Warbird Information Exchange

Could anyone explain to me what this wire, or whatever it is following this B-17 is doing? I was told it maybe a tow wire for a glider?

Hi,

perhaps, if the picture is "new" enough, the wires may have been part of one of those Personnel Extraction experiments that the Air Force or Air Corps was involved in early on. Fly low, extend a hook, pick up the package. That sort of thing. BUT...the glider tow rope is probably a pretty good thing to consider.

Just my two cents,

Paul

Hey Paul!

That is a good idea! The base where this was taken had a bunch of gliders too, so I assumed that it was a tow vehicle, but that would make sense too.

I remember C-130's doing that sort of thing too.

Was that not in the movie Green Berets with John Wayne as well? Where they extrated a guy using a ballon to lift the rope and then swoosh he was picked up at about 500 feet or so?

That was also in a Bond film.

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The conquest of space is worth the risk of life. - Gus Grissom

that device which the name eludes me was 1st experimented with in the early sixties. i'm pretty sure it evolved from early satellite film retrieval technology. take a plane w/ a huge V type boom extending from the nose to catch a parachuting film canister that was spit out from outer space. the g forces in the human version must be tremendous!!

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tom d. friedman - hey!!! those fokkers were messerschmitts!! * without ammunition, the usaf would be just another flying club!!! * better to have piece of mind than piece of tail!!

It's called the Fulton Recovery System. The process was used in the James Bond movie and the aircraft was Evergreens B-17 Shady Lady. It was supposedly used by the CIA and the tailgunners position was specially modified.

Later,HC-130Hs were modified for the job. They were easy to spot because they had swingaway arms on the nose. The C-130 recovery was demonstrated in the Green Berets with John Wayne.

It was similar to the system used with the Corona satellite film recovery except that it was surface to air recovery. The Corona captures were originally done with C-119s.

This system was used to pick up the mail and stuff in the dessert. Have seen some colored photos about some rescue squadron in Saudi Arabia, if memory serves me correct. Will try to find the site and post it.

Found it: Try looking here: http://www.zianet.com/tmorris/dhahran.html

fulton recovery!!! thats it!!!! it was on the tip of my tongue. john you win the car & luggage!!!

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tom d. friedman - hey!!! those fokkers were messerschmitts!! * without ammunition, the usaf would be just another flying club!!! * better to have piece of mind than piece of tail!!

Tom, I think you should reconsider who won the car and luggage.

It's a B-17 making a pickup run. The photo is right after the pickup line has been captured by the B-17. The photo I've seen appears to be an enlargement of yours, and from the line diameter, they speculate that it's snatching a CG-13A.

Is the photo taken at CCAAF?

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Best Regards;
Chuck Giese --- Volunteer helping to restore B-17G 44-85734 "Liberty Belle".

There's no bar in the star, so pre 1947.

Regards,
Mike

Based on the altitude and the background aircraft, I'd agree it's a glider tow.
The book series "Impact" (reproductions of the WW2 AF magazine) details the experiments with gliders and even picking up a disabled P-47 to return it to base.
The human extraction methods are also shown with many photos, they claim in the articles it was intended to pick up "operatives" and for rescue. Anyone know if it was used in anger?
My stepdad flew in several sattelite package retrieval missions in the 60's in the 130 and a good friend of mine worked search and rescue with the same system.