a loadmaster have asked for a knapsack for the money, and then just dealt with it, when he got an open necked money bag?

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I know four ex Airborne paratroopers. ALL their military jumps were S/L. I dont know what kind of rig the jumpmasters wear, but there are quite a few ex 82d and 101st Airborne guys on tihs website who can tell you all you need to know about their kind of jumping.

I still can't figure out why the FBI would feature the Dan Cooper comic book cover graphic on their DBC website. I am sure there is a reason, but it escapes me. Maybe it was the only attractive graphic they could find that was DBC related. I'd have picked the Betty Page type pinup that Tom Kaye was so virtuously ignoring, or if the SAC vetoed that, then I'd pick Sluggo's artistically lit 727 stair photo.

My recollection is that Ckret nixed the authenticity of claims that Cooper mentioned "interphone" but I am not 100% sure. Interphone is definitely a military term, used for crew intercom. Until I started fooling with surplus military aviation radios I had never heard the term "interphone". Their circuit schematics always had a low level audio connnection for interface to the aircraft interphone. The interphone system could take auio from microphones, crew handsets and radio receivers and direct it into the intercom system. AN/AIC 10 was a common interphone system in the 50s and 60s.

377
2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

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To correction your misinformation:

Ah if you bother to look the thread already existed:
http://www.thescienceforum.com/D.B.-Cooper-9518t.php

Its a science forum where crackpots and Jo Weber arent allowed. It's too lo-profile for you seeking attention.

Its interesting you would be searching for DB Cooper
forums at this time? That's funny-predictable. Are
you looking to spread your feces on a bigger wall?



:)My Dearest Baboon,

I found your site a couple of days ago and if you think the Scientic allocation will keep "Cooper Junkies" or the general internet junkies out you are badly mistaken. I do not know how many sites you have visited in the last 8 yrs, but the survival rate along with the intellect input has been low.

Snowmman and myself (Jo) are the least of your worries with all the rest of the Cooper sites out there. If you think there are feces thrown out on this forum you are absolutely a babe in arms and need to stay within the giant umbrella of the jumping world and a well moderated forum.

:)Cooper thread have done more to advance interest in the Cooper saga and the discovery of evidence and possible solutions than any other instrument or investigative group out there and that includes the FBI.

The FBI and Cooper enthusiast and writers have grazed in this forum for a long time. The general public really has little knowledge of Cooper, but in this world he is an Icon gone wild. The jumping world is divided amongest believers and non-believers regarding Cooper's survival.

I will also note that in the Skyjumping forum the intellect of the posters is 99.99% higher than what I have found in other places.
Many of us are worried that the DZ forum is facing problems and want to know what we can do to help them to continue to provide this service...such as a limited and reduced membership for those of us who are Whuffo's.

Thank Guys, I love you all and you have been the greatest - even when you think I am CRAZY and I call myself :SCRAZY. I have to be :S crazy to believe that I was married to Cooper?

The Cooper battle is NOT over yet for me, but it is going to take more than limited contacts in a forum. It is time for me to TRY to go forward with something I have put off far too long. It is something I REALLY DO NOT want to do - but, find the FBI's profiling based on a comic book ludicrous.

The FBI cannot spend money to do some simple searches but the FBI can spend money for Agent Carr to promote fanciful ideals in their online site. Is the FBI trying to find Cooper or promote a MYTH?
Copyright 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012 2013, 2014, 2015 by Jo Weber

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I liked this modern video because it showed the rig an Airborne Safety (two guys?) is wearing (I guess that's correct title for the position?) (starting at around 0:55). It's an emergency rig, right?

Do they have main + reserve on the back in these emergency rigs now, or just a main?

Plus it's cool cause it's just "casual day at the office footage"

I like the igloo water jug strapped up to the post. And maybe a box of tissues or paper towels strapped next to it.

In any case, this is what got me thinking about "well airborne safety wears emergency rig, why loadmaster?"

http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=35670049


Maybe it's an age thing. There's no clear description of what era loadmaster the profile is targeting.

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377 mentioned "artitistically lit" airstair photo.

We covered the exact number of lights that exist on the air stair back in the thread. I think that was from the 727 schematic from the early article.

I too thought there was extra lighting in Sluggo's pic, but I now think it's lit by existing lights. Just good camera work. Maybe a flood or flash, but the yellow lighting I think is all on the 727?

