DB Cooper

[Orange1 0]

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377: /Orange1: Your right My post towards Jo has been to repititive. i do appoligize to all , The thing to do is just let all read her past post and just drop or ignore any further discusion with her.I'll do my best to honor this pledge Jerry

I think we will all be very relieved if you and Jo do your best to ignore each other's posts

Skydiving: wasting fossil fuels just for fun.

[JerryThomas 0]

377: Snow is not posting you are: Cooper requested the money be delvered in unmarked bills . It was not a knapsack it was in a bank bag. The weight of the bag was 25lbs,. Cooper did not improvise, he dealt with what was delivered to him. Money could have only came out if he allowed it too, Still he tied the bag to him using a cord he cut from one of the Chutes he left behind.Jerry

[JerryThomas 0]

Orange1: You have my word , Or Shelly will cut me to a higher voice. She unfourtunately promisses this.Im speechless on this subject Jerry

[Orange1 0]

Off topic: the video in attached link will show you how dangerous life can be in Africa
http://www.news24.com/Multimedia/South-Africa/Cyclist-hit-by-antelope-20111011

Skydiving: wasting fossil fuels just for fun.

[JerryThomas 0]

Orange 1 : Its time to move . Shelly and I will Sponser your family. Jerry

[Orange1 0]

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Orange 1 : Its time to move . Shelly and I will Sponser your family. Jerry

Skydiving: wasting fossil fuels just for fun.

[JerryThomas 0]

Orange 1:

[JerryThomas 0]

Orange 1 i realy haven't figured these symbols out yet. I think i understood you didn't want to move. still my post meant if you ever did shelly and i would be glad to have your family / Sponsor. Jerry

[Amazon 7]

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377: /Orange1: Your right My post towards Jo has been to repititive. i do appoligize to all , The thing to do is just let all read her past post and just drop or ignore any further discusion with her.I'll do my best to honor this pledge Jerry

I think we will all be very relieved if you and Jo do your best to ignore each other's posts

HERE HERE!!!!!!!!!!!!!




Pretty please???????

[377 21]

Hey Amazon, you coming to Ariel?

Catching any fall run Chinooks? A buddy of mine fished the river near Redding CA and got limits 12 days in a row! Many big fish including one that was 42 lbs!

Wonder if anyone is really gonna jump into Ariel?

Jumping at your old Bay Area DZ this Saturday. I love jumping in the fall, warm, low winds, beautiful scenery. $20 to 13,500 ft in 2011 just amazes me. I dont see how the DZs can do it.

Still waiting for Jo's blockbuster evidence. She has positioned it so that the FBI has to first complete some investigative task she will request, which of course they won't do. You all know the drill.

377

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

[Amazon 7]

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Hey Amazon, you coming to Ariel?

Catching any fall run Chinooks? A buddy of mine fished the river near Redding CA and got limits 12 days in a row! Many big fish including one that was 42 lbs!

Wonder if anyone is really gonna jump into Ariel?

Jumping at your old Bay Area DZ this Saturday. I love jumping in the fall, warm, low winds, beautiful scenery. $20 to 13,500 ft in 2011 just amazes me. I dont see how the DZs can do it.

Still waiting for Jo's blockbuster evidence. She has positioned it so that the FBI has to first complete some investigative task she will request, which of course they won't do. You all know the drill.

377

I am considering it... for grins... I was thinking of setting up a demo... but toooooo busy and have not talked with Mike the DZO of Toledo... who is related to Donna.

Fishing slowed down for me.... but I have a stocked freezer..I actually caught more chinook this year than I did silvers... tre wierd.

