CHUCKS MAKE THE BEST ROCKET SHOES
Continued from page 1

Bob Dorr, a docent at the museum explains: “Chuck Taylor’s favorite shoe, or “Chucks” as they are called, had over forty years of successful use in the basketball industry by the time the rocket packs were developed. Think about it: both activities require going up AND coming down, follow? These sneakers provided the aerial adventurers with the right amount of flex and ankle protection.” Dorr paused, adding “sometimes you didn’t know where you were going to land with those early rocket-pack prototypes--could be on sand, on rocky ground or in a swimming pool. But Chucks dry out quick and could be thrown in the washing machine, if they hit a bad patch of crummy mud.”

The rocket pack project, alas, was cancelled although the machine and flyer Bill Suitor has given numerous notable public demonstrations, including a cameo in the James Bond “Thunderball” movie and a “Gilligan’s Island” episode.

Subsequent innovations in Rocket Pack were pursued by private individuals which led to a kidnap caper and particularly salacious story of double-cross and intrigue.

In 1992, one-time insurance salesman and entrepreneur Brad Barker formed a company to build a rocketbelt with two partners: Joe Wright, a businessman based in Houston, and Larry Stanley, an engineer who owned an oil well in Texas. By 1994, they had a working prototype they called the Rocketbelt-2000, or RB-2000. They even asked  the first pilot of the Bell Rocket Belt Bill Suitor to fly it for them. But the partnership soon broke down.

Stanley accused Barker of defrauding the company.

Then, Barker attacked Stanley and went into hiding, taking the RB-2000 with him. Police investigators questioned Barker but released him after three days. The following year Stanley took Barker to court to recover lost earnings. The judge awarded Stanley sole ownership of the RB-2000 and over $10 million in costs and damages. When Barker refused to pay up, Stanley kidnapped him, tied him up and held him captive in a box disguised as a SCUBA-tank container. After eight days Barker managed to escape.

Police arrested Stanley and in 2002 he was sentenced to life in prison, since reduced to eight years.

The rocketbelt has never been found. [New Scientist October 2005.]

Chucks, on the other hand, can be found anywhere fine footwear is sold.

<< back to page 1