FIRST  PERSON  TO  BE  RETRIEVED

USING  SKYHOOK SYSTEM

If the thought of a plane rescuing someone without landing sounds like fiction, it is not.  During the 1950s the CIA began working on a system to extract a man by plane without landing, the idea was proposed to the Navy and the Office of Naval Research in cooperation with the Marine Corps developed a surface to air human recovery system which was named Skyhook.  A plane was developed with steel wire-catching horns and a mechanical device to reel in the cable which lifted an individual off the ground and he was then pulled aboard.  Dummies were first used during the system’s development followed by using live pigs.  Unfortunately, most of the pigs died during the development stage.  Finally, on August 12, 1958, SSGT Levi W. Woods, became the first human to be successfully picked up and be winched aboard an aircraft.  After the initial contact, which Woods described as “similar to a kick in the pants,” the person rose vertically at a slow rate to about 100 feet, then began to streamline behind the aircraft.  Extension of arms and legs prevented the oscillation that plagued the pig experiments, and the process took about six minutes.

SSGT Woods, a native of Hood River, Oregon, was a pioneer in the formation and founding of First Force Reconnaissance Company, and was an accomplished test parachutist with over 100 jumps, many of them experimental during the development of Skyhook which led the way for future means of insertion of small teams behind the lines.  Many of the techniques that Levi helped develop are still in use by Special Operation forces around the world, including MARSOC, SEALS, DELTA FORCE, and Army Special Forces as well as foreign military organizations.

In 1958, Woods was the Equipment NCO of Second Force Reconnaissance Company, very independent and innovative, interested in “hot dog” procedures, and reportedly leaped at the chance to test the Skyhook system when it was proposed to him.  The successful recovery was made using a Navy P2V aircraft flying at 500 feet and 125 knots that snagged a cable which was held aloft by a self-inflating balloon with an attached metal lift line.  The pick-up on August 12, 1958, was made at Quantico, Virginia, and for his “heroic conduct” in voluntarily proving the feasibility of the technique, SSGT Woods was awarded the Navy and Marine Corps Medal. the highest non-combat decoration awarded for heroism .  In describing his sensations to Navy and Marine Corps test officials after the pick-up, SSGT Woods said, “I felt as though I was being eased up into the air.  There was no jerk or jolt.  The first 15 or 20 feet seemed very slow.  I sort of sat in a highchair and looked around at the people close below me.  Then I began to move up faster.  It seemed like I went almost straight up.”  The Skyhook has since been featured in a number of films and video games.

1STSGT Levi W. Woods, USMC (Ret), died of cancer on December 11, 2007 at his home in Hood River.  He was survived by his wife and two children.

                                                      SKYHOOD  ILLUSTRATION

Submitted by CDR Roy A. Mosteller, USNR (Ret)