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ripcordkid

old lancaster calif drop zone

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Yes, although I don't know if it lasted until 1974.

It was indeed at Fox Field; the DZO I remember in 1967 and 1968 was Rich Jaeggi.

The Cessna pilot's name was Mel; can't remember his last name.

Lancaster is in the Mojave Desert - means "high winds" or something like that in an Indian dialect. So often it was too windy for "rounds" (although Cal City is nearby and presumably does fine today with ram air parachutes).

I think the Lancaster DZ's (called "Sky Haven") heyday might have been in 1966 or so. Star Crest recipients 23 and 24 were awarded as a result of an 8-man star there in Feb 1967. As a kid, I think I remember Beech loads (8 and more jumpers) in that timeframe, but not afterwards.

Hope this helps; let me know if you have a specific question I could try to answer.

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Does anyone remember eight man star attempts at Lancaster? I noticed star crest recipients 23 and 24 were awarded for jumps at Lancaster on 12 Feb 1967 (Skydiver Magazine, Nov/Dec 1968). Were these jumps from Cessnas in formation, or a Beech?

(Tim, yours is listed as taking place at Bakersfield on 9 October 1966. Was there really a Bakersfield dropzone?)

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I can't tell you much about the DZ itself
(hot, windy, sagebrush, desert) but that's
where Richard Economy showed me the
idea of flying no contact (we called it "hovering")
in 1964.

I seem to remember the ASO's (Area Safety
Officer = S&TA) name was Mickey something
and I think that's the first place I heard the saying:
"Don't pull lower than the ASO".

It stemmed from a load where he grounded
everybody lower than himself and gave everybody
from himself on up a warning.

There were lots of pictures of Lancaster jumping
in Skydiver Magazine.

I also heard the story of a Beech load (going from
Van Nuys to Taft?) that snuck in behind and above
the Lancaster Beech and went when they did,
greatly surprising the guys on the Lancaster Beech
as all these guys who weren't on the load started
arriving.

Skr

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From: Dr Richard Economy D-115 [email protected]

I jumped at Lancaster Calif DZ from 1962 to 1967 because it was the closes DZ to Edwards AFB where I was a Capt in the Air Force at that time.

Pep and Chuck Hill ran the DZ. Pep took the money and Chuck flew the Twin Beach.

I also jumped at Taft and at Arvin and was in the first 6 man star that Bob Buquor shot photo of for SkyDiver Mag.

I also made a some jumps at California City DZ when Bob Sinclair (of the old ParaVentures) ran it.

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Junps with: Jacks, Clyde E D 42 TX
Luck was with me when I met Clyde Jacks I did not developed any good freefall technique until I started going to Houston in 1959 to Jump. At Houston, I had about 50 jumps with Clyde who had Gold Wings (Over 1000 freefall jumps). License No.2 or 3.

Clyde was undoubtedly one of the best skydivers in the world. Plus he was bright, thoughtful, articulate, well educated, technically competent (the complete Anti-Typical Skydiver) and a stunt pilot to boot. He was a great jump instructor and jumping partner. Our personalities meshed and every time I was in Houston we jumped together. I learn more from Clyde in one jump than I had learned in all my previous jumps.

After a jump, Clyde could tell you exactly what you did wrong and how to fix the problem. During freefall, he would come up next to you indicate what your problem was, e.g., your left leg was too high. If you did not respond he would push your left leg down to the right position.

Clyde had over 1000 freefall jumps and I only had about 60 but he would treat me as an equal because we both had a methodical approach to skydiving. After 20 jumps with Clyde, I was as good a jumper as anyone at Houston, except for Clyde of course.

One full moon night in 1960, Clyde and I jumped from 15,000 ft with a flashlight. We pass the light back and forth several times and then saw that we were starting to drift into some tall cumulus clouds. We both went into full reverse arch track position

(In this position you bend forwards at the waist roll you shoulders down and cup you hands by the side of your body. This position turns you body into a wing segment and produces a lift vector pointing upward and forwards. In this position you can move about a foot horizontally for every 1.4 feet you fall vertically, or a Lift/Drag ratio of about .7).

We were able to track our way around and stay out of the high thunder head cumulus clouds. There were lighting flashing in the clouds all around us and they would looked like big white frosted light bulbs.

We open our chutes about 1800 feet when we were under the cloud bottoms and could see the DZ lights. With about 1500 jumps Clyde was killed doing low altitude rolls in his stunt plane near Houston, Texas in 1962. Flying is risky.