Last time out was UGLY.. crossing the bar with big waves and 50 foot visibility in the fog.. SUCKS donkey balls. and then the following week.. the small craft advisories turned into a freaking gale... while trying to recover my crab pots.... nasty nasty.. and the entrance to Ilwaco was breaking reallly really bad because it is open to the SW swells rolling in.. and they were some mighty nice ones too... They sent out a 47' to "escort" me in cause I was busy keeping the boat into the nasty stuff instead of going below to talk to the nice young men on the 47'. I guess I skeered em a bit because I only had my wee little 27' Chris Craft Commander, but what they did not know is that I probaly have more years experience with nasty Columbia River mouth boating.. than the sum total of all the coasties in that crew I just motioed to them to get the hell out of my way.... waited for a nice non breaking set... and gave the full power to theprop and cruised right into the jaws across the top of a nice big wave.

I have felt that BYRON luv.... but too many dead friends from there in such a short time..Shannon... JP.... Tom.... so its just not as fun for me anymore

The weather up here is being nasty...bring your full rainsuit dude... you gonna need it.

[BruceSmith 3]

Ted Braden, Report on Interview with Pauline Braden, 10.12.11


I spoke with an elderly woman today who said she was Pauline Braden, the former wife of Ted Braden. I describe her with some reservation because the contact information that Snowmman gave me doesn’t quite jive with the circumstances of the phone call.

Initially from Snow, I had thought Pauline was in some kind of assisted living community named the Devonshire, and maybe she is. However, when I called Pauline’s primary number I got a generic message greeting; but when I called the Devonshire, instead of a professional greeting from a receptionist or therapist, I got Pauline, but only after a long wait as the phone had a lengthy ring and I was half-way through leaving my message about being a newspaper reporter doing a story on Ted Braden and the rumors that he was DB Cooper.

Pauline heard the message, though, and was quick to talk about Ted and DB, answering the question that was lingering in the air from the phone message.

“Yeah…honestly, I did…think he could…be him,” Pauline told me. “It was like him (to do the Cooper skyjacking.)… I remember thinking that…at the time it happened.”

However, she later told me that Ted never told her specifically that he was DB Cooper, and it doesn’t sound like she pried too deep into her husband’s past, either; to whit, she never asked him if he was DB Cooper.

In addition, I found it difficult to understand Pauline and she said she had suffered a stroke recently and she often paused when she spoke, seemingly to gather the next group of words she wanted to say out loud.

She also has a faint southern drawl and spoke softly, which further complicated the interview.

Nevertheless, she was quite chatty, even if her memory was not blazingly sharp.

As a result, I decided it was best to ask her questions directly about her experiences with Ted and not ask about Vietnam. She didn’t say a word about Ted’s experiences in the war, either.

Here’s what she told me:

She was married to Ted around 1970, soon after he got out of the military. He was driving a truck at the time and she lived in Ellsworth, PA. However, the marriage was rocky, and they never had any kids together.

“He was a hard guy to live with….,” she said. “He was in jail, too,” she added with a laugh!

“Jail?” I queried.

Apparently, Ted was involved in some kind of truck piracy scheme where he would drive a rig some place and it would get hijacked.

“The FBI came by and interviewed me. They told me about it…but I don’t really understand what he did,” she said. “They told me he had taken a quarter of a million dollars.”

She continued.

“But he was no good….He called me…we weren’t living together, then…He called me and wanted me to bring him some money….

Also:

“He was never around for me….and he had a lot of different women,” she said, again laughing with a kind of Zen-knowingness.

She had kids from a previous marriage to a Kamil Ross, and she wanted to divorce Ted but never had the money to finalize the details and pay for the attorney. As a result, she is still legally Mrs. Braden.

“I was raising the kids by myself…so, I…just didn’t have the money,” she said.

She never told me when she left Ted, but it sounds like the relationship just petered-out after a few years.

However, she knew that Ted had died and confirmed that fact.

“But we weren’t together, when he died,” she added.

As for Ted’s life during the marriage, he was a truck driver the entire time and she says that he never went back into the military.

“He tried to, though, but he didn’t get in,” she said.

By this time, Pauline had thoroughly warmed up to our conversation and we started talking about her kids, living in Ellsworth, and her cousin Lillian, the woman I spoke with two years ago.

After about 15-20 minutes, Pauline began to tire, and I prepared my good-byes. I gave her my phone number and it took a good 4-5 minutes for her to get a pen, some paper, and the correct numbers and their sequence written down.

