FROM GROUND TO AIRCRAFT
RESCUING STRANDED AIRMEN WASHINGTON, Dee. 20.
The War Department announces that successful experiments have established the practicability of aircraft in full flight picking up a human being from the ground by a rope, thus opening up a revolutionary means of rescuing stranded airmen. The technique is an adaptation of the system of picking up mail and gliders. The man wearing a special harness with loop attached to it huddles on the ground with a loop held erect between two poles. The plane is equipped with a reel of 185 feet of rope and a hook which makes contact with the loop. The first experiments were conducted with weighted dummies and sheep. The first human subject was a paratrooper, Lieut. Alexis Doster, who said the only sensation was the smooth whirr of air round you and then the ground disappearing below. Three other human pick-ups were made at speeds of 130 miles an hour, but speeds of 160 miles an hour or higher are believed feasible.
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https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/MS19441221.2.50
Bibliographic details
Manawatu Standard, Volume LXV, Issue 20, 21 December 1944, Page 5
Word Count
169FROM GROUND TO AIRCRAFT Manawatu Standard, Volume LXV, Issue 20, 21 December 1944, Page 5
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