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Creaming in
D 344 CA Jack C. Smith Jack was the area safety officer at Lancaster and “creamed-in” circa 1966 while working with a freefall student. The student pulled too low and by the time Jack stop concentrating of his student and pull his ripcord he hit the ground at about 130 mph. Ouch!

His body was a mushy lump. Had about 30 jumps with Jack. The area safety officer was not too safe.

I head that the term “creamed-in” came about because a body is like thick cream inside your skin after you hit the ground at around 130 miles per hour. Its a good discription. DrEco D115

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DrEco Updates and Correction!
I just dug up my old log books.

My first jump was a jump count to 3 and pull, 12/59
My 3rd jump was a 12 second delay. No sleeve hard opening
My 4th jump was a 15 second delay. Used a sleeve for the first time
My 5th jump was a 18 second delay. Tried a baton pass.
My 7th jump was a 15 second delay. Landed in the sewage disposal lake next ot the DZ. I made a bad spot.
My 8th jump was a nite jump

I was on an 1960's accelerated free fall schedule.

Correction! Correction!
My first baton pass was in 2/61.

My first jumps in Houston with Clyde jacks were in April 1961.

The nite jump with Clyde Jacks where we passed the flashlight back and forth about 3 or 4 times and then tracked around the high thunder head cumulus clouds was in 9/61.

DrEco D115

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To: Jim (Twardo)

Congratulations on the "LibertyParachute" impressive WEB site. Your "Exhibitions" are complex and well choreographed.

Exhibition jumping had come a long way from the early 60's when I did most all of my jumping.

At first, jumping at some hick county fair with a different color smoke bomb on each foot and doing some spirals would excite the crowd. If you got fancy, two jumpers could do some crisscrossing with some smoke.

When that got old, you could always get the crowds attention by opening at about 800 feet with a lot of scrapes of paper and the contents of a couple of a large jars of talcum powder packed in with your chute. Openings would look like you chute blew up.

I did the paper - talcum powder thing at a fair in some nondescript hick town in East Texas back in 1961, and the crowd went wild. About a hundred people kept running under me when I was trying to land. It was like Lindbergh landing in Paris in the 1920s.

I landed right in the middle of them and luckily I did not hurt anyone. But then they started trying to tear souvenir pieces off my canopy and run off with my ripcord and sleeve. I barely got out of there in one piece.

Here to the Good Old Days when we were young and reckless,
Dr. Richard Economy D115
[email protected]

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Hi Doc,
I was a lowly GI at Edwards AFB; arrived 3 Jul 60 & departed for overseas on 3 Aug 61. During that time there was a rumor going around the base about some sport jumping (I did not know about the Lancaster DZ). A couple of days later there was a notice in the Daily Bulletin that anyone making a sport jump would be court-martialed for Endangering Gov't. Property, yes it is in the regs.
Didn't make my first jump until a few months after I got out, on a T-10 in Feb '64; many a moon ago.

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[email protected]
When I got to Edwards AFB in early 1962, my boss Major Bulger who knew I was a skydiver suggested that I contact Chief Master Sergeant Brownley who was the Head of the Air/Sea/Underwater Rescue enlisted men at Edwards. Brownley was also a Master Rigger and a Paramedic. We were both jumping fanatics and we got to be good friends.

Sgt. Brownley would support all of the test flights at Edwards. He would be airborne in a C130 during the flight test phase. If the plane crashed or the pilot ejected, Browneley would be the first one to get to him.

His job was to extinguish any cockpit fires and get the pilot out of the plane.

If the pilot was in the water, Brownley would pull him into his inflatable rubber boat.

If the plane was under water he would use his diving gear to get the pilot out of the cockpit and to the surface and then into the inflatable boat.

Once in the boat he would administer the required aid, until other medics and doctors would arrive.

I got to be good friends with Sgt. Brownley and he would take me to his storage area / loft and showed me his parachute stash. There must have been a couple hundred out of date, but never jumped, orange and white 28 foot canopies some with Capewell risers attached.

And about 80 canopies were still in their never opened original container plus there were about 40 complete backpacks. Though in perfect condition and never used, they were being surpluses because they were out of date. AF policy dictated that they be destroyed or sold as surplus. I was like a kid in a candy store and I help myself to about 10 canopies. And about 4 backpacks with Capewell harnesses. I had a rigger cut 7 wide TU’s in about 5 of them and had two modified with a T in the back and 7 and 9 panel wide Double Derries slots.

Brownley would go on Air/Sea/Underwater training exercisers off the California coast. He would rob the lobster traps by cherry picking the largest lobsters for the traps.