One unknown we have: Did Cooper get lights on his stairs? The McCoy description seems to imply no lights (remember him talking about getting his penlight). Who knows.

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Quote

Nevertheless, Dayton had plenty of other wild stories to tell, such as being a guerilla fighter against the Japanese in the jungles of the Philippines during WWII,



How was she involved in WW 2 combat and how old would that make her? Something doesn't add up age wise to fit the Dayton was Cooper story. The book says she is 43 in 1969 when he became a she through the wonders of surgery. That means he was a WW 2 Philippines theater combatant at about age 15? I guess its possible, but it seems far fetched.

Her story about jumping from near the top of the steps doesn't add up either. I don't think you'd get enough downward stair deflection for a clear exit. Sluggo, Snow?

Was she an experienced skydiver? The book says yes but where is the proof? What DZ? What jumpers knew her? If not experienced there is little chance she could do a jet exit, 8000 ft night freefall and pull at 1000 ft AGL. A flat spin and blackout is far more probable if she was a novice.

/reply]

Good questions, 377.

Bobby-Barb Dayton was 17 years old in 1943, as I understand the story. He joined the Merchant Marine at that time, and spent the remainder of WWII in his capacity of seaman. However, during a couple of weeks early in this gig, he left his ship in the Philippines and headed to the jungles where he freelanced with the Moro people.

In post WWII- 1945-7-ish time, Bobby joined the Army for a short hitch, then returned to the Merchant Marine and worked as a seaman on munititon ships on-and-off for many years.

As for the specifics of jumping, experience, etc., those questions are the ones I would like to pose to FBI officials, as their behavior is my primary interest, not Barb Dayton's.

I am not here to prove Barb is DB. In fact, I don't think she is. But I do suspect she's part of the Cooper case somehow, as I do believe Duane Weber and McCoy are, also.

But, 377, I will be mindful of your very legitimate questioning, for it advances the whole investigation.

Nevertheless, at the moment my primary questions are: Does the FBI investigate folks who confess to being DB Cooper? Does a confession get you to the head of the line? What are the criteria the feds use to determine who gets what kind of review? Are any confessees not investigated? If so, who makes that determination and how? Did the FBI investigate Barb Dayton? If not, why not?

Lastly, if the FBI is investigating Barb now, how extensive is it?

As for records of Barb-Bobby Dayton's parachuting experience, I doubt there are many. He-she had an utter disregard for authority and formality, and I imagine he-she jumped when and where he wanted to. I'd be surprised if he had any more than rudimentary, informal instruction. Heck, he/she flew his Cessna for years without a pilot's license and disregarded the requirement for a medical clearance to fly, and in fact, did have at least one heart attack flying out of Thun Field with Pat Forman, who had to take the controls and get coached to the ground by her husband who zoomed in next to her to guide her. Just before touch-down, however, Barb regained consciousness and took the stick and got them safely home.

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Part II, of four

The FBI investigation comes under suspicion:


Although the Formans have never met with Carr, they did meet with an FBI agent in August, 2006 to discuss their findings. The agent was named Jeremy Blauser, and he met with the Formans after they hired an attorney, Ed Hudson, to help make contact with the Bureau, and to also iron-out copyright and other legal details in their forthcoming book.

Intriguingly, Blauser told the Formans and Hudson that he was based out of the Los Angeles FBI office - giving them a business card to prove it - and declared he was “on loan” to the Seattle office to help with a resurgent Cooper investigation.

On the day of the scheduled meeting Ron became ill, so Pat, alone with her attorney, met with Blauser in a downtown Tacoma office building. Pat says that Blauser was initially a skeptic but became very excited by her revelations, and evolved into a true believer by the end of their two-hour conversation.
When they parted, he asked for items of Barb’s that would provide DNA samples, such as hair brushes and sealed envelopes, which the Formans provided shortly thereafter.

However, when I asked Carr about the Dayton DNA samples, he said he has never received any.
However, he did confirm that the Bureau had a partial DNA sample from the clip-on tie that Cooper had left inexplicably on the aircraft.

“The DNA samples could be Cooper, or somebody else’s. We don’t know,” Carr said.

But when I asked Agent Carr if he was planning to contact the Formans and conduct a DNA screening on Barb Dayton, he said the Formans would have to perform the Dayton DNA analysis and then bring it to him.

