SeventyWonderful

So it looks like Mizzou has Sky Diving v. 14 (1972). I'm not sure if they'll lend it as the title is kind of scarce, but I can put in a request for it if it's of interest to the group.

Thank you for the explanation. That makes sense, and it helps when sifting through the conflicting reports about the parachutes.

I don't think he would take a chance with a live bomb setting off accidentally when he could persuade twentysomething year old stewardesses that what he had was a real bomb. His smoking next to it reinforces that. That's not to say he wasn't dangerous. He would have to have had a gun in case things went south in the air either with the passengers or the crew, but especially on the ground if he were injured in the jump and needed to get away. A gun would make stealing a car afterwards that much easier, for example.

It would be interesting to check either the news or the arrest records in the weeks following the hijacking to see if anyone was charged with the break-ins occurring the night in question.

Thinking Cooper's parachute choice is what ultimately strikes Ted Braden as a suspect. Braden certainly would have gone with the more reliable option, yes?

Actually there are a number of things we can deduce from Cooper's drink order. On a practical level he needed to have ordered a drink to engage with Schaffner, to size her up to determine whether or not to continue with the plan, and provide an opportunity to hand her the note. Him spilling his drink attests to his nervousness despite his quiet and calm exterior. This speaks to him being a novice as far as the hijacking goes. Him sitting in the back of the plane with an alias cribbed from a comic book aviator, wearing dark glasses and sipping bourbon while committing a massive and well-planned heist just like Thomas Crown, speaks to an element of fantasy. Remember in the movie the fabulously wealthy Thomas Crown was also a pilot, a master manipulator, had a grudge against the system, and pulled the final heist to prove himself against the system (and outfox those in pursuit). Compare Cooper's giddiness when getting the ransom to the laughter at the end of the clip. (On a similar note, I wonder if by providing the ransom money in a canvas bag, just like the ones seen in the Thomas Crown Affair, the bank authorities were also deliberately and sardonically referencing the movie.) His perhaps middle class choice of drink on the flight would be in line with his clip-on tie from Penney's and cheap attache case, which was noted to be new, I believe. His drink choice also lines up with him smoking Raleigh's on the flight. It could be he was older or more conservative in his outlook or maybe smoking a less palatable brand of cigarettes was a stratagem to keep from smoking too much during the hijacking. He may not have minded the way they tasted, but he certainly wasn't smoking Raleigh's because of their taste. His offering to tip the stewardesses during the hijacking also speaks to his working or middle class origin. Offering to tip when tipping is not permitted is gauche. You can also say that his lack of awareness of Northwest Orient's no tipping policy could mean that he was not employed by Northwest or was otherwise unfamiliar with their day to day operations. This is dashed off because I'm in a hurry, but musing about Cooper's drink choice helps with looking at the case facts through a novel lens. It's always fun to speculate and provides a few minutes respite from current affairs.

Oooh this is great! What a truly compelling and thought provoking post. This most definitely brings to mind the final scene from the Thomas Crown Affair, because you just know that's what he was evoking. I'm in a bit of a hurry now, so more later, but you've provided much food (and drink) for thought. Cool.

Yep, I'm a librarian and requested the microfilm via interlibrary loan.

Lol, I'm actually a lady (dudette?) but you're welcome. Seriously, researching is always fun and I'm happy to help.

The Nortern Kittitas County Tribune microfilm arrived. There is nothing about a plane crash or the hijacking for November to December 1971.

That is a great online resource for vintage catalogues (and for the way we were). I've already gone through those and hadn't turned up anything, but it's really fun to browse through them. Originally I was curious to see what Cooper's suit looked like when I started looking last year. It was truly surprising that brown suits with black pinstriping was apparently uncommon. My next step is to look through the textile industry journals as time allows and see if anything interesting turns up.

You know, it sure has been a fun past couple of weeks for speculation. My purpose for taking another look at what Cooper wore is to perhaps tell us more about the man himself. We can demonstrate that he wasn't someone who jumped ill prepared in freezing weather over the uncharted wilderness. We can also say that he wasn't a schlub who simply wore old clothes during the hijacking (although it's not like you're going to wear your Sunday best when planning to jump out of a plane). Assuming the clothes he wore were drip dry it would demonstrate that he came thoroughly prepared. Haspel's Sir Perior had a blend of 75% Dacron polyester & 25% cotton according to a 1957 ad. By 1964 that blend had changed to a more breathable mixture of 65% Dacron & 35% cotton. The jacket on eBay was made during that period. The breathable cotton/polyester material would be the ideal choice for someone wearing thermals underneath during the hijacking and then for the getaway on the ground. An older suit would also be an ideal choice in disposing of it after the hijacking, because Cooper certainly destroyed anything linking himself to the crime after he got to safety. It may also tell us more about his background. Haspel is still in business in French speaking New Orleans. New Orleans is of course on the Gulf of Mexico and home to a significant Italian community and various Indian tribes from throughout the region. Then there is French speaking Vietnam and equally hot French speaking countries in North Africa where wearing a breathable drip dry suit would be an asset. Going back to the scene of the crime, might having a drip-dry suit be an asset in the rainy Pacific Northwest as well? I also stuck my toes in the pool of government documents and the textile industry over the weekend, and realized I was waaaay in over my head. Government regulations and industry standards probably didn't dictate or limit the patterns for textiles (at least I don't think so). Now what we can do is continue to research in other ways. Over the past year I've gone through the catalogues for major retailers of the period, magazines, advertisements, and online listings, but so far no other brown suits with a distinct black pinstripe has surfaced (with one exception). It may be that cheap suits from over half a century ago just aren't around any more to be found, or it could be that his suit/jacket looked something like this instead. Botany 500 provided the wardrobe for many a tv game show host from coast to coast. This jacket has a much finer black pinstripe, although it could be more distinct in real life than in the photo, and Tina was able to note the pebble grained leather in his shoes after all. Regardless, I could be reading way too much into what Tina said about Cooper's suit, but I just can't shake the feeling that feeling that he wanted to be James Bond on a budget.

