CooperNWO305

Here is an exercise someone can do if they have time. Look on Ancestry or Family Search and put in the name Dan LeClair. Birth year say 1915-1935. See how many hits you get. Then try Dan St. Clair, or Dan Clair, or Claire, etc. Then see if any of them were born in Canada, and lived in New Jersey. or near there. Then put in Paul Cotton and see how many hits you get using the same birth years. I can tell you what I've found (with assistance from Marty): There are not a lot of Dan Clairs or Dan St. Clairs. There are not a lot of Paul Cottons. There is one Dan Clair, born in 1919 in Ontario, Canada. Just 50 miles or so from the Dan LeClair in Max Gunther's book. Both moved to Newark, NJ. Both joined the Army during WWII. There is a Paul Cotton who lived in Bloomfield, NJ. William Smith (suspect) worked with Dan Clair. William Smith's wife grew up less than two miles from that Paul Cotton, and were around the same age. In Gunther's book, the letter has a Happy Birthday xX Clara. The letter x'd out is a D. William Smiths' wife was named Dolores. William Smith had aviation experience, and parachute training. The Happy Birthday was for March 2nd. Dan Clair's wife Jeanne was born on March 2nd. Maybe someone can find a better match than Dan Clair. I'd like to see it. I'd really love to see some more people get interested in Gunther's book and do some research and find Dan LeClair, whether it is Dan Clair or not. On a side note: William Smith's family is not too happy that he is named as a suspect. Yet there has been no public denial. No nothing. Just a comment from someone who married into the family well after 1971 saying he knows where Smith was in 1971. Where that is, we don't know.

Right. We know for sure some of the parts are made up. But which other ones are real and which ones are not? Did he do oil paintings? Did he look like Ben Gazarra? Did he go to Rutgers. Etc. I’ve got four Rutgers yearbooks from the period and can’t see anything in them. I’m selling them on eBay now.

Timeline and Details of Max Gunther's Characters November 24, 1971: Hijacking of Northwest Orient Flight 305. November 30, 1971: Elsinore Skydive Center near Los Angeles calls the FBI to say that a man closely resembling the sketch of the hijacker skydived there in the summer of 1971. This same man wore military style paratrooper boots and asked questions about jumping from a passenger airliner. December 1971: FBI reviews jump records from Elsinore Skydive Center. February 10, 1972: D.B. Cooper sends first letter to Max Gunther (postmarked New York, NY). He asks Max to place an ad in the Village Voice (a New York City paper) if he would like to communicate. March 2, 1972: Max places ad in the Village Voice. March 10, 1972: D.B. Cooper sends second letter to Max. Phones Max a few weeks later. Spring-Summer 1972: Max Gunther informs FBI about the letters and calls. April 1982: Clara tells Max that D.B. Cooper has died. Clara and Max speak about a half dozen times. 1985: Max Gunther publishes his book entitled “D.B. Cooper: What Really Happened." In the book the man claiming to be D.B. Cooper describes a visit to a skydive center near Los Angeles in 1971. 2017: FBI documents regarding the hijacker’s visit to Elsinore Skydive Center are released. Somehow Max Gunther wrote about this event 12 years before the FBI files were released. Either Max had an inside source, or he was in fact talking to the same man who visited Elsinore in 1971. Max Gunther's Dan LeClair (aka Paul Cotton aka Dan Cooper aka DB Cooper) Born around 1924-25 in London, Ontario, Canada. Only child. Lived in Newark, NJ as a child, along with his mother’s widowed sister. He was shy, organized class dances, and was into photography. Voted most likely to succeed in high school, graduated in 1942-43. Served in Europe during World War II, in Belgium, Army paratrooper. His father died around 1949. He went to Rutgers, probably graduating in 1949. Went to college on GI Bill, was on the track team, liked to hike. Did oil painting. Scar on left hand running from thumb to pinky finger. Visited parachute center near Los Angeles in summer of 1971. Wore a jumpsuit under his suit, that’s why he was sweating. Clara described him as 6 feet tall and 180-190 pounds. Dark complexion, like an American Indian. Dark brown eyes. Looked like actor Ben Gazarra. Wore glasses. Had big feet. Sent letters to Ed Kuhn of Playboy and Mark Penzer of True Magazine. Had a son and a daughter born in the 1950s. Daughter went to college in Boston. Was in a car accident around 1972. Tried to disappear once by faking a drowning, but was unsuccessful Successfully disappeared by leaving the office one day. First went to Washington, DC by train, and then to California to work in a hotel Very attractive first wife Took his new ID from a drunk who lost his wallet in Hartford, CT Dated a woman whose brother was a skydiving enthusiast Learned about planes and jumping at Elsinore Skydive Center near Los Angeles in in the summer of 1971 Said the bomb was fake. He made it. Bought the suit and tie at a pawn shop Didn’t leave fingerprints. Buried the money. Some of the money was dragged away by an animal because he left food in the bag. Landed in a rocky area by a creek. Nursed back to health by Clara. After the jump, visited a doctor in Cowlitz or Clark County for a broken ankle. Worked for a company that manufactured small electronic components in New Jersey. Also worked for a company selling industrial chemicals as well as a company that did cellar waterproofing. Bought stock in Miller-Wohl and made a decent profit. Paid taxes in California and New York under new name. Had a driver’s license in California, lived in New York. Audited by the IRS in the mid 1970’s. First tax return filed under false name in 1971. Belonged to a country club. Had a heart attack. Died of natural causes in 1982 at a New York hospital. Clara (his rescuer and future wife) Birthday is March 2. Born in Longview, Washington on the banks of the Columbia River. Youngest of 3 children, her father was a hunter, he died in 1950. Was in her middle 30’s in 1971. Wore glasses. Went to college, worked in Seattle, got married in her 20’s and then divorced, no children. Lived in a lake house in Clark County. This is where she met Paul Cotton/DB Cooper after the hijacking. The lake house was her uncle's. He went on a long overseas trip and she watched the house and his German shepherd. Called Max Gunther a half dozen times in 1982, just after DB Cooper's death.

