Record of a man airlifted from Australia to the United States in a box for 5 days

In 1964, Bryan Robson, who had the spectacular experience of being airlifted from Australia to the United States in a wooden box for five days

This man is looking for the friends who shipped him overseas in a crate in 1965 | CBC Radio

Born in Wales , England, Robson moved to Melbourne, Australia in 1964 using an immigration program.

Robson said he wanted to return to England soon after he moved to Australia. However, Robson's immigration support program contract with the Australian government states that 'instead of supporting travel expenses, the country needs to work in Australia for two years,' and Robson at the time to return to the United Kingdom. He had to pay more than 17 times his monthly salary.

So Robson and his two colleagues come up with the idea of 'packing Robson in a wooden box and airlifting it to England as cargo.' The two colleagues bought a wooden box large enough for Robson to fit in a sitting position. After stuffing a wooden box with Mr. Robson, a bottle of water, an empty bottle, a flashlight, a small suitcase, and a pillow and hitting a nail to seal it, he wrote 'broken things', 'handling precautions', and 'useless'. I attached the label and sent it to London as 'luggage'.

The plan for the three was that the plane carrying the wooden box containing Mr. Robson would arrive in London 36 hours after leaving Melbourne. However, the wooden box containing Mr. Robson was put on a different plane from the one bound for London due to some mistake.

In the end, Robson ended up spending five days in a small crates. 'It was horrible,' Robson said. 'I was running out of oxygen and was about to lose consciousness,' said the situation at the time. To make matters worse, Mr. Robson was upside down for about 24 hours because airport staff did not pay attention to the 'top and bottom useless' label on the wooden box. 'I was trapped in a dark, thin hold and couldn't move my muscles or get out of the crates. I thought I'd die,' Robson said.

Upon arriving at some airport, Robson succeeded in turning on the flashlight. Robson was discovered when an airport employee who noticed the light looked into the wooden box. 'When I met the airport staff, he was so surprised that he was backflip,' Robson said.

Immediately after Mr. Robson was discovered, 20 to 30 people, including the FBI and CIA, gathered. This tells Robson that he was taken to Los Angeles, USA, instead of London.

After interrogation by US authorities, Robson returned to England in first class, courtesy of an American airline. 'The FBI, the CIA, and all the other Americans treated me with care. I fell in love with America because I hadn't been treated as well as it was then,' Robson said at the time. He talks about his feelings.

Mr. Robson returned from Australia to the United Kingdom due to the above circumstances, but he said that he has not been able to contact the two colleagues who cooperated in putting Mr. Robson in the wooden box. Robson said, 'The two names should have been Paul and John. I've only been with them for three months, but I've made very close friendships. I hope to see them again. I am eager to meet my two colleagues again.

In addition, Mr. Robson has written a book entitled 'The Crate Escape ' based on the experience of being airlifted from Australia to Los Angeles, and it is scheduled to be released on April 30, 2021.