Word: skyhook
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Dates: during 1960-1969
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Once its target is located, a Skyhook rescue plane sends a 400-lb., do-it-yourself kit drifting downward by parachute. The bulky package, which is buoyant enough to float if it lands on water, contains a cylinder filled with helium and 500 ft. of woven nylon line with a special suit attached to one end, a balloon to the other. The man to be rescued must be in good enough physical shape to do a few simple things: put on the suit and inflate the balloon with helium. Once the big bag rises to the full length...
...pilots would go to extravagant lengths to rescue comrades in trouble. Helicopters flap into impossible places to save plane-crash survivors; skindivers drop to the aid of downed astronauts; search-and-rescue craft crisscross vast areas of ocean. And now the lifesaving arsenal has a new weapon: the military Skyhook developed by Connecticut Inventor Robert E. Fulton...
...Navy, which got into the act first, has been perfecting Skyhook rescues for seven years. Earlier this year, the Army used the technique to lift 35 men, including two Special Forces generals, during exercises at Fort Bragg, N.C. Now the Air Force is also trying the method, and 48 Lockheed C-130 transports have been modified with the forks and winches needed for Skyhook lifts. "I've never experienced anything like it in my military career," says Special Forces veteran Sergeant First Class Johnny Dolin. "First there is a slight tug at the shoulders, then you're soaring...