I don't think it is available on the web. Can it be posted here at DZ? If you have an email address, we can get it to you. If you don't want to share your email with someone, let us know who in the Vortex does have your email and someone can forward it to them and they can forward it to you. I realized that you had discussed Gunther way back on the DZ and mentioned the picture of the actual letter that had an x'd out letter at the end. You mentioned that it looked like the letter D had been x'd out.

Georger. Have you read the book? It is available on PDF for free. At least until the family decides to release it again.

I agree that Gunther was mostly telling the truth. He had way too much at stake to lie about this. Now, whether or not the man who called was DB Cooper is still up for debate. I believe he was or at least was close to him. The Elsinore visit outlined in the book is quite a coincidence. I do believe it is possible that Gunther went to Los Angeles and got that info himself, but wow, that was some good journalism.

DFS346: Excellent book by the way. One topic that confuses me is your selection of the actual landing zone of DB Cooper. I'm curious about a few things that maybe you have tim to answer if you feel like it. 1. It sounds like you believe the pressure bump and the 8:13 time indicate the general time and place that Cooper jumped. In other words, he did not jump past Portland or in the Lake Merwin area. 2. I interpreted your writing to indicate that you thought he jumped north of Portland, around the Battleground VORTEC, but that because of the money find, and the fact that nothing has been found near Battleground, that through Occam's Razor, he had to have landed in the river or south of the river. Am I in the right ballpark here? Thanks.

Damn good research. Essentially Cooper had a number of airlines to choose from. So why Northwest?

Marty. I have United from April 1970. That’s all I have. Fly might have more. eBay has some timetables.

Sled test shows a man in a helmet on the stairs. Timetable for NWO as of October 31, 1971. I got these from the links Flyjack shared above. Larry Carr's DZ posts are on there too in one document. Lots of good info.

This is great. Thanks for sharing the link. I'm reading through some oral histories. One discusses ticketing and says the passengers never wrote their names on the tickets, it was the airline that did that. The same guy mentions how lax security was in that as a purser he just walked from the parking lot to the plane. Makes me think how DB Cooper could have visited a 727 at a different airport if he had connections. Interesting story: I had worked for NW at the time of the DB Cooper hijacking of the NW 727. I was working that evening in the regional flight office. My boss at the time was the Chief Pilot, I believe it was Al Lee. I recall listening to the conversations between the pilot and the ground as the entire event unfolded. As I told Cherry the other day, and to this day I do not often tell the story, because most when told the story look at me with disbelief. Two weeks following the hijacking I was working in the terminal. I was approached by a guy who asked for directions to the NW flight to Honolulu. Flight 87. I took his ticket noticing three things that we were trained to be "red flags". A one way ticket, paid in cash, and no luggage to check. Also, I had seen the composite sketch of DB, and this fellow very much resembled the composite. After the fellow had left me I contacted my supervisor telling him that I thought that DB was heading toward the Honolulu flight. He seemed not too interested in what I was telling me and then asked me to go to board the flight to Alaska. Around noon time I was having lunch with the Sky Marshal who had been stationed at the Honolulu flight. I asked him if he saw the guy who looked like DB. He said that he had and that he had showed him the composite of DB and asked him if he was that guy. The guy told him, no, and the fellow was allowed to board the flight. Somewhere along the way the FBI was notified I do understand. A day passed and I was asked to meet with two FBI agents in the NW Top Flight Lounge. The agents showed me the composite what they thought Cooper looked like and asked me if that was the guy that I had met the previous day? I told them it was and then I asked them what had happened to the guy. The agents told me that FBI people had met the flight on its arrival in Honolulu but after searching the plane and passengers they concluded that he did not arrive in Honolulu. A big mystery to this day. What happened to the guy from the time that the Sky Marshal encountered him and hr boarded the flight to Honolulu? A flight that he never arrived there on. I have a few theories on it but we will never know what really happened.

Great post Fly. People get all caught up on the exact time of the pressure bump. A couple of us see it like you do Flyjack. The time would be nice, but we have two major pieces of information to make a decision. 1. The pressure bump was the jump. 2. This happened before Portland, therefore he could not have landed in the river. For the naysayers I’d like to ask. 1. Do you believe the pressure bump was the jump? If so, then where was the plane? If not, then ok, he could have jumped anywhere then. I find that those who think he died ignore this info. The Tina Bar money 3% of the total $200,000 adds some mystery, but it does not mean he landed in the water.

I joined well after Jo Weber had left the DZ. I was flipping through Max Gunther’s book and found my notes from conversations with Jo. She was quite unique. Some little things I found interesting. She talked to Tina and Flo. She said while Duane was in the hospital they gave him pills, but he didn’t like taking them, so he hid them. She said the dream he had was at home and not the hospital. She talked a lot as many of you can attest to.

I see it like this too Fly. Composite B to include brown eyes. This batch has two separate witnesses saying they saw him without sunglasses. Cooper was brazen.

Thank you!!! And thank you on behalf of anyone in Cooperland who is not on the site but likes to read the posts. And for everyone else too.

Everyone just needs to keep reporting his posts and emailing the site admin.

Georger. I fly a good amount as a passenger, and since getting involved with Cooper I’ve made it a point to pay a lot of attention to things in the plane, altitude, etc. There have been many occasions where I have felt a turn. It is especially evident when coming into a landing run. I don’t know if he would have known a slight turn just as a regular guy like me, but one of those bigger ones that V23 makes, I’d yes for sure. Now if he was in aviation, I’d bet he knew even the little turns.

This new info could get more traction if he could edit the video down to just a few minutes and maybe get a news outlet to report on it. Keep the long one up, but have a highlight reel too.

Interesting. I guess this gets into witness descriptions. I would not have said Bill was tall, but I would have said Martin was tall. Granted, most of my discussion with Bill was when we were both seated. I'm 6'1-6'2". I really was not thinking about height, maybe just like the passengers and crew on 305. I'm kind of wondering if the only good testimony on height is from Dennis Lysne at the ticket counter, he had him around 5'10".

DFS. Reading your book now. It is great. I’m only a few pages in. There is a part about the money bag and Nancy House. I’m trying to picture what is written. Am I reading this right? Money bag comes on plane (it’s white). Cooper gets the bag, goes into the lavatory with the briefcase and the money bag? Or he goes in with the briefcase and his other little bag? The book says Spreckel and House think he’s in the lav to arrange the money. Is his extra bag really the money bag? Or is it a separate bag and maybe he put the money in the second bag? This book will occupy me for a while.

Fly. The only place I’ve heard of the scar is from Gunther’s book. Is it somewhere else? Jo liked Gunther a lot and supposedly talked to him a lot. If she got it from him, then that’s where it started. He published in 1985. I’ve asked around and I don’t think anyone else has been able to come up with info on the scar.

Yes. He knew what he was doing. My question is whether the two chutes were so different that him picking one would give us any more indication of who he was. The early belief was he did not pick the more civilian type chute, indicating that he was not a skydiver. Now that Fly has opened up a new line of discussion, I wanted to know what FLYJACK thinks, that is why I asked FLYJACK the question.

Fly. Given what you know, do you think Cooper made a calculated decision on which chute to use? Were they different enough from eachother? Can I mute someone on here using iphone or do I need to be on a desktop? Robert you continue to clog up this site. I wish people would just report your posts as spam. You have some good posts once in a while, but I just can’t sift through the chaff.

Nothing new. Focus was on an audience that did not know much about him, hence most was new to them. I have not spent a lot of time on Smith the past couple of years. A little bit here and there. Mainly just stayed involved with the case as a whole. I’m a little rejuvenated from this past weekend and may pick up the pace a bit. Regardless, I won’t change anyone’s minds. Lemino’s video has 11 million views, and many comments on Smith, so he is compelling to some. PM me if you want to chat some. I’ve picked up a few tidbits the past few weeks.

CooperCon was awesome. I agree with Martin’s statements on Bill Mitchell. One of the first things I asked him at the pub was about the turkey gobble. I sense from him that it may simply have been something an older guy has. Bill even touched his own fold of skin under his chin when discussing it. I think to a 20 year old it seemed very “old man.” The other big piece was like Marty said, Bill thought the composite sketches made him look too young. That’s another hole in the McCoy and Rackstraw theory. Mitchell did not hear Cooper speak either. However, he does seem like a credible witness and did see enough of Cooper for me to give him weight as a witness. Unfortunately at this time he says he just can’t remember. Seeing his actual 305 ticket was great. He’s a real nice guy. He did us Cooper fans a huge favor by coming. Overall a great conference. Too much to even write about. One day would be more digestible, but there is just so much to talk about that it is hard to fit it into one day. Robert Blevins, your commentary is just plain negative. You missed a good time. Don’t take the wind out of everyone else’s sails due to your personal conflicts.