Putting aside Agent Carr’s less-than-robust investigation for the moment, is the FBI conducting parallel investigations in the Cooper case – Carr’s in Seattle, and one out of Los Angeles run by Blauser? Or did Carr or Blauser botch the hand-off, or is the FBI stonewalling this inquiry?

Sadly, efforts to clarify what is going on have come to an impasse for Special Agent Jeremy Blauser has vanished. His cell phone number has been disconnected, the Los Angeles FBI says that he no longer works there, and they claim they are unable to say where he’s gone.

As for Carr, the last time I asked for an interview, I was told he was out of town for two weeks even though he was heard on NPR’s Morning Edition several days later chatting with a KUOW radio crew about car-pooling to the annual DB Cooper Day festival in Ariel, Washington.

Nevertheless, let’s return to the clues at hand. How about old fashioned fingerprints? DB reportedly downed several bourbons and water (and paid for it with his own cash). Aren’t there any fingerprints on the cocktail cup? The government has Bobby Dayton’s prints from his lengthy service in the Army and Merchant Marine. Is there a match? If not, why not say so?

Lastly, Larry Carr, with a chillingly dismissive tone of voice, told me that “nothing the Formans have presented fits anything in the case files.”

Nothing? What about the confession, then?

As for file-comparisons, how about the fact that Dayton was a sharp pilot and parachutist, plus she knew how to rig dynamite charges? Carr told me the FBI “intensely investigated” the skydiving and flying communities of the Pacific Northwest in the days after the skyjacking, considering at the time that pilots and parachutists were prime suspects. So, how did the feds miss a 40-something pilot who did stunts with a rinky-dink Cessna 140?

Further, Dayton knew from years of flying over Washington and Oregon that instructing the Northwest Orient pilots to fly to Mexico City at 10,00 feet would automatically put them in the air transportation corridor known as Victor 23, and would place her directly on top of I-5 at Woodburn, Oregon.

Plus, Dayton was a Raleigh chain-smoker and her drink of choice was bourbon. Further, Dayton routinely wore loafers, even while flying, and Ron Forman says he never saw her wear any other kind of foot wear.

In addition, Dayton held a well-known grudge against the FAA for regulations that prevented her from becoming a commercial pilot.

Plus, she was known famously for her disregard of money, on at least one occasion draining the fuel from her Cessna 140 and transferring it to her car so she could drive home to her apartment in West Seattle.

Her psychiatrist reported she had nothing to live for; isn’t that a suitable state of mind for jumping out of a 727 the night before Thanksgiving while wearing a thin rain coat and slip-ons?

Plus, the Formans say that on the night Barb confessed, the group of pilots asked to take a Polaroid of her done-up as DB. Ron says the resemblance of the picture to the published FBI composite sketch was so uncanny that one individual freaked-out, tore up the picture and fled the house.

In addition, a newspaper article dated November 21, 1979 from the University of Washington, The Daily, describes a Cooper scenario virtually identical to the story Ron and Pat now tell. Written by two undergrad reporters named Clark Humphrey and Brian Guenther, The Daily says they got the story from two secretive sleuths who used psychic powers to uncover the truth.

Weird, yes, but was Barb planting stories at The Daily while she worked at the library across campus? Further, The Daily reported that the FBI had been contacted, and that the feds considered the information “credible.”

Is that true? Did the FBI know in 1979 of the Woodburn landing and the sex-change angle?

Regardless of whether or not Barb Dayton failed to register on the FBI’s radar screen in the early 1970s as a cracker-jack pilot, or got on it in 1979 with the UW publication but then inexplicably dropped off it again, doesn’t the FBI want to wrap-up this case, now?

One last, lonely red flag: why did the Department of Justice wait until the very last possible day to obtain this John Doe indictment when the Portland office of the FBI had been warning the DOJ attorneys long before? Was someone in Washington, DC trying to run out the clock on the DB Cooper case?


More Doubts: the Ariel screw-up-

In the days after the skyjacking, the FBI mounted an enormous investigation, which included a massive ground search in the vicinity of Ariel, Washington, about 30 miles north of Vancouver, WA.

This area was selected based on where the FBI thought Flight 305 was flying when the aft stairs bounced.

