
Fulton Surface to Air Recovery System - jacquesm
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fulton_surface-to-air_recovery_system
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todayiamme
For me, one of the highlights of the era that conceived the skyhook was the
CORONA program. The spy satellites in this early era would use film and,
unlike their civilian counterparts, they didn't want to rely on a low
resolution copy that had been transmitted to the ground. So they would shoot
the canisters out, deorbit them, and then snatch them mid-air with a plane.

That's just insane from any reasonable perspective. I can't imagine how they
made it work even once let alone dozens of times.

[https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f4/CORONA_f...](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f4/CORONA_film_recovery_maneuvar.jpg)

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ranger207
My grandfather piloted some of the CORONA recoveries, and was part of the
group flying Fulton recoveries in Vietnam, although he says he never flew an
operational mission in country. It's pretty cool to hear him talk about it.

Also, the Fulton system and the CORONA system were slightly different. The
CORONA system required you to fly over the parachute, while the Fulton system
had you fly into the line between the ground and the balloon. My grandfather
says that the Fulton system was much easier to do for this reason.

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pmarreck
No mention of the Fulton should go without mentioning its being heavily
featured in
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metal_Gear_Solid_V:_The_Phanto...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metal_Gear_Solid_V:_The_Phantom_Pain),
which is also a fantastic game.

~~~
throwanem
Peace Walker and Portable Ops, too, as I recall.

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phjesusthatguy3
Did Portable Ops use the Fulton? I remember the soldier recruitment mechanic
being dragging them back to either a hiding spot or the truck at which you
started your mission.

I should put that back on my Vita. Peace Walker had a better story, but
Portable Ops was more fun. IMO.

~~~
stordoff
It's used, but not sure if it's used for recruitment:

> The player's squad in the online mode for Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops, as
> well as the expansion pack, Portable Ops Plus could use the Fulton system to
> escape their current mission

[http://metalgear.wikia.com/wiki/Fulton_surface-to-
air_recove...](http://metalgear.wikia.com/wiki/Fulton_surface-to-
air_recovery_system)

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ChuckMcM
I remember watching James Bond get recovered that way in one of his movies and
doing a bit more research. Apparently people who had been recovered that way
often had spinal trauma. There was a write up in one of the technical reports
about changing the compliance of the pick up line to spread the acceleration
of the "passenger" over a long enough time without there being a bounce effect
of the line jumping off the front of the plane.

I wondered if you could do something with trains where they lifted a net in
front, over, and then behind them. The idea being to lift off people who were
in front of them in a way that was gentle enough to not kill them.

It is impractical of course because pretty much any system would impart enough
kinetic energy into the person that they would fly off and kill them selves
anyway when they hit where they landed. Of course the train wouldn't have to
stop but that was small comfort.

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rubayeet
This technology has been used by James Bond, Batman and many such bad-asses!

[0][https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fulton_surface-to-
air_recovery...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fulton_surface-to-
air_recovery_system#References)

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jacquesm
I always thought that was SFX, highly surprised to see that it is real so
hence this post. Low expectations :)

~~~
throwanem
CIA was pretty out there in general between the end of World War II and the
end of Vietnam. This is actually pretty prosaic for them in that period - the
sort of nonsense they got up to, you'd think the whole research directorate
was dipping into the Ultra program's LSD supply.

~~~
todayiamme
I presume that you've heard about the glorious Project Acoustic Kitty?

[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acoustic_Kitty](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acoustic_Kitty)

~~~
mcguire
What the hell, why not?

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bat_bomb](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bat_bomb)

~~~
dredmorbius
The Russians developed that first.

</pavel_chekov>

[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olga_of_Kiev](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olga_of_Kiev)

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chanandler_bong
Similar to the Fulton, but for a glider instead. Talk about a ride.

[http://www.pointvista.com/WW2GliderPilots/gliderretrieval.ht...](http://www.pointvista.com/WW2GliderPilots/gliderretrieval.htm)

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S-EFmKr7P0w](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S-EFmKr7P0w)

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dotBen
What happens next to the extracted person once they are successfully caught by
the yoke and the plane is now flying along with them attached?

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evan_
The flight crew captures the line and reels the person onboard.

> As the line was caught between the forks on the nose of the aircraft, the
> balloon was released and a spring-loaded trigger mechanism (sky anchor)
> secured the line to the aircraft. After the initial pickup, the line was
> snared by the pickup crew using a J-hook and attached to a powered winch and
> the person or cargo pulled on board.

As the retrieved you’d really be hoping that the “sky anchor” was well built.

~~~
Topgamer7
Found this on youtube.
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UsTIeZ03Hk8](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UsTIeZ03Hk8)

~~~
closeparen
The _three entire minutes_ between pickup and being fully winched into the
plane must be the longest of your life.

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maxxxxx
This would be a super cool amusement park ride.