“You ought to talk to Noreen,” she said as we finished. “She’d probably like to talk with you.”

We then launched into another round of telephone number exchanging. Whew. It seems that Noreen is one of Pauline’s four daughters.

“They’re all over the place, but Noreen lives here.”

“With you?”

“No, not here in this place, but close by, here in…..the Pittsburgh area.”

I also told her about the Mountain News, and she brightened considerably.

“Let me know if you…find anything out, will you?” she said.

Pauline sounded like a warm and earnest, but simple, woman. The Ted Braden she describes, coupled with what Lillian had told us earlier, sounds so different than the report we’re hearing from Hank and Allen.

I find it so hard to believe that the Ted Braden who was fearless in combat and pioneered parachuting techniques in Vietnam would live in the boonies with a big-hearted country gal and drive a truck. What happened to his CIA buddies? Where did the uber warrior with 23 months straight in jungle combat according to his SOG buddy JD Bath, and with a ton o’ brains go? It’s hard to conceive that the USG, or Halliburton, couldn’t find a job for him somewhere.

Do we have two Ted Bradens to look for?

I have a call into Noreen, where I left a message. My next call is to Billy Waugh. Then Plaster.

It’s good to be ridin’ with the posse, again. I’ve missed you guys.

[377 21]

Good to hear from you Amazon. I've run the bars at Eureka, Astoria and many other boat graveyards along that coast. I've been more scared crossing sandbars in heavy weather than I ever have been doing skydiving. When you are a big heavily loaded commercial fishing boat with a top speed of 8 knots you can't outrun a breaking swell.

I once decided to just hang out offshore. The swells were huge and it was too scary to try and cross the bar. One boat then decided attempt a crossing and didnt make it. Pitchpoled, game over.

You need a waterproof marine band HT Amazon. Standard makes one that has a GPS built in and DSC (digital selective calling) features. Push one button and the Coasties know you are in trouble and where you are. You can also keep up comms with a helo or a 47 footer while at the helm.

http://www.walkietalkiestore.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=188_192&products_id=2026

Your recent adventure at Ilwaco sounds more like big wave surfing than boating. Be careful out there.

See you at Ariel.

377

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

[BruceSmith 3]

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Good to hear from you Amazon. I've run the bars at Eureka, Astoria and many other boat graveyards along that coast. I've been more scared crossing sandbars in heavy weather than I ever have been doing skydiving. When you are a big heavily loaded commercial fishing boat with a top speed of 8 knots you can't outrun a breaking swell.

I once decided to just hang out offshore. The swells were huge and it was too scary to try and cross the bar. One boat then decided attempt a crossing and didnt make it. Pitchpoled, game over.

You need a waterproof marine band HT Amazon. Standard makes one that has a GPS built in and DSC (digital selective calling) features. Push one button and the Coasties know you are in trouble and where you are. You can also keep up comms with a helo or a 47 footer while at the helm.

http://www.walkietalkiestore.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=188_192&products_id=2026

Your recent adventure at Ilwaco sounds more like big wave surfing than boating. Be careful out there.

See you at Ariel.

377

If you would ever like to put your adventures on paper, Amazon, I'd love to publish them on the Mountain News. If you don't make it to Ariel, then maybe I can snag 377 and we can run down to Ilwaco.

I was a Santa Claus at a big festival in Ilwaco about 20 years ago. It was frightening.

[377 21]

Braden's (ex?) wife said:

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“Yeah…honestly, I did…think he could…be him,” Pauline told me. “It was like him (to do the Cooper skyjacking.)… I remember thinking that…at the time it happened.”

Thanks for doing the interview Bruce!

Braden sure had the skills to do Norjack. No question about that.

If he was DBC, and got away with nearly 200K cash in 71, why would he be driving a truck a couple of years later?

If Braden were DBC I dont think he would have lost all the Norjack money during the jump, but it's possible. SOG guys knew all about jumping with payloads and how to secure them. Still, Cooper asked for a knapsack, didn't get one and had to improvise. Maybe something came undone and some or all of the loot was lost.

