Prelude to COLDFEET: From Air Mail to Spy Sky Pickups

CIA is constantly strengthening our technological prowess through specialized tradecraft and unrivaled creativity to meet our global mission. Though few may know of Operation COLDFEET-CIA's precarious extraction of materials from an abandoned Soviet ice station floating in the Arctic-film fanatics are probably familiar with Skyhook, which was depicted in the classic James Bond movie Thunderball and award-winning Batman movie The Dark Knight.

But before CIA's real-life spy extraction or Hollywood's glamorization, aerial pickups had a much more practical origin.

America's First Ground-to-Air Mail System

The airborne pickup method was invented in the 1920s and perfected over the next decade. In 1938, Congress passed an act authorizing the U.S. Post Office to roll out experimental, localized airmail pickup to improve the efficiency of the overall service. This allowed small aircraft to collect mail bundles from remote communities in the United States, which began the following year.

All American Aviation, Inc.'s pioneering system was based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and provided airmail service to towns throughout the Ohio River Valley that did not have adequate landing fields.

All American Aviation's Novel Technique

All American Aviation's system used two 15-foot poles set in the ground about 50-feet apart with a line strung between them that was attached to a mail canister. An overhead aircraft would approach the poles while a flight mechanic dropped a long steel cable. As the plane pulled up, a hook at the end of the cable would grab the line, hoisting the mail into the air before being winched onboard.

Mail Extraction to Military Use During WWII

In 1943, the U.S. Army Air Forces experimented with the aerial extraction system to rescue airmen in difficult terrain. Initial military tests, using containers, revealed that the acceleration forces far exceeded what the human body could tolerate. Testers modified the transfer lines and parachute harnesses, resulting in more acceptable acceleration forces.

Paratrooper Lt. Alex Doster volunteered to be the first human test pickup in September 1943. Doster was yanked vertically off the ground and soared behind the aircraft. It took less than three minutes to reel him up into the plane.

The Air Force continued to improve the system for remote battlefield tasks but never used it operationally to pick up humans during WWII.

CIA's First Fateful Attempt at Ground-to-Air Spy Pickup

CIA grew interested in All American Aviation's pickup method as a way to extract agents and supplies during the Korean War. On November 29, 1952, the Agency's proprietary Civil Air Transport (CAT) airline, piloted by Norman Schwartz and Robert Snoddy, flew over Manchuria with officers John Downey and Richard Fecteau onboard. They intended to pick up a Chinese agent who had been sent in to gather intelligence. Tragically, the mission went awry before the exfiltration.

Fulton Develops the Aerial Retrieval System

Meanwhile, Richard E. Fulton, Jr., an American scholar, intrepid world traveler, and talented inventor, believed he could improve the ground-to-air pickup system. Fulton had observed a demonstration of the All American Aviation's pickup in London after WWII, inspiring him to devote much of his time to developing air pickup equipment.

Fulton photographed his experimental pickup operations in 1950 and took the film to Rear Admiral Luis de Florez, the first director of technical research at CIA. Intrigued by Fulton's efforts, de Florez connected Fulton with the Office of Naval Research, which offered Fulton a development contract.

Over the next few years, Fulton honed his aerial retrieval system. By 1958, the Fulton Recovery System, famously known as "Skyhook," had taken its final shape. A package dropped from an aircraft would contain all of the equipment needed for a ground pickup, including: a harness attached to a 500-foot high-strength, braided nylon line; a deflated zeppelin-shaped balloon; and a portable helium bottle with which to inflate the balloon and raise the line when it was time. The pickup aircraft, sporting steel "horns" protruding from its nose, would snare the helium-suspended line, while a powered winch would lift the harnessed person, or cargo, onboard.

Fulton first used test dummies to demonstrate his Skyhook system. Once satisfied with the safety, he used a live pig. The test pig hurtled through the air at 125 mph and was lifted onboard unscathed but disoriented. And angry. He proved the old saying "when pigs fly" wasn't something impossible after all!

On August 12, 1958, Marine Corps Staff Sgt. Levi Woods was the first human to test the Skyhook pickup. As it turned out, the person being picked up experienced less of a jolt than during a parachute opening. Extending the arms and legs prevented the oscillation that plagued the poor pig while being winched onboard.

Soon the tests paved the way for CIA's first operational use of Fulton's Skyhook.

Skyhook Delivers CIA Mission Success

During the Cold War, the U.S. and Eastern Bloc weren't only engaged in a space and missile race, but also a race to understand the Arctic for scientific and military purposes. In 1962, CIA successfully employed Skyhook during Operation COLDFEET, which provided an intelligence coup on Soviet anti-submarine and acoustics technology.

The operation also proved that humans in remote areas and under hostile conditions could be extracted by air. It was a perfect example of CIA embracing groundbreaking innovation to give our nation a global edge over adversaries.

And who could have made Skyhook look more cool than James Bond?

A special thank you to the Smithsonian National Postal Museum for their information on All American Aviation's air mail service. For a more in-depth read on Skyhook and Operation COLDFEET, check out "A Good Pick Me Up: Robert Fulton's Skyhook and Operation COLDFEET " from the Studies in Intelligence.