American Skyjacker · Imperative Entertainment and Pegalo Pictures

The Legend of Allen Barklage | Chapter 7

August 18, 2020·38 min·3 clips

Alan Barklage wrestles a gun from his hijacker as their helicopter plummets toward a prison yard.

Episode 7 of American Skyjacker introduces Alan Barklage, the final key player in the Marion Penitentiary helicopter escape attempt of May 24, 1978. Barklage is characterized through his lifelong friend Gene Hoffmeyer as a supremely talented pilot with over 30,000 flight hours who thrived in high-pressure situations. He served two tours in Vietnam flying helicopters, survived being shot down three times, and returned to civilian life running helicopter services for radio stations in St. Louis. On the day of the escape attempt, Barklage took a flight that was originally assigned to Gene, at the request of a woman who had posed as a real estate agent — Barbara Oswald. Once airborne and out of radio range, Oswald revealed a gun and her plan: force Barklage to land inside Marion Penitentiary and extract prisoners Martin McNally and Garrett Trapnell. Oswald, a former air traffic controller, disabled his transponder to prevent radio communication. Hovering above the prison at around 3,000 feet, Barklage devised a ruse about the helicopter doors, convincing Oswald to switch her gun to her left hand. Using his long reach developed from years of helping passengers with seatbelts, he grabbed the weapon. A struggle ensued that caused the helicopter to lose altitude. After wrestling the gun free, Oswald calmly announced she had a second weapon. Barklage fired without aiming, striking her fatally from about 30 inches away. He regained control of the aircraft, landed in front of the prison, jumped out, and alerted authorities. From the prison yard, McNally heard the rotor stop and understood the escape had failed. He and Trapnell returned to the compound, where they were immediately arrested and placed in segregation. Barklage returned to St. Louis visibly shaken and trembling, according to Hoffmeyer, struggling with having killed someone despite his combat experience. His wife urged him to refuse media attention out of concern for their family's safety, but Barklage embraced his celebrity status as a career opportunity. The conflict led to their divorce. In subsequent years, Barklage became a celebrated traffic reporter pilot for Channel 5 in St. Louis, known for fearless flying and involvement in live breaking news. Radio producer Tori Lyons recalls him as effortlessly skilled and recalls an unauthorized dive within inches of the Mississippi River on her first day flying with him. Barklage purchased a Mini 500, a tiny build-it-yourself stunt helicopter, which Hoffmeyer compared to an arcade toy and predicted would kill him. On September 19, 1998, the engine failed on takeoff at about 60 feet, and the aircraft fell straight down. Barklage's heart briefly restarted before he died. Hoffmeyer expresses regret at seeing him in the hospital with tubes, saying the man he knew was already gone. The episode closes with McNally's retrospective anger at Trapnell for manipulating Barbara Oswald and for earlier scamming McNally's sister with a fake movie offer, while noting that despite everything, McNally never lost respect for Trapnell. A preview teases a new hijacking attempt orchestrated by Trapnell through another woman he manipulated.

As heard by us

A tense, restrained look at a helicopter prison escape, told through the pilot's account and the shooting that followed.

This episode stays tight on the person flying the helicopter, and that choice gives the story its bite. It rebuilds the hijacking, the flight, the gunfire, and the fast drop in front of the prison through firsthand memory and plain narration.

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Why you'd press play

You want the prison escape from the pilot's seat, with the hijacked helicopter in focus.

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