377

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

[skyjack71 0]

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I also agree with you: crooks don't throw money away. The idea of a plant has never gelled with me either, especially as the case was dying down/had already long done so. Seems to me if you want to hide, bringing the case up to everyone's attention again is pretty dumb.

We went to Tahoe and he WASHED some of the money there. When we get back home he buys a new car just a couple of wks later. I asked if we could afford it and he says he didn't have to put much with it - that he got a good trade on the Caddy. He said the Caddy had some problems - yet, it had NOT been to a garage other than scheduled maintenance. The new car was NOT financed.

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

[skyjack71 0]

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Ted Braden, Report on Interview with Pauline Braden, 10.12.11

She had kids from a previous marriage to a Kamil Ross, and she wanted to divorce Ted but never had the money to finalize the details and pay for the attorney. As a result, she is still legally Mrs. Braden.

Alright Bruce you got my attention. What do you know about Kamil Ross? Remember this is a common name so don't go bananas about me connecting dots that do not connect. I would like to know more about this Kamil Ross and the children of this Ross.

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

[skyjack71 0]

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Still waiting for Jo's blockbuster evidence. She has positioned it so that the FBI has to first complete some investigative task she will request, which of course they won't do. You all know the drill.

377

I refuse to be BAITED into making any disclosures until MY GUYS say go. We are going to proceed without the FBI and the story I told about the CADDY previously - well, there is MORE.

Things just keep falling into place - and keeping my fingers off the keybroad and my mouth shut are very very difficult.

Changing subject:

I keep revisiting something Duane told me that I didn't understand in 1979 in WA and that to this day I do NOT understand. This is about the cemetery and someone buried there. I need to go back to WA, but I am not able to do so at this time. Since I have mentioned several cemeteries I am not going to reference which one is creating a puzzle of sorts.

I keep wanting to connect this cemetery - to a second party. I think perhaps ground sonar might be necessary to find out if there are 2 bodies buried in the same grave. It is NOT something I want to chase at this time. I know I talk in circles, but there are secrets I have kept all of these yrs - because I don't understand or even grasp the meaning of these things. Again maybe just JO connecting dots that do not connect.

JT made this comment below:

"Jo. What are you saying. What I posted had nothing to do with a registration from the 60s it was from 1971. and nothing to do with you."

He did NOT grasp that I have done this before - chase an old car tag number. I was offering to help them chase the number and it is pretty easy if you have the tag number, state and yrs.

We chased one from the 1960's and all we had was the number and the state. We found out what kind of road vehicle it was on, but they would NOT reveal the name of the person.

If they have the make and model of car and names of a possible owner at that time - you are on set go. You just have to hold your mouth right and say the right things. You get the VIN number this way and then you can chase it....right down to the salvage yard.

May not work this way in every state or with every vehicle - but it is do-able.

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

[skyjack71 0]

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Anyone recognize any of the below names:

John Jack Throckmorton,
Roger Allberg
Charles Hosking
Captain Stewart (no first name)
J.W. Edgell
John Mullins
Monaghan (first or last name?)

BuDop - March 1967 (anyone know anyone there)

Do you recognize any of the men in the pictures I am attaching?

One is a group and the other one is a man who knew Duane from the past - but I do not believe the name I knew him by was his REAL name.

My photo's would not download.
Not the group photo or the one of Ed and I have posted them before. Will try again.

Finally - now for the credits on Mike Force. John Mullins as published in the 1994 December issue of Soldier of Fortune. This photo was also publish in previous yrs in other magazines.
I do NOT know the proper way to do credits - so hope this is OK.

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

[377 21]

Jo wrote

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I refuse to be BAITED into making any disclosures until MY GUYS say go. We are going to proceed without the FBI and the story I told about the CADDY previously - well, there is MORE.

Your GUYS? They control you? Do you need a deprogrammer?

Still waiting Jo. Another couple of weeks is no big deal.

What made you change your mind about asking the FBI for help?

