As the legendary D.B. Cooper found his way back into the headlines, one Georgia museum is looking for to play off the legendary skyjacker.
The National Museum of Commercial Aviation in Clayton County is looking for any artifacts connected to Cooper, the Clayton News-Daily newspaper reported.
“We’re going to be doing an exhibit on D.B. Cooper, and we’re on the lookout for artifacts related to what he did to include in the exhibit,” the newspaper quoted Grant Wainscott, the museum’s executive director, as saying. “…He was a crook, but he kinda became a legend.”
The museum is looking to move into a new, permanent facility in 2012 or 2013.
On Nov. 24, 1971, a man who identified himself as Dan Cooper — later mistakenly named as D.B. Cooper — boarded Northwest Orient Airlines flight No. 305 from Portland, Ore., to Seattle, Wash. Once in the air, the man handed a flight attendant a note that 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.” He demanded $200,000 and two parachutes.
The plane landed at Seattle-Tacoma Airport, and the plane’s passengers were allowed to disembark after the airline cooperated and paid Cooper his ransom. The plane then took off and headed toward Mexico; en route, Cooper jumped from the plane’s aft staircase.
A number of people over the years have claimed to be Cooper. Recently, an Oklahoma woman told ABC News she believes her uncle L.D. Cooper, a veteran of the Korean War, was D.B. Cooper. The FBI is investigating the claim, according to published reports.