Brownley would invite me over to his house for lobster dinner and serve a broiled lobster tail out of the shell that was about 15 inches long and about 6 inches in diameter. You would slice off a piece about an inch thick and with drawn butter it was yummy. Four people could not eat of one tail at one setting.. He would give me a couple of these jumbo lobster tails out of his freezer from time to time

A Chief Master Sergeant had a good life at Edwards AFB.

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Jerry:

I read you posting again…There was never any question about me being a skydiver when I was in the Air Force

When I first arrived at Edwards TDY from Rome NY. I had brought my parachutes with me. The next day I drove to Taft to do some skydiving. I had never jumped from a Twin Beach, which held 8 jumpers, before. On the fourth jump, we had all gotten together during freefall and when we opened we were all close to each other heading for the same target. About the time I was ready to land another chutist went right under me and sold my air. I landed hard and sprained both ankles.

They loaded me in my car and I headed back to Edwards and checked myself in to the base hospital.

Monday morning I phone my new boss, Major Joe Bulger, and told him what happened. I had just been transfered in from Rome NY to Edwards AFB for one of his high priority job and I was in the hospital. Major Bulger was very understanding and he brought me some material to read and get up to speed.

Joe Bulger had flown F86’s in Korea and was credited with about 7 MIG kills yet he was impress that I was a skydiver.

Col. Peterson (Col. Pete), Major Bulger’s boss, was the head of the Flight Test Directorate at Edwards. Col. Pete never had any problem with my jumping.

Col. Pete had been a test pilot, had flown in WWII and had about 12 German Messersmitts kills to his name, and was interested in skydiving. He came to the Lancaster DZ several times to watch me jump. He wanted to make a freefall jump with me, but I talked him out of it. He was about 55 years old and was presently on flight status flying F104’s.

He had made a jump 20 years before when he had been shot down over Europe. But that was 20 years ago and hurting an ankle jumping now could affect his flight status.

Being the head of the Flight Test Directorate, policy was not the issue. He wrote the policies. Also test pilots were ejecting out of cripple planes all the time at Edwards. Jumping was just was not a wise thing for Col. Pete to do at that time.

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I remember my Dad taking me there to watch the jumpers when I was about 5. They all looked so big with gear, boots and helmets. Later one of my first jumpmasters at Cal-City, Billy Reed would tell stories of Lancaster. Be nice if there was a DZ still at Fox feild,then I'd have only a 5 min. drive.



Only the good die young, so I have found immortality,

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Quote

I remember my Dad taking me there to watch the jumpers when I was about 5. They all looked so big with gear, boots and helmets. Later one of my first jumpmasters at Cal-City, Billy Reed would tell stories of Lancaster. Be nice if there was a DZ still at Fox feild,then I'd have only a 5 min. drive.



I remember Billy Reed. In fact I was thinking about him the other day. I was in Palm Springs and past a restaurant named "Billy Reed's Restaurant." Do you know if that place belongs to him?

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Seems as if it was just east of the terminal between the airport access road and Ave.G. this memory
is over 40 years old. I saw Billy Reed a few weeks ago out at Cal-City, he's on his way to live with his daughter in AZ. I'm sure he never owned an restaurant in PS.( I'd bet it would have been to much work for him). Back in the late 80s early 90s I did a few demos at Fox field, One on jump I lost m-18 smoke going out the door and the people on the ground followed it all the way to the ground, expecting to see some canopies. It was very quite, till we opened a few secs. after it impacted.



Only the good die young, so I have found immortality,

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Does anyone remember when Jack Smith, the Lancaster DZ safety officer, creamed in. It was sometimes in the 1964 to 1966 time frame. Jack was jumping with a student. He was working with and looking at the student and when the student pulled too low Jack did not have enough altitude for his chute to open after he pulled.

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Does anyone remember when Jack Smith, the Lancaster DZ safety officer, creamed in. It was sometimes in the 1964 to 1966 time frame. Jack was jumping with a student. He was working with and looking at the student and when the student pulled too low Jack did not have enough altitude for his chute to open after he pulled

You can Email me directly at: [email protected]

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Skydiving History- Dr. Eco- DrEco-Dr.Eco

If you are searching for Richard Economy D115 replies and comments they are under the following names.
1) Dr.Eco, - a period but no space between Dr.and Eco
2) DrEco, - no space and no period between Dr and Eco
3) Dr. Eco - a space between Dr. and Eco

Sorry for the confusion DrEco, aka Dr.Eco aka Dr. Eco
D115

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