Well maybe our Mr. Cooper was one too, seeing as he hijacked a plane while literally traveling North by Northwest. "Some of them crop duster pilots get rich if they live long enough".

Oh that is all kinds of awesome! This has seriously made my afternoon. Cary Grant wears a Haspel drip dry suit in Charade. Here's an article about it and here's the scene from the movie where he demonstrates it while taking a shower. The full movie is on Youtube here. It takes place in Paris and the plot is about how a gang of criminals, along with the US Treasury Department, is after the $250,000 that Audrey Hepburn's deceased husband stole during the War. In the movie Cary Grant also wears a brown tweed sport coat, which looks like it has some black in it here. If that's what Tina meant by dark brown with possibly a thin black stripe, then it's (probably) a common material. However, the Haspel drip dry jacket from the eBay listing is the only example of (or part of) a suit made from dark brown material with thin black pinstripes that I've come across in well over 100 hours of searching (Vintage/antique clothing and design is a passion).

I have used up my like reactions for the day, but this definitely gets a like. (I'll have to do it tomorrow.) Notice how they all have the Goodyear welt construction, too.

Well that's the thing about the suit. There are extensive regulations concerning textiles (and packaging materials, too). We're able to research the types of fabric made during, say, the late 1950s until the time of the hijacking. That includes the colors and patterns for the materials, too. So far this is the only jacket or part of a suit I have found that's dark brown with a thin black stripe (and I have looked extensively). Surely there has to be more out there because you'd think that brown suiting material with a thin black stripe would be common enough, but so far nothing else has turned up. So perhaps he chose what he wore very carefully with an aim toward blending in at the airport and on the plane, and then with being able to quickly get to safety on the ground. He was a master of hiding in plain sight. It would be easy to wash the mud off his suit and shoes and be on his way. The drip dry suiting might even account for his slightly rumpled description from one of the passengers while on the plane. Its purpose was being able to wash and wear especially in hot humid environments in the days before universal air conditioning, like French speaking New Orleans (or Vietnam) par exemple. It would also be easy to have on thermals under his suit. Back to the packaging materials. What was the description of the bag Cooper had with him on the plane? I remember something about a fabric type material/paper bag? Cloth woven from fiberglass was a thing. Perhaps the bag in question was used in commercial shipping or transportation as opposed to it being a shopping bag.

The microfilm request is currently being processed and should be here within the next two weeks or so. The recent discussion about the activities on the ground the night Cooper jumped was extremely thought provoking. He may have been more prepared for whatever conditions he might have encountered than what we would otherwise assume. For instance, the brown, ankle-length, not-the-tie-type shoes he wore were what they used to call demi-boots. These are from the 1969 Penney's Fall/Winter catalog. They're on the lower right side of the page, next to the guys playing hockey. (Page 322, number 6). The official description is found on the next page. Number 6. Warmly lined buckled boots. Comfortable strap-and-buckle boots. Handsome grained leather uppers. Soft, warm pile linings. Cushion-crepe rubber outsoles and heels. Goodyear welt construction. Sturdy steel shanks. Shipping weight. 3.50 lbs. $13.88 They're kind of pricey, but seem to be well made. Classy enough to wear to wear on the plane yet rugged enough to trek across exurban Vancouver on a rainy night after the jump. What's also interesting about these particular shoes is that the Goodyear welt construction means that they could be resoled if you think that the corrugated boot print at the Heisson store came from Cooper. Then there's the suit. It *could be* brown suiting material with thin black stripes was not as common as one might expect. This jacket is from the early to mid 60s. It's made by Haspel as part of their Sir Perior line of drip-dry suits and sports jackets. It's not the same one as Cooper wore because the lapel is different, but the material may be the same, or very similar. If Cooper's suit really was drip-dry, it would make it that much easier to wash if he needed to clean up in a hurry and on the go.

Not being from the Pacific Northwest I was astonished to find out that Cle Elum is clear on the other side of the state of Washington. A delusion is a fixed false belief and I will leave it like that. Anyway there's a massive NEH grant for each state to collect and film as many historical newspapers as possible. That part of the grant has passed and now the focus is on digitizing what was filmed as part of the US Newspapers Project. It looks like Washington hasn't done that with this title yet but the microfilm should be available for lending. Just tell me what it is I'm looking for and I'll put in the request on Monday.

If it means that much to the group, I can request the microfilm for the Northern Kittitas County Tribune for November 1971 via Interlibrary Loan & look it up that way.

My post yesterday was written from memory, so I went back and looked at the Clark County arrest records on Ancestry this afternoon and would like to edit a few points. For Clark County the digitized arrest records run through the end of 1969, the majority of those arrested were under 35, and there is a presence of 2nd degree burglary charges. There are some low level assault charges too, but my point still stands that the overwhelming majority of the crime in the area was committed by the young, drunk, and dumb. (Case in point was the guy who got arrested for fishing with dynamite.) None of this matches Cooper. Ancestry digitized what was at the Washington State Archives back in 2021. I don't know if there was a 50 year cutoff or if that was everything the Archives had available. The Clark County Sheriff's Office, Washington Highway Patrol, and the police departments for Vancouver, La Center, Battleground, and Yacolt were the law enforcement agencies making the arrests. If anyone wants to look further into the incidents on the ground the night Cooper jumped, those would be some places to start.

Ancestry.com has digitized the arrest records for Vancouver and Clark County Washington through 1970. Even as late as 1970 the crime rate was low and exceedingly minor (think one or two steps away from Mayberry). Although the cops were actively patrolling the area and picking up hitchhikers, what little crime there had been was mostly alcohol-related and committed by those under 30. Drunk driving charges mainly. Open containers. Driving without a permit. Reckless driving. Excessive speeding. Underage drinking. Basically those that got arrested were either young or drunk enough to draw attention to themselves, or dumb enough to mouth off to the cops. None of these match Cooper's MO. (Incidentally the only financial offenses really boil down to non support or bad check charges. Even the petty theft cases were low. A sizeable number of those arrested outside of Vancouver had Battleground addresses fwiw.) Any incidents on the night in question warrant a second look, but the man wasn't going to risk capture or being shot over dime store cigars. Stealing survival gear or first aid supplies maybe if he were hard up enough and desperate, but otherwise breaking in and entering anywhere wouldn't be in his best interest. That said, it's possible he chanced it and hotwired a car just long enough to go into town somewhere to get out of the immediate area. If he were a local he could have known where the cops patrolled and took the back roads instead. Or maybe if he lived in the area, he simply walked home. He surely had a compass, flashlight (and gun) in his bag of tricks. Maybe even a transistor radio to monitor local news reports. A fistful of benzedrine would have allowed him to walk off any injuries he may have sustained in the jump unless they were truly severe. Or family or friends could have lived in the area and he called them for assistance. That wouldn't necessarily mean they were accomplices in the hijacking as it would have been easy to concoct a reason for needing a ride.

This is something fun I came across the other day. Take a look at dark, wrap-around glasses that Mike Nesmith is wearing. They show up in the episode The Monkees on the Wheel, which was filmed in the Fall of 1967. In it the Monkees have to pretend to be gangsters in order to rob the real gangsters who robbed a casino. There are more screenshots of them here and here. They also briefly show up in another episode called The Picture Frame where the Monkees are duped into robbing a bank. It was also filmed in 1967. It's interesting to note that if Cooper indeed had on similar sunglasses that he was able to shield his eyes while looking out the sides of them.

Perhaps Cooper wanted the matchbook back to convey a sense of having total control over the situation.

From what I remember from Helter Skelter, smudges at crime scenes in general are more commonly recovered than complete fingerprints because whenever you move your fingers against an object they'll create a smudge. I do remember the police being able to determine that there were specific "wipe=type marks" at the Tate & LaBianca crime scenes. If Cooper had deliberately wiped down the surfaces he touched, the FBI would likely be able to determine that as well. And yeah, I do agree that Cooper modified his fingerprints somehow. PS: This is in response to Flyjack's post at #61402. I forgot to hit the quote button when I replied.

The Manson Family prosecutor talks about fingerprint characteristics and existing forensic technology/crime scene processing techniques in the Helter Skelter book. While nobody can accuse the Family of being criminal geniuses, there were surprisingly few fingerprints recovered from the crime scenes. I think only two of the fingerprints recovered were able to be linked to the murderers and this was after they ran around both houses barefoot and without any gloves on. In fact the police recovered surprisingly little in the way of physical evidence used to convict the murderers. The knives at the crime scenes had no fingerprints. The gun was found months later by a boy scout, which was promptly mishandled by the police. The murderers' clothing was found down an embankment by reporters who retraced the Family's escape route, again after several months elapsed. Some hair and fiber evidence was accidentally destroyed by the police during the trial. And so on. And yeah, these are completely different types of crimes from the Cooper hijacking, but it's interesting to see the limitations of the technology of the time. The Los Angeles Police were able to detect wipe marks from both the Tate and LaBianca residences however, so I would imagine that the FBI would be able to determine if Cooper had wiped down any surfaces he touched.