Hundreds of soldiers from Ft. Lewis, Washington, and a phalanx of cops, sheriffs and feds scoured 28 square miles of rugged mountainous terrain along the Lewis River drainage of the Cascades Mountains. After eighteen days of a painstaking yard-by-yard search, they found zilch and quit.

Ignoring the Barb Dayton angle for a moment, did that bump actually occur over Ariel, or somewhere else north of Portland?

It has been revealed in numerous places, most notably by authors Russ Calame and Bernie Rhodes in their book DB Cooper - The Real McCoy” that the FBI failed to get the exact position of Flight 305 from the pilot, Captain William Scott.

They say that at a retirement party in 1980 for the FBI agent who had headed the Portland office’s Cooper investigation, Special Agent Ralph Himmelsbach, Capt Scott revealed that Flight 305 was flying over Woodland, Washington when the stairs bucked, not ten miles further east over Ariel as the feds had originally surmised.

In addition, the FBI did not accurately determine the direction of the wind, either, according to the captain of the Continental Airlines jetliner flying directly behind Flight 305 in Victor 23.

In his Norjak book, Himmelsbach says the failure to ascertain the wind direction came to light in 1978 when Capt. Tom Bohan, the Continental skipper, contacted the FBI on his own initiative and told them 80 knot winds that night were coming at him from a compass heading of 166 degrees – slightly east of head-on.

That was nearly 80 degrees different than the westerly 245 degree angle the FBI had used in its calculations. Plus, at 80 knots it was more than double in strength than the FBI’s original configuration. Hence, if DB Cooper had jumped where the FBI said he had, his drift in the wind also would have put him west of Ariel.

Based on these two pieces of information – and maintaining the FBI’s reckoning of a jump at the Ariel latitude and not Woodburn - DB Cooper should have landed slightly north or northwest of Woodland, WA, and touched down in the flat lands of the Columbia River basin, not the mountain peaks of the Cascades.

The FBI has yet to explain how or why the errors were made.


©
Bruce A. Smith
2009
PO Box 1676 Yelm, Washington 98597

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snowmman,

Quote

I got a PM from some guy asking about the weather, saying he wanted to do an analysis. etc.



"Some guy" is a Disabled American Veteran, an aeronautical engineer, has jumped, and has 1750 flight hours.

You replied:
"Weather varies. Depends on where you're looking. You should talk to the FBI. They would know."


Do you work for MicroSoft or something? (Answers to questions are 100% accurate and totally useless.)

I'm glad to know you are serving this community by helping talented people who want to discover for themselves what might have happened on 11/24/2009. They are the kind of folks who don't just take the FBI's word for everything. I know you appreciate that.

Good job!

Sluggo_Monster

Web Page
Blog
NORJAK Forum

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Ckret posted his Cooper as a former aircrew loadmaster/kicker theory long before the Air America stuff came to light here. Did the FBI already know about all that SE Asia covert air ops stuff including 727 jumps but did not disclose it?

377



If he was aware of it he sure didn't admit it early on nor did the prior agents. For yrs I told the FBI that Cooper was a firejumper or the one on the plane who communicated with the ground and the search planes in order to drop the load (ground fighters) in the right location. Until this forum I didn't know the name of that position.

Duane's extreme knowledge of CB's and communications - along with the title he used indicates he was what you guys call a Load Master. I would bet that he used that communications title from 1945 - to 1949 out of the Mt. Hood area. I would put a bet on Ed Horan being a mechanic or pilot out of that area in those same yrs.

I have explained this to the FBI until I am blue in the face - it was this forum that helped me put things together about that period of time.

His experience from that time period was utilized again in the mid to late 60's....a group not so upfront as the firejumpers.

The Worlds Greatest Jock Ball Carrier - was not meant to be a dirty joke. In the 40's his cargo was some of the greatest Jocks around and it was his job to make sure they got where they were supposed to be and not in the middle of the fire.

Truth, Fiction, Lie or just a "bad" story by a desparate woman. Bet the FBI doesn't want to make bets at this time. Right MAXs? That's right you read it right - I said Max.
Really hope Ckret (agent Carr) is ready for this one. Maybe I should BY-PASS the FBI and go straight to the media......

I know 377 you don't like it when I do this - but it is not meant for the forum - it is meant to fly in the face of the FBI...Carr knows exactly what I am talking about...and if he doesn't he needs to look for a different line of work.
Copyright 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012 2013, 2014, 2015 by Jo Weber

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