Military/Demo jumps in Bermuda

[Nemo 0]

Hello Everyone and Anyone,

When the US Navy/Airforce used to run the airfield in Bermuda there were plenty of training/fun jumps. We also had several airshows, some of which I attended in the 1980's. That was my first introduction to skydiving, other than seeing jumpers on TV.

Several months ago our daily newspaper ran a 'time-capsule' article about a military jumper being "rescued" from the water. According to the article, the jumper involved was Sgt. James Rhea, who was doing a jump as part of the Kindley Air Force Base Veteran's Day. The article does not state whether it was an intentional water landing. It does not give a date for the above-mentioned jump either.

I would really like to hear from anyone who has jumped in Bermuda, or anyone who knows someone who has jumped in Bermuda. I know that the Golden Knights have jumped here, as well as members of the EOD, and if I remember correctly, the Budlight/Coors/Miller demo teams if there are such teams.

If you have pictures to share, that would be awesome.

As a newbie, as someone who was born and raised in Bermuda, and as someone who would love to jump here, I appreciate any and all responses. Please post , pm, or email me.

Many thanx in advance,

Dale

ps If you know the Sgt. in the article, please say hello!

pps No spellchecking here.

[slotperfect 7]

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I know that the Golden Knights have jumped here,

The Golden Knights RW Team trained there a few times because it was a VERY cheap place to train. They stayed in the BEQ on base, ate in the military dining facilities, and used the military airfield facilities. Plus, it's not that long a flight from North Carolina.

I never went, but there may be other dotcommers that did.

Arrive Safely

John

[justaman 0]

I went there and jumped as part of the Golden Knights RW team. I do not have any pictures.

IT WAS AWSOME. We had an Air Force Air Guard C-130. We travelled from Pope Air Force Base NC in the C-130 trained from it jumped with the EOD guys and also had lobsters that we caught from the sea to supplement the Navy chow.

It realy rocked.

Do or do not

[Nemo 0]

Hello again,

Many thanx to those who have posted on this thread.

Here is an aerial photo for those who have seen the view before, and also for those who haven't but are interested.

Dale

ps Hey Slotperfect, I am stunned that it was a relatively cheap place for training! Must be one of those military perks!

Hey justaman, I don't eat much lobster, but I can totally understand how it would be a great supplement to mil-chow and McDonalds!

[slug 1]

Damn

Another island surrounded by water go figure

I'll have to sleep with my rubber duck tonight in case I have wet dreams I can see the runway where's the LZ

If the airplane can land there we should be able to make it........I hope. Where's my other rubber duck

R.I.P.

R.I.P.

[marquitos 0]

...cool pic of bermuda, i didn't knew it was that little...i guess any jump there would be a beach jump, right???...
anyways, take care and keep in touch...next time we meet we'll do a couple jumps...ciao...
marquitos

marquitos
Hispa #78
PL #-144

[wartload 0]

Nemo - I don't know about jumpers, but I taught Bermuda Ultralight Pilot #1 how to fly. He was a very pleasant fellow by the name of Michael Abbott (hope I spelled that correctly). He used to work at the Eastern Airlines desk there, I believe. Happen to know him? (I later taught two other citizens to fly, but I won't name them at the moment, lest they were on an incognito holiday.)

[zoobrothertom 5]

Hello, Nemo. I know this thread is a little old, but I just read it today. Here's another story about jumping in Bermuda. In summer of '84, I was in the 82nd Airborne on the demo team. Not quite sure how it was organized, but a group of us flew in an Air Guard C-130 over to Bermuda for a three day weekend. Bob Surrell (sp?)from the Navy invited Dave Bullen, our club manager, to bring some of the team to Bermuda to jump with the navy EODs. I remember we took Ron Wescott, Rick Liepold (fridge), Paul Rafferty, Grett Dalton(?), and maybe a couple of others with us.
We drove up to Norfolk, VA and boarded the plane. My gear was completely unassembled. We hooked up my reserve (26' Phantom) and packed it in the aisle. Then I hooked up the main and packed it on the ramp. We landed and picked up Bob and his guys, took off, dropped the door over Bermuda and jumped out. Nice! We also jumped a twin engine Huey from 13.0 grand.
On the second day we had a mass water landing. We were drifting so fast that guys on the ground said it looked like we falling sideways. That date happen to be 30 days after an air force jumper from Pope AFB drowned off the coast of NC jumping with the navy (his nickname was Fly). So, we called it the Fly Memorial Splash In. I landed the closest to shore at about 400 yards and swam in. The 2 or 3 guys farthest out actually turned down wind and landed across the bay on the other side!

It was a great time. I still have a big stain on my old logbook from a bottle of Captain Morgan's Spiced Rum that broke in my kit back on the way back.

Blue Skies, Blue Water!

____________________________________
I'm back in the USA!!

[SkymonkeyONE 3]

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Rick Liepold (fridge)

DUDE! How about Fridge getting in all that trouble for the AH-1 Cobra jump!!!

[Nemo 0]

Hey friends,

I am very glad to see the recent posts in this thread, so a big thank you to everyone for dropping in and sharing some memories.
I worked at the Bermuda Intl. Airport (formerly Kindley Field AFB) for four and a half years until quite recently, and know the layout quite well. Much has changed since the handover to civvy control, but much has also remained the same.
I heard one story recently from a couple who live on Smith's Island, which took place when rounds were the main of choice. One morning a small military load got blown off target (mis-spotted perhaps?) and one jumper landed in the backyard of a house on Smith's Island. The man was so shaken that he could barely speak, but managed to ask for a glass of brandy. It turned out that he was the instructor for the load. Fortunately for him the entire load was found unharmed and ready to go up again.

One day in the near future I hope to make a few jumps of my own here in Bermuda. Stay tuned!!!

Until next,

Dale

[zoobrothertom 5]

Hey Skymonkey! Boy do I remember it! I'm over in Korea right now so the time zones are way off. If anyone is interested in the logistics of the jump. Let me know and I'll type it up tonight.

____________________________________
I'm back in the USA!!

[Nemo 0]

Type Away!!!

[zoobrothertom 5]

Hey there skymonkey. Got a quick question. Is it cool to describe the AH-1 jump in detail or would that piss someone off? Just checking to be safe. Thanks

____________________________________
I'm back in the USA!!

[Doogie320 0]

I'd love to hear your takes on it. My old Guard unit had a rigger that was at Bragg when that happened plus I've heard it from other sources.....all of them said two members of a SMU did it landing near some 7th Group guys doing S/L jumps (I've heard two different DZ though, St. Mere and the other escapes me, it wasn't Sicily); one of the MFF guys was an O, the other an NCO.

How true any of this is, I'm not sure. I'm guessing some of it has become a bit of an urban legend, 90% BS, 10% fact, that sort of thing.

[zoobrothertom 5]

Hey Nemo. I wish I could have jumped more in Bermuda. It's a beautiful island. The Ah-1 jump is kinda off-thread but since it's your thread, I'll give it a try. It's been about 21 years! I noticed skymonkey is a moderator. If he votes to move it to another thread, that's fine with me. Well…., I waited a couple of days and no comment. So, here goes.

Ok, there are probably a few of the actual jumpers still around that can give fill in a couple of blanks. Namely, how they got caught. But, I'll do my best. If anyone can add to this, please do. I have a feeling this has probably appeared in another thread somewhere.

The exact date slips my mind, but it was between October '84 and early '85. I was a Sgt. in the 82nd and on the 82nd Demo team at the time. I think I was already living off post with Jim Wooden, CW2, and Paul Jackson. I was a crew chief in 3rd Platoon, Dco., 82nd Combat Aviation Battalion. D co. was the attack helicopter company. Our platoon had 7 AH-1S cobras and a couple (3?) of OH-58 scouts.

The jumpers were SSG Ron Wescott, SP4 Mark Leipold (Fridge), Lecil Conner-Hill (Grett Dalton's girlfriend) and Maj. Hondo (Scott Hallick - SP?).
The AH-1S pilots were CW2 Grett Dalton and Cpt. John Hays. Both were pilots in my Platoon. Grett was an active jumper, too. The UH-1H pilot was Jim Wooden, my roommate (or soon to be roommate), and I don't remember who his co-pilot was. Jim was in our Battalion in another company. The idea probably started with Ron or Grett because Ron had a previous Cobra jump and Grett was fun loving crazy jumper! I’ve seen the picture. It showed Ron exiting and was taken from a camera on the ADS boom or the 20mm cannon. Doogie, this might be the source of other rumors that conflict with the facts of this jump.

So, here's how it was put together, if I remember correctly. We were jumping on the weekend at St. Mere DZ. Not me though, I was recovering from a broken leg and only spectating that day (or I might have been one of the ones busted!). From St. Mere to Raeford is only a stones throw by air. Jim was flying jumpers in the Huey just like any other weekend club operation. Grett and John had scheduled some weekend "training" in one of our platoon’s AH–1Ss. They flew from Simmons Army Airfield over to Raeford and set it down. Meanwhile, Jim picks up a load of 10 and heads for altitude, 10.0. 6 jumpers exit and Jim does a rapid descent into Raeford with our 4 jumpers still on board. BTY, Lecil was jumping my brand new Fury 220. My new parachute’s first jump was from an AH–1 without me!! Jim landed the Huey and the jumpers opened the ammo bay doors on the Cobra and sat down 2 to a side. The plan at this point was for Grett and John to fly the jumpers up to 10.0 and then fly by St. Mere and drop them. Grett would descend outbound and after a few minutes Jim came swooping low from the Raeford side of the DZ as if he’s on final from his descent. The jumpers landed and, as far as I can remember, no one commented on the odd delay between the first 6 jumpers and the last 4. Hell, it went so smooth that I looked around and the guys and gal were already on the ground in the packing area with their rigs off.

That’s about how I remember it. As to how they got busted, I don’t really know too much. Only rumors and, anyway, the real trouble came many months after the actual jump in late 85, I think.

Doogie, I wonder how this version compares to the urban legends you've heard?

____________________________________
I'm back in the USA!!

[Doogie320 0]

Tom,
What we were told doesn't mesh with your version and I have no reason to doubt your side. The version we'd heard from 2 different folks, 1 in my old unit and one that was in 7th at the time was 2 guys from a SMU took the ammo bay doors off an AH-1 and jumped into St. Mere, landing near some 7th Group guys that were doing a S/L jump that day. The NCO landed in the woods and got away, the O didn't and was "caught" by guys that knew him before he went "over the fence". The result was everyone except the NCO being booted from the Army over it. While I never saw or heard anyone contradict the story, I'm also not terribly surprised it differs from your tale.

Unless there is another jump no one's talking about.

Thank you for sharing. Take care!

[zoobrothertom 5]

Yo, Doogie. I think we've got two or more jump stories intertwined here. Trust me on this one. My story is 100%.Ron was making his second(or more) Cobra jump on this one. It's likely that the version you heard was about an earlier jump(s)! I'm very interested to hear more about the jumps you heard about.
One thing, a thought, you might want to discount the part about removing the ammo bay doors. As a Cobra crew chief, and later Technical inspector, removing the ammo bay doors is not an easy task or easily/quickly reversible. The time involved and the fact that now you have to stand on the skid tubes instead of sitting on the door/seat to altitude makes it unlikely. You're trading a comