There was a TV Show called 'Sarge' in 1971 and an episode called "Ring In, Ring Out" that aired on 28 September 1971 had a character named 'Dan Cooper' played by Martin Sheen.  This Dan Cooper mysteriously disappears.

So maybe "Dan Cooper" may have come from this TV show not from the comic book.

I cannot find the episode online. 

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Letter codes allegedly cracked.

377

Excellent article on the developing Colbert-Letter#5 story. Thanks for the link.

There was a TV Show called 'Sarge' in 1971 and an episode called "Ring In, Ring Out" that aired on 28 September 1971 had a character named 'Dan Cooper' played by Martin Sheen.  This Dan Cooper mysteriously disappears.

So maybe "Dan Cooper" may have come from this TV show not from the comic book.

I cannot find the episode online.

This description in the attached file gives some more on the plot...I am trying to find the episode someplace.   How did he disappear?

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I haven't seen any posts about the Air Canada hijacking that happened 10 days before Norjack, when a hijacker also tried to parachute from the plane.  This is probably where Cooper got his idea, suggesting that the hijacking was not planned much more than a week ahead.

See attachment.

I think Bruce has looked into that case to some degree. I rather think Cooper had the idea long before - he knew SO much about that plane and how it would need to fly for him to be able to jump - but the Cini incident may have pushed him to do it or do it sooner, before someone else thought of the 727's little stair problem. In other words, I think it's as or more likely Cini's crime precipitated Cooper's rather than inspired it. Once the Cooper valve was invented, the Cooper perfect crime became impossible. If he DID work at one time for Boeing (or had any common sense) he would have anticipated that the plane would have to be re-vamped if jumping off the stairs became a thing for skyjackers. Which it did a few times after Cooper, before it was fixed. He had to get his stair jump done before someone else did.

Still, the only thing that would require LONG planning for the crime, if Cooper was already a super-experienced jumper who knew the region well, would be the bomb, if it were real, which I doubt it was. Cini planned for months but is probably lucky he never got to jump because he WOULD have died.

From the FBI documents, we now know that someone somewhere in LA was talking about jumping from a commercial jet as early as August of 1971, well before the Cini hijacking. So there's goes the idea that the hijacking required secret Boeing knowledge or inspiration from others.

And a belated welcome to the forum to you, Lynn. I too came here looking for inspiration for a novel. I wish you better luck than I had.

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I haven't seen any posts about the Air Canada hijacking that happened 10 days before Norjack, when a hijacker also tried to parachute from the plane.  This is probably where Cooper got his idea, suggesting that the hijacking was not planned much more than a week ahead.

See attachment.

I think Bruce has looked into that case to some degree. I rather think Cooper had the idea long before - he knew SO much about that plane and how it would need to fly for him to be able to jump - but the Cini incident may have pushed him to do it or do it sooner, before someone else thought of the 727's little stair problem. In other words, I think it's as or more likely Cini's crime precipitated Cooper's rather than inspired it. Once the Cooper valve was invented, the Cooper perfect crime became impossible. If he DID work at one time for Boeing (or had any common sense) he would have anticipated that the plane would have to be re-vamped if jumping off the stairs became a thing for skyjackers. Which it did a few times after Cooper, before it was fixed. He had to get his stair jump done before someone else did.

Still, the only thing that would require LONG planning for the crime, if Cooper was already a super-experienced jumper who knew the region well, would be the bomb, if it were real, which I doubt it was. Cini planned for months but is probably lucky he never got to jump because he WOULD have died.

From the FBI documents, we now know that someone somewhere in LA was talking about jumping from a commercial jet as early as August of 1971, well before the Cini hijacking. So there's goes the idea that the hijacking required secret Boeing knowledge or inspiration from others.

And a belated welcome to the forum to you, Lynn. I too came here looking for inspiration for a novel. I wish you better luck than I had.

Haha, it's going to be a humorous time travel piece - a cautionary tale (ironically) about getting so bogged down in the past you wind up there for good. I've got 2 modern-day protagonists, one who's gotten locked in hazy happy memories of 1971 as well as the Cooper case and accidentally winds up IN 1971, a week before the Cooper jack. Unable to get back, she eventually decides to make her way to Portand and at least find out who he was. (NO real suspects will be named as Cooper, of course.) The second protagonist is trying to find HER. I'm trying to get as much real detail as possible about the flight itself - but I probably have enough info now and I still can't stop reading all the stuff I don't need!  It's highly addictive.

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Georger understands Jo. She hasn’t wasted her life on the Duane=DBC quest. It’s keot her mentally engaged and socially active. It’s Jo’s raison d'être. Beats knitting for sure.

377

Hi, 377 - I don't know your real name, but from your comments on this thread I understand you are occasionally in touch with Sheridan Peterson. In my daily DB Cooper random googling, I noticed Sheridan mentioned on a different youtube video 2 weeks ago that he was a Bubbleator operator at the Seattle World's Fair. Could you please pass this on to him? I think this shows him at about 55 seconds. I'm pretty sure it's him because the voice matches his on the History doc (notice the pronunciation of "ere"  words - rear, sphere, here.) Tell him I don't care if he's Cooper or not , I adore him and wish him well. Happy New Year to you and him as well. 

Sheridan was indeed a Bubbleator operator but neither his image or voice is in that film. He can still recite many parts of the announcements verbatim.

