Hey, that's me! It was 1973, in Star, Idaho. reply]
Yep, that looks like the place. I dug out some of my old photos, from back in 1973, and they match up perfectly. Houses are all over many of those same hills today.
We played pass the pumpkin lately (over the prairies of North Dakota), and ended up chasin a couple. We never came close to keeping up with them....Steve1
Hey, that's me! It was 1973, in Star, Idaho. That watermelon wanted to fall way faster than us. I'd recommend a smaller melon if you try it. We were in a very clear area, so no threat to people/property. Photo by Crazy Ed Pancoast (May he rest in peace).
I note that you, 460, are a physicist too, like me.
I reckon that for 120mph you need about 6" diameter. Maybe a canteloupe would be better.
I googled "skydive watermelon" and Jeff Wragg's website came up. I got the photo by searching the webpage for watermelon, dive #69, or as said in Chinese "tu kan chu."
Just his jumpsuit. Probably a white block on the knee for contrast. You'll notice that there's also a contrasting knee on the white leg; it's just dark. The white strips running under the boots are just elastics to hold the bottoms down.
Wendy W.
Yep, notice the French para-boots on the holder, too. Looks like at least Darkwing's got a belly-wart. We could put a thought balloon over the holder's head: "Oh, shit, I forgot to hook up my reserve."
I am holding the melon. We were trying to pass it, but it was too fast for us. I am wearing French paraboots, which many of us old guys wish were still available. I am also wearing a piggyback rig. It was my first jump on a Paracommander, but not my first on a piggyback.
Pete Hill, still a skydiver of some notoriety in the northwest (and elsewhere) is closest to me. He is wearing a conventional rig, but then he was always slow to catch on to innovation.
The photo (and others) are availabile from my ego stroking, self-serving, skydiving history page I put together one day when I decided to look through all of my log books.
The photo (and others) are availabile from my ego stroking, self-serving, skydiving history page I put together one day when I decided to look through all of my log books. There's nothing wrong with a little ego stroking. I figure that, how in the hell will anyone find out how famous I really am, unless I tell them...
Thanks for the photos....They bring back a ton of memories.
I need to get to know Pete Hill better. I heard that he can tell the best Wally Benton stories....Steve1
I heared someone talk at our dz that some guy once threw a chicken out of the plane, and it survived! I heared someone talk at our dz that some guy once threw a chicken out of the plane, and it survived!
(warning: American old TV reference here).
But Arthur Carlson of WKRP of Cincinnati said, "As God is my witness, I thought turkeys could fly."
Quote:
“It's a helicopter, and it's coming this way. It's flying something behind it, I can't quite make it out, it's a large banner and it says, uh - Happy... Thaaaaanksss... giving! ... From ... W ... K ... R... P!! No parachutes yet. Can't be skydivers... I can't tell just yet what they are, but - Oh my God, Johnny, they're turkeys!! Johnny, can you get this? Oh, they're plunging to the earth right in front of our eyes! One just went through the windshield of a parked car! Oh, the humanity! The turkeys are hitting the ground like sacks of wet cement! Not since the Hindenberg tragedy has there been anything like this!”
duh.
only people 