Braden's widow thought he might be DBC but she didn't devote her life to pursuing that hunch. But who has the more interesting and invigorating life? It's Jo for sure. Maybe my suggestion for Jo to drop Norjack stuff was ill advised.

377

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

[BruceSmith 3]

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Ted Braden, Report on Interview with Pauline Braden, 10.12.11

She had kids from a previous marriage to a Kamil Ross, and she wanted to divorce Ted but never had the money to finalize the details and pay for the attorney. As a result, she is still legally Mrs. Braden.

Alright Bruce you got my attention. What do you know about Kamil Ross? Remember this is a common name so don't go bananas about me connecting dots that do not connect. I would like to know more about this Kamil Ross and the children of this Ross.

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Okay, Jo, but you first. So, tell me, why do you want to know about Kamil and his kids. Please be specific.

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[skyjack71 0]

I am reposting the post below where I responded to Vickie.
Can someone out there help us find the COMPLETE passenger list. I had it at one time - maybe it is still available. One of you guys really good with search please help. Seemed like it was found before under Plane Crashes but I can't find it.
Do not know how many yrs ago I acquired the original information.

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http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=lLszAAAAIBAJ&sjid=qfcDAAAAIBAJ&pg=7291,3904388&dq=melvin+wilson&hl=en

This article is about a 727 en-route to San Francisco. It crashed in Salt Lake City in November 1965. One of the passengers that was hurt had a very familiar name.

Vickie,
Question since your father disappeared in 1971 - do you know if he had a broken arm and burns. Seems like this is something you would know, but I don't remember the history on your father and your siblings and the other set of siblings. Please refresh the backgound on Melvin Wilson for all of us. Date and known activities and location until 1971 - at least what little you know.

A simple outline like that might help others to fill in the blanks.

What got my attention was the Salt Lake and 727. I had found some information on this yrs. ago looking for the name of woman - who I thought would been the mother of Duane's daughter. Since I never knew her last name - that search was for ought.

I had the complete passenger list on that flight at one time. I forgot who helped me find that information and hope I still have it - as it might not be available anymore. I do not even know where to look in all of these massive files I have acquired. I remember I was looking for motive - because of something Duane said I could never quiet put my finger on...but, it was in reference to someone dieing in a plane crash - a woman. Salt Lake was mentioned.

Your bringing this to surface again because of Melvin Wilson is shear coincidience, but it make me want to revisit that list. Maybe, because NOW I know more about Weber's past than I did at the time the research was acquired for me. Maybe now a name would POP.

Melvin Wilson sure POPPED - right?

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

[skyjack71 0]

Boeing 727 CRASHES:

* 08/16/65 Chicago
* 11/08/65 Kentucky
* 11/11/65 Salt Lake
* 07.19/67 Henderson N.C.
* 01/18/67 Los Angles CA
* 09/21/67 Mexico

At one time I had the names of all of the passengers on these flights and lots of information.

I was looking of names - and didn't know what names I was seeking. I want to revisit those names now that so much more has transpired throught the information channels.

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

[EVickiW 0]

I originally posted the article about the plane crash as a coincidence. With a little bit of internet searching, I have come to the determination that the Melvin Wilson on the plane was not my father.

Melvin Luther Wilson - Missing Person since September 1971:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=03QLnFvk8Fs

[hangdiver 1]

377, if I was Braden with mad skills and well known to those in the biz...I would put on a show as well...to conceal my true skills.

I would not bring my own gear...because that would be a tell for sure...I would dress as Cooper did...to look the opposite of what I really was...or the G Men would know in an instant it was me.

It also sounds like Braden always wanted the easy dollar...the truck jacking thing is also very interesting that Bruce talks about.

I don't have a favorite suspect...but to the Braden of SOG...the Cooper jump was a cakewalk.

Melvin Wilson does sound interesting as well...I can't recall...did he have any jumping history?

Thanks Snow...I'm still reading that article from Ramparts...fascinating read by the way.

hangdiver

"Mans got to know his limitations"
Harry Callahan