377

That's a shame. Was hoping to give him a little smile, he seems to have fond memories of the time.  I could have sworn it was the same voice, having played the two videos (this and the extra from the History doc) side-by-side. Anyway, I think the voice could help eliminate Sheridan, as to me that's quite an unusual pronunciation, but perhaps it's typical of the region? His voice could ONLY be that of an American; you will not find that accent in Canada, which is why I noticed it. I don't remember hearing it on TV feeds from Seattle when I was in BC, but I wasn't listening for it then, either -  the FAs clearly said Cooper had no unusual speech markers, and this guy drawls his "eres". Oh, well. Still hope SP is doing well. Sounds like a hell of an interesting guy.

On that note, how much is known about what other various suspects sounded like? Anyone with a very distinctive speech quality of some sort is unlikely to be DBC unless he was a voice actor on top of everything else. Sheridan's voice is easy to find because he's still around and all over the Internet. I'm looking for Gossett right now, as I know he had that radio show.

I'm fairly certain Cooper is NONE of the following: KC, Weber, Rackstraw, LD Cooper, Barb Dayton, Adam West. I don't know much about Burnworth or Braden, but am hoping I can find out more when I get Bruce's book next week. I've avoided looking at Gossett - though I find him a compelling suspect - just because I know there's already someone promoting him and the more someone is promoted, the more I have to start keeping my "confirmation bias" goggles on! 

It's purely fascination for me at this point, apart from the fact that in my fiction book the protag is going to meet DBC, so I'm sticking with the points of description most of the more credible witnesses have in common. (He will NOT have marcelled hair, btw.) 

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Georger understands Jo. She hasn’t wasted her life on the Duane=DBC quest. It’s keot her mentally engaged and socially active. It’s Jo’s raison d'être. Beats knitting for sure.

377

Hi, 377 - I don't know your real name, but from your comments on this thread I understand you are occasionally in touch with Sheridan Peterson. In my daily DB Cooper random googling, I noticed Sheridan mentioned on a different youtube video 2 weeks ago that he was a Bubbleator operator at the Seattle World's Fair. Could you please pass this on to him? I think this shows him at about 55 seconds. I'm pretty sure it's him because the voice matches his on the History doc (notice the pronunciation of "ere"  words - rear, sphere, here.) Tell him I don't care if he's Cooper or not , I adore him and wish him well. Happy New Year to you and him as well. 

Sheridan was indeed a Bubbleator operator but neither his image or voice is in that film. He can still recite many parts of the announcements verbatim.

377

That's a shame. Was hoping to give him a little smile, he seems to have fond memories of the time.  I could have sworn it was the same voice, having played the two videos (this and the extra from the History doc) side-by-side. Anyway, I think the voice could help eliminate Sheridan, as to me that's quite an unusual pronunciation, but perhaps it's typical of the region? His voice could ONLY be that of an American; you will not find that accent in Canada, which is why I noticed it. I don't remember hearing it on TV feeds from Seattle when I was in BC, but I wasn't listening for it then, either -  the FAs clearly said Cooper had no unusual speech markers, and this guy drawls his "eres". Oh, well. Still hope SP is doing well. Sounds like a hell of an interesting guy.

On that note, how much is known about what other various suspects sounded like? Anyone with a very distinctive speech quality of some sort is unlikely to be DBC unless he was a voice actor on top of everything else. Sheridan's voice is easy to find because he's still around and all over the Internet. I'm looking for Gossett right now, as I know he had that radio show.

I'm fairly certain Cooper is NONE of the following: KC, Weber, Rackstraw, LD Cooper, Barb Dayton, Adam West. I don't know much about Burnworth or Braden, but am hoping I can find out more when I get Bruce's book next week. I've avoided looking at Gossett - though I find him a compelling suspect - just because I know there's already someone promoting him and the more someone is promoted, the more I have to start keeping my "confirmation bias" goggles on! 

It's purely fascination for me at this point, apart from the fact that in my fiction book the protag is going to meet DBC, so I'm sticking with the points of description most of the more credible witnesses have in common. (He will NOT have marcelled hair, btw.) 

Lynn I didn't think it's Rackstraw either but I'd reserve judgment there, to see how this Colbert thing plays out.  He may be spectacularly wrong but for someone to be so steadfast, and using an army of people, that I will always and see. 

And I still await hearing Flyjacks suspect, who has no real reason of non disclosure...FLYJACK, if you claim the FBI will never pursue your suspect as the reason why you won't disclose him, well,  that's exactly why he should be disclosed, under your logic.  Cannot have it both ways.

Well, I think Colbert genuinely believes Rackstraw is the guy; he's also probably going to make more money than DBC ever did off this case, so its in his interest and that of his team to convince the world they're right.

The thing is, I was my hubby's model while he was in SFX make-up school. I had bullet holes, scars, alien eyes, and by God, I suffered the latex aging make-up process. I have also done amateur acting and have been aged by putty make-up and simple shading. AND THERE IS NO WAY, NO HOW that anyone, I don't care how oblivious or scared, could sit next to that kind of make-up for any amount of time and not know it's fake. It is made for long distance viewing and close ups with a LOT of lighting and post production effects. Even then, it's one of the basic things that even long-time pros in the field have screwed up on occasion, in major films. We sit here and pick that stuff out all the time.

So unless Rackstraw aged way before his time, I simply can't accept that 3  FAs  and Bill Mitchell, all only a few years younger, would either fail to notice fake aging or misidentify him as 20+ years older than them. You can miss contacts, you can miss a toupee, but you cannot miss aging make-up. I could be wrong (though I really don't think I am) but honestly I'm already sick to death of hearing about Rackstraw. Unless they find a Cooper $20 on him, I'm not biting.