Sounds like a James Bond episode all by itself. My life seems so totally
simple as I sit here punching the key pad and contemplating my next move on
my Healey.
A big thanks to all who sacrificed for us , where ever you are.
Mark
----- Original Message -----
From: "Blue One Hundred" <international_investor@yahoo.com>
To: <healeys@Autox.Team.Net>; "Russ Staub" <bbb11489@azboss.net>; "HoYo"
<hoyo@bellsouth.net>
Sent: Friday, November 12, 2004 5:32 PM
Subject: Re: Rememerance Day (no Healey content)
> My dad flew B17s regularly into the late '60s. He
> flew something called the Fulton Skycrane which if you
> may recall is the plane used to pick up James Bond and
> 'Domino' from a raft in the ocean in the movie
> Thunderball. Incidentally, the B-17 could actually
> only fit one person at a time through the hole (where
> they cut off the tail's gun), so when they filmed the
> movie the plane landed with the "James Bond" and
> "Domino" mannequins jammed in the hole and legs
> sticking out the back of the B-17!
>
> Dad was the operational flight commander and flew this
> plane in a daring mission called operation Coldfoot in
> 1962. Coldfoot was an Agency mission to fly into
> Arctic Russia and drop two agents to spend a week
> doing reconnaissance on a state-of-the-art Russian
> listening post that was abandoned when it broke away
> from the ice pack and pressure ridges had formed
> making it inaccessible by airplane.
>
> If you know anything about aviation navigation at the
> time, imagine flying this B-17 for 16-24 hours in the
> Arctic (they added fuel tanks in the bomb bays),
> finding an unmarked speck in the ocean, and doing this
> all without the aid of a compass, GPS, beacons,
> landmarks or celestial marks. The navigator for the
> mission (who lives in Marin County) should get a
> medal. Also imagine the brave insanity of the agents
> who volunteered to be picked up from the ice in Arctic
> temperatures dangling on a 1,000ft. nylon chord stuck
> on one end to the agent, and on the other end to a
> B-17... a flying B-17! It is the only mission my
> father flew which is officially declassified by the
> CIA. You can read about it here:
>
> http://www.cia.gov/csi/studies/95unclass/Leary.html
>
> and my dad is in the cockpit here:
>
> http://www.cia.gov/csi/studies/95unclass/104.gif
>
> Incidentally, my father had worked with Fulton on the
> Skyhook system originally to rescue Al Pope who was my
> father's wingman when shot down flying a B-26 in 1958
> trying to overthrow Sukarno in Indonesia. Al Pope
> spent four years in Indonesian prison as a POW.
>
> I flew in this B-17 as a little kid all the time and
> flew in it as recently as 2000 ... it is now owned by
> Evergreen Aviation in Oregon. It was originally used
> by the Agency to fly missions into Communist China in
> the 1950s.
>
> Dad also flew B-26s, PBYs, C-46s and C-130s (actually
> 41 different airplanes in all) first in the Army Air
> Corps in WWII then from 1949 - 1975 for the Agency.
> If you ever want to know the real truth about any of
> the stuff that they did during that time, ask me...
> my dad was there!
>
> He also helped me restore my BJ8 ... he learned alot
> about working metal when he was building B-24
> Liberators in La Jolla prior to him volunteering for
> duty in 1943.
>
> Cheers,
>
> Alan Seigrist
>
> '53 BN1 '64 BJ8
>
> Your
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