Bob Sinclaire, one of the most impressive, still living Skydiving icon!

[Tinkerbelle 5]

Say, does anyone have any good Bob Sinclaire stories? We need to record in a book Bob Sinclaire's History & life & Times in Skydiving B 4 it's too late!!!!
He of course has been jumping since the 40s, before most of us were even a glimmer in our Mommy's eyes! He even knew and has pictures with Tiny Brodrick, the first person/ and yes it was a woman, to voluntarily jump from a plane with a parachute, just for fun! Bob has been jumping since the 40s, and had a Skydiving School in Hollywood, CA. back in the 50s, 60, & 70s.
I know at least a couple people, one of whom still jumps in Perris, Shirley Perine, "Shirley You Jest" as I call her... who was trained static lining with a round and belly pack by Bob in the 70s. Shirley is one of the sweetest ladies who owns her own jumpsuit alteration, fabrication, and other sewing services business called "Pineapple Express".
Bob also is proud to have taken Johnny Carson on his first jump. Bob brags about still getting royalties when Johnny shows the video on the Tonight Show, or at least he did 'till Jay Leno took over!
I have plenty of stories of Bob. He and I are kindred spirits! He gave me his D#272, and insists I use it to forever be his emissary! I love that old guy!
He basically innovated skydiving videography way back when! I have seen photos from his extensive albums of himself with a whole multi-media facility on his head! He did lots of stunt work in Hollywood back in the very early days! He was basically the driving force and the person behind the old TV series "Ripcord". His list of Hollywood film and other crdits fills about 4 pages closely spaced! He has jumped, trained, and vieoed people skydiving and flying all over the World since the 40s, before they even invented color in the World, back when everything was black & white!
Some literary person who is maybe working on their college thesis needs to go find Bob in Coolege, AZ, and get all of his stories and copies of and descriptions of his extensive photo albums and journals recorded down in print before he goes away and his vast wealth of Parachuting History is lost forever. Luckily Bob is one of those guys who is very careful to record and lable everything and writes a newsletter frequently keeping up with the where abouts and goings on of many of his old and current comerads! Luckily Bob is what you might call anal, so for anyone who might be willing to record his info, not only would they get tremendous credit from everywhere and everyone, not to mention the privilege of having published such an awesome work, might even get a Pulitzer Prize, but it wouldn't even be that hard to do. All it would take would be a cassette recorder, a transcriber, a scanner, a xerox machine, and a couple days of well-spent time interviewing Bob. Whomever stepped up to the plate would have to be sure to be very witty, patient, inciteful, prodding, be a good listener, be interested, and have a good sense of humor since Bob is sharp as a tack and tells jokes and makes funnies continuously. Those would have to be recorded as well to reflect Bob's tremendous wit and sense of humor! That is one of his most irreverant, yet charming characteristics.
He and I have gone out to dinner on many occasions, and it is so funny to watch all the naieve, ignorant, judgemental waitresses treat him like a deaf, old, man! He always has something funny to say that keeps you rolling, but most often goes right over everyone else's head! As someone said in another section of this forum... I think it was "General Skydiving" in the thread "Stuck in Eloy with nothing to do"... 'during high wind days, Bob is always pissing everyone off with his "Kiss my Butt" irreverant sense of humor!'
It is sad that so many new jumpers don't respect their elders or take the time to really listen to our Skydiving History! One time I even dragged Bob over to Mikey McGowans in Eloy from Coolege where Mike Mullins allows Bob to live in his bus and jump for free. I knew Mikey was too busy to take the time to go to Bob, so instead I dragged Bob and all his photo albums to Mikey instead. We all sat down there at the kitchen table and went through each photo, one by one, 'till late into the night. I wished I had had a tape recorder! Bob always has such funny stories and commentary! I just thought since Mikey was into photography, he should know more about the history. Bob has so much to say and specifies so many different names, though, there is no way anyone could possibly keep them straight or commit them to memory without writing them down!
So here's the challange....
If anyone is in college and needs a good thesis project.... go interview Bob Sinclaire, and get that wealth of info and history recorded before something happens to Bob and it's too late and is all lost forever... Bob is not getting any younger, and is still an active >1x/week jumper! I worry about him! He is one of, if not the nearest, dearest friend of mine! He is truly the most significant skydiving icon alive today, and anyone who has the privilege of meeting him should consider themselves lucky!
Tinkerbelle
AKA Eloy Annie!
If anyone runs into Bob, please give him my love and kisses from Eloy Annie, D#272!

Rehab is for quitters.

[Tink1717 2]

I nominate you.

Skydivers don't knock on Death's door. They ring the bell and runaway... It really pisses him off.
-The World Famous Tink. (I never heard of you either!!)
AA #2069 ASA#33 POPS#8808 Swooo 1717

[skypuppy 1]

He even knew and has pictures with Tiny Brodrick, the first person/ and yes it was a woman, to voluntarily jump from a plane with a parachute, just for fun!

__________________________________________________

I agree with most of your statement, but this part is just NOT TRUE. As mentioned in the post on "Earliest Jumping in the US" a couple of days ago, Tiny Broadwick jumped from a plane a year after several others started doing it in 1912. She was certainly no earlier than 5th, and probably much
later than that.

And none of these guys (er, people) did it just for fun. They were professional barnstormers, doing it for money or to flog a product.

I'm sorry, I just hate to see history getting revised - Tiny Broadwick did a lot of neat things, but her life seems to have taken on a mythology all of its own in a lot these posts. She did not have over 1000 freefalls or 1000 jumps from planes as some people have stated (she did do over 1000 jumps, but most were static-lines from balloons). Much of her testimony in a 1930's lawsuit between Irvin and Russell Lobe was discounted due to its inconsistencies and inaccuracies (she was testifying about the early freefall deployment systems in a suit brought by Irvin over its patents, against Russell). That being said, she was a real pioneer in the sport - still she didn't do this on her own.

If some old guy can do it then obviously it can't be very extreme. Otherwise he'd already be dead.
Bruce McConkey 'I thought we were gonna die, and I couldn't think of anyone

[kenneth21441 0]

Bob,

Is a great guy who I have had the pleasure to jump with several times when he comes to his real home here in Michigan.... Even though he has taken a few dollars from me I respect him alot...(in His being able to land near his target)....for not only his age, but what he has done and still takes the time out to travel around and promote the sport in the ways that only Bob can...
When Bob signs your log book he wants all the information of who was on the jump, pilots name etc.......I have even started to do this......

Unitl then..
Ken..

Kenneth Potter
FAA Senior Parachute Rigger
Tactical Delivery Instructor (Jeddah, KSA)
FFL Gunsmith

[airgord 1]

How did you get the nickname "Eloy Annie"?

[Tinkerbelle 5]

Yeah, Bob has 2 sisters, one in Texas with a cool fishing cabin by a lake where he likes to stay, and the other there in Michigan. He says his sister in Michigan is like the kindly old Grand Mother who loves to take freshly baked cookies out to the local DZ, so proud to be Bob Sinclaire's sister! That is where he collects his mail mostly.
His sisters both support his gypsy life style and are very proud to have such an extreme, excentric brother!
Yeah, as far as his accuracy goes, ...it is simply amazing! At the WFFC I walked out with him onto the field to put his little pillow out there in the middle of the grass. It even took glasses just to see it from 20 paces away. I thought he was kidding when he said it was there to cushion his landing since it was not big enough to cover the average butt on a car seat, and is only about 3 " thick! But sure enough I watched him, and he did indeed land right on top of the little thing! Maybe I'll encourage him to join in the accuracy competition at the Nationals next year! Wouldn't that be funny for him to show up out of nowhere, and with his "House of Frankenstein" parachute equipt with an old, spring loaded rip cord, just blow all the high speed competition away with all their high speed gear and special accuracy trinkets! He would of course be oh so Bobly irreverant and make them all feel so emasculated, even the girls, to be whooped by some crazy old guy! While everyone else is equiping their gear with the latest, greatest, high speed stuff, Bob always has to modify his gear with antiquated weird stuff! Bob is truly unique, one of a kind! I am proud to call him a good friend and kindred spirit! If I were 10 years younger, I wouldn't let that man out of my sight!
Tink! D#272!

Rehab is for quitters.

[steve1 5]

I agree. Bob Sinclair is a great guy who's forgot more about skydiving than I'll probably ever know. It would be a shame to have all his stories and history die with him. Too bad there isn't someone out there who was interested in writing a biography of interesting characters in our sport. Bob would be a great resource, and there are a lot of other old jumpers who I'd like to read about. Jerry Bird for example.

I only met Bob once at Coolage. He gave us a tour of his bus and showed us some of his old memorabilia. What a cool guy!.....Steve1

[cocheese 0]

Good ol Bob. Talked with him several times all over the country. The guy gets around pretty good. There is a short interview with him in the "Boogie Days" video. ( Richmond 2001 .) Good job Steve-O . I should try to jump with him next time i can. That would be cool. If anyone sees Bob at the boogies this summer, Don't be shy, say hi.