Known colloquially as Skyhook, the Fulton surface-to-air Recovery System is a system where slow-moving fixed-wing aircraft capture loads on the ground. These loads included both inanimate objects and individuals. However, personnel recovery was the system’s primary use. | Vintage Everyday

The Fulton Skyhook, officially known as the Fulton surface-to-air recovery system (STARS), was developed in the 1950s by inventor Robert Edison Fulton Jr. to solve the problem of extracting personnel or cargo from hostile or inaccessible areas without landing an aircraft. The system used a helium balloon to raise a line into the air, which could then be snagged by a specially equipped aircraft flying overhead. A V-shaped yoke on the plane’s nose would catch the line, and a winch would reel in th

The Fulton surface-to-air recovery system was a genuine military "skyhook" technology that enabled aircraft to retrieve personnel from the ground without landing by snagging a line attached to a large balloon. A C-130 Hercules aircraft would rapidly snatch the person into the air and bring them safely aboard. | History In Pictures