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The Fulton Surface-to-Air Recovery System or STARS - better known as 'Skyhook' - was developed by the U.S. Armed Forces in the late 1950s for recovering downed aircrew and secret agents from enemy territory. The system consisted of a harness connected to a balloon-suspended recovery line, which was snatched midair by a specially-modified aircraft. The recovered airman could then be winched aboard. Though STARS was only used once operationally in 1962 and retired from service in 1996, it has appeared in numerous works of popular culture, most notably the films 'Thunderball' and 'The Dark Knight.'

SOURCES:  

https://books.google.ca/books?id=99sDAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA111&dq=true&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=true&f=true

http://downloads.slugsite.com/fulton-manual.pdf

https://medium.com/knowledge-stew/the-skyhook-how-humans-are-plucked-from-the-ground-450e35139e5a

http://www.9websites.com/airforce/fulton.htm

https://theavgeeks.com/2019/09/22/robert-fultons-skyhook-and-operation-coldfeet/

https://theavgeeks.com/2019/09/22/extraordinary-fidelity-two-cia-prisoners-in-china/

https://sofrep.com/news/the-cias-classified-skyhook-program/

https://medium.com/war-is-boring/the-snatch-method-was-one-crazy-way-to-make-a-glider-fly-ee55d4f2ada4

https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-2004-05-14-0405140167-story.html