Legend of D. B. Cooper: Death By Natural Causes

By Pat Forman and Ron Forman

He has been called A Northwest Folk Hero, Jesse James, and Billy the Kid. But until now, he hasn’t been called a she. Contrary to popular belief, D. B. Cooper not only survived the infamous hijacking on November 24, 1971. He also committed the high-flying caper as a woman. Cooper’s real name was first Bobby then Barb Dayton. Cooper had gender reassignment surgery in December 1969. In 1971, he pulled his buccaneering swipe dressed as a man and walked away as a woman. Bobby/Barb lived to the age of seventy-six and died of natural causes on February 20, 2002.
In 1979, Barb described to the authors in great detail how she jumped from the famed 727. After Barb’s death, the Formans began the fascinating journey of piecing together their dear friend’s story and verifying her larger-than-life yarns. This book takes you, the reader, on that rollicking journey and allows you to decide—do you think Barb Dayton was D. B. Cooper?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lulu Publishing Services
• Release date: Dec 1, 2016
• ISBN: 9781483461670

Book preview

LEGEND OF

D. B. COOPER

Death by Natural Causes

Pat; Ron Forman

Copyright © 2016 Pat and Ron Forman.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored, or transmitted by any means—whether auditory, graphic, mechanical, or electronic—without written permission of both publisher and author, except in the case of brief excerpts used in critical articles and reviews. Unauthorized reproduction of any part of this work is illegal and is punishable by law.

ISBN: 978-1-4834-6166-3 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4834-6167-0 (e)

Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Thinkstock.

Lulu Publishing Services rev. date: 11/23/2016

CONTENTS

Acknowlegments

Prologue

PART 1:   THE REVELATIONS

1    The First Secret Revealed

2    The Mystery Continues

3    Barb’s Life As A Female

4    The Confession

5    The Suspicions Continue

6    The Friendship

7    We Lose Our Friend

PART 2:   THE RESEARCH

8    Bobby’s Childhood

9    Life As A Merchant Marine

10    Fitting Into Society

11    Life Unravels

12    New Hope

13    Bobby Becomes Barbara

14    Is Our Friend D. B. Cooper?

Epilogue

Recap of Reasons We Believe Barbara Dayton Was D B Cooper

About The Authors

ACKNOWLEGMENTS

W e started writing this book as a tribute to a dear friend who led an amazing life, but as time went on it took a second slant.

The writing of this book has been an exciting journey with new discoveries at every turn. It is our hope that we can share the adventure of our discoveries with you, our readers.

We have several people to thank for their contributions to this book.

First there are Barb’s two nieces, her sister-in-law and her daughter. They treated us as if we were family and cooperated in every way. They loaned us old diaries, letters and pictures and provided us with details of their past lives that must have been difficult to share. They took Ron on a tour of the site where the family ranch once stood and led him to the abandoned gold mine on the property. We are certain they will remain our lifelong friends.

Barb’s daughter, Rena signed for permission for us to obtain her medical records. She read every chapter as it was completed and gave us encouragement through this whole process.

Barb’s sister-in-law, Sharon knew her very well as Bobby and was able to fill lots of holes about Barb’s brother Bill and Bobby’s personality as a man.

Billie, Barb’s niece, was able to give us details we would not otherwise have had. Barb had confided in her about the D. B. Cooper caper also. Like us, it was difficult for her to believe the story one- hundred percent at the time.

Our daughter Tammy Oughton was our editor throughout the project. She also contributed much by sharing her memories and insights and acting as a sounding board for ideas.

Our son, Ron, is younger than our daughter and doesn’t have as many memories of our friend but has provided us with insights into her personality we may have missed.

Our friend, Steve Ojard designed the cover for our book. We feel he did a great job of capturing the excitement contained within.

Our friend, Cliff Kluge came on board when the book was nearly completed. His assistance in adding technical knowledge and expertise and encouragement to our team was invaluable.

Though the book is completed, the journey will probably not be completed in our lifetime. Perhaps the journey to discover the truth of what happened to D. B. Cooper will be completed by one of our readers.

In the meantime, this book will satisfy our promise to tell our friend’s story after her death. We thank her for being our friend, for giving us so many wonderful memories and for trusting us to write about her life.

PROLOGUE

O n Thanksgiving Eve of November, 1971, a non-descript man in a business suit and dark colored raincoat carrying a satchel walked through the terminal at Portland International Airport virtually unnoticed. At that time regulations and security checks were extremely lax compared to today. The flight was considered a commuter flight between Portland, Oregon and SEATAC Airport in Seattle, Washington. Anyone could walk up to the desk, buy a ticket, sign in and board the aircraft for the short flight.

This gentleman signed in as Dan Cooper, boarded the plane, and walked slowly to the rear of the Northwest Orient Boeing 727-100 Flight 305 and sat in seat number 18C. There were only thirty-six passengers on-board. Shortly after take-off he handed a note to a young stewardess by the name of Florence Schaffner. Thinking this was probably a flirtatious advance from the mid-forties gentleman she put it into her pocket to read later. Cooper leaned closer to her and in a calm voice said, Miss, you’d better look at the note. I have a bomb. The note read, I have a bomb in my briefcase. I will use it if necessary. I want you to sit next to me. You are being hijacked.

The hijacker’s demands were very specific and direct. He requested $200,000 in unmarked twenty dollar bills and two sets of chutes – two main back chutes and two emergency chest chutes. The items were to be delivered to the aircraft when they landed at SEATAC. Once his demands were met he would release the passengers. If his demands were not met, he would blow up the plane.

The hijacker asked for his note back and asked the stewardess to communicate his demands to the cockpit. The pilot, William Scott, immediately contacted SEATAC air traffic control, and air traffic control immediately contacted the Seattle Police and the FBI. The FBI contacted the Northwest Orient Airlines president, Donald Nyrop. Mr. Nyrop instructed the pilot to cooperate with the hijacker and they would pay the ransom.

The pilot asked Florence to go back and sit next to Cooper and try to determine if the bomb was real. Sensing this, Cooper opened the briefcase momentarily. Florence could see red cylinders, a large battery and wires. She reported back to the cockpit that the bomb appeared to be real. She also told the pilot that he couldn’t land until the money and the parachutes were ready.

Following Cooper’s demands, the pilot put the aircraft into a holding pattern over Puget Sound and waited for word that the money and chutes were ready.

On the ground, the FBI began gathering the money. The bills were not marked, but most were minted in 1969 with a series that began with an L. They also ran all the bills through a Recordak machine to create a microfilm of each bill and capture all the serial numbers. They were able to get the money ready in a relatively short time, but the chutes were another matter.

Authorities initially decided to get military chutes from McChord Air Force Base near Tacoma Washington, but Cooper said he wanted civilian sport chutes. Sport chutes allow for a slower landing speed and were a bit more maneuverable. Seattle Police were able to find the chutes at a local skydiving school.

Meanwhile, Cooper was sitting in the aircraft drinking bourbon whiskey and soda. Tina Mucklow, the stewardess who spent the most time with him remarked that Cooper seemed really nice. He was thoughtful enough to request meals for the crew when they landed. However, the FBI stated that Cooper was obscene and used filthy language. This is only one of many discrepancies between reports from the time and the story released to the public by the FBI.

The passengers had not been informed they were being hijacked. They had been told there was a minor mechanical problem and they would be in a holding pattern while it was checked out. However, after this amount of time, they were beginning to get uneasy. At 17:24 Pacific Time, air traffic control finally radioed the pilot that all demands had been met. Cooper agreed to allow the plane to land.

The aircraft touched down at 17:39. At that time of year in the Northwest it is nearly dark. Per Cooper’s instructions the plane was taxied to a remote area of the tarmac and the lights in the cabin were dimmed to deter snipers.

A single Northwest Orient employee was allowed to drive up to the front door of the plane. Tina Mucklow met him and carried the money and the chutes to Cooper. Cooper then released all of the passengers and Florence Schaffner, keeping the pilot, flight attendant Mucklow, the first officer, and the flight engineer aboard the plane.

A vapor lock in one of the fuel trucks caused the refueling process to take longer than normal. Cooper became suspicious and threatened to blow up the plane when the refueling was still not completed after twenty minutes. Apparently he was familiar with the amount of time it normally takes to refuel the 727. The fuel crew sent for the second truck that was standing by.

After the refueling, the negotiating of the flight details began. Cooper asked that the aft stairs be down on take-off. After the pilot explained the 727 had never been tested for take-off in that configuration, Cooper gave in and allowed the stairs to remain up and locked. The crew was ordered to fly no faster than one-hundred-seventy knots at an altitude of ten thousand feet or below with the gear down. The flaps were to be set at fifteen degrees. The destination was Mexico City with a negotiated refueling stop at Reno, Nevada. After Cooper carefully examined the ransom and chutes, the plane prepared for take- off at 19:40.

The aircraft departed SEATAC and headed out on Victor 23. This is the recommended federal airway for low altitude flight because it passes just west of the Cascade Mountains. Cooper then instructed the pilot to leave the cabin un-pressurized. Apparently he was aware that at ten thousand feet an un-pressurized cabin would allow for easier opening of the pressure door and lower the risk of a sudden rush of air when exiting the plane.

Immediately after takeoff flight attendant Tina Mucklow was asked to go back to the cockpit and stay there. Before entering the cockpit, she looked back to see Cooper fastening something to his waist in an unusual manner with what appeared to be a rope. Moments later a door unlock light came on in the cockpit signaling that Cooper was attempting to open the rear door. The pilot asked over the intercom if there was anything they could do for him. Cooper answered, No! That was the last they heard from him.

The crew noticed a change in the air pressure in the cabin, indicating to them that the air pressure door had opened. Due to what is referred to as a pressure bump, the FBI determined that Cooper had made his jump at 20:23 Pacific Time, putting him over the Southwestern portion of Washington. Because of poor visibility at the time neither the jets that had been dispatched from McChord Air Force Base nor the crew in the plane could have viewed his descent.

When the plane landed in Reno at approximated 22:15 the air stairs were dragging on the runway. The plane was immediately boarded by FBI and police officers, but there was no trace of Cooper. All he had left behind was eight cigarette butts, a thin black tie with a mother-of- pearl tie clip, and two of the four chutes. There was no trace of the money.

Due to a miscommunication by the media, Dan Cooper became D. B. Cooper in the days following the hijacking. That name has stuck all these years.

After extensive aerial and ground searches of the twenty-eight square mile landing zone identified by the FBI there was no trace of Cooper, the chute, or the money.

In late 1978 a placard containing the instructions for lowering the aft stairs of the 727 from which the jump occurred was found just a few flying minutes north of the identified jump zone. Then on February 10, 1980, eight year old Brian Ingram found five thousand eight hundred dollars’ worth of the marked twenty dollar bills still bundled in the rubber bands. The bundles were found only two inches below the surface approximately forty feet from the waterline on the banks of the Columbia River. It was five miles Northwest of Vancouver, Washington on Tina Bar.

There has been disagreement about how long the money had been at that spot but all, including the FBI, believe it had not been there since 1971. Rubber bands deteriorate in approximate two years and these were still holding the bundles intact. Also, dredging of the area had occurred in 1974 and the money was found above the clay deposits put on the shore by the dredging. To this day, no one has been able to come up with a reasonable explanation for the position and condition of the money when it was found except that it was placed there long after the jump.

To date, this is the only unsolved skyjacking of a United States Airline Aircraft. Though many suspects have come forward, all leads thus far have led to dead ends. In 2000 it was announced that the FBI was able to get DNA from the cigarette butts left on the plane, leading to new hope that the case could be solved. However, in 2007 it was announced that the FBI only has a partial DNA sample from the tie and there is no proof that DNA actually belonged to Cooper. Somehow, the original DNA from the cigarettes had disappeared.

Some good actually came from the jump. There were major changes to airline safety. Metal detectors were installed at the airports by commercial airlines, several flight safety rules were put in place by the FAA, and modifications were made to the 727 aircraft to ensure the aft door could not be opened in flight.

There is no denying that D. B. Cooper was a criminal who put people in harm’s way, but the fact remains that no one was hurt. It appears that he was a common man who got away with his crime against the establishment. For this reason, he has become a folk hero to many people in the Northwest.

There are many unanswered questions surrounding Cooper’s disappearance. Whether or not there is enough evidence in this book to make you a believer in our theory, we are confident that you will come away believing that D. B. Cooper did not die in the jump. There is no good explanation for the fact that no trace of the chute or the body were ever found, especially considering that the suspected jump site is only five to ten miles from Interstate Five. There is also no explanation for how the money found on the banks of the Columbia several years after the jump got there. D. B. Cooper most likely did not jump in the area that has been searched all of these years and he most likely survived and walked away.

Cooper was not an idiot who had no idea what he was doing. The crime was methodically planned and executed by someone who was extremely familiar with flying and parachuting. However, the following mysteries remain. How was he able to drop out of society entirely? Why was he never reported as missing by his family or friends? This book provides a believable theory to tie up all the loose ends.

*       *       *

After the publishing of the first version of this book, we began receiving comments from readers that we should have added a more complete introduction about who D B Cooper was. We were also asked to add something on what occurred after the book was published. As a response to these requests we added a prologue and epilogue for the second printing. We continued following the investigation and were included in the 40th Anniversary Symposium in Portland, Oregon. As more and more details became known, we began to realize the meaning of many of the clues Barb had given us. We also had rushed to get the book out and omitted many details that would give the reader a better picture of who Barb was. Many readers have asked us to put out yet another version, so we are now complying with that request. Thank you to all who have read the first versions of our book and gave us such positive feedback.

Part I

The Revelations

1

The First Secret Revealed

Being the wife of an avid aviation enthusiast, I have had the opportunity to meet and observe many weekend pilots.

During my untold hours of hangar flying I have come to a conclusion that is shared by pilots and observers alike—many pilots march to a different drummer. To my husband and me the leader of the band of quirky characters was our wise, witty, mysterious friend Barbara. Her story has captivated my family’s hearts and imagination for the past thirty plus years. We have never met anyone before or since who has made us laugh as much, cry as much, or caused us to lose as much sleep.

Like all small airports, Thun Field in Puyallup, Washington is host to a wide spectrum of interesting characters. Among these are the tail dragger pilots. The tail dragger planes have a wheel at their tail instead of a nose wheel like most modern aircraft. They fly like birds while in the air but have the ground handling characteristics of a tipsy kangaroo. My husband Ron’s Cessna 140 falls into this category.

Besides the tail dragger pilots, there are the assorted flyers with varying degrees of oddities. There are the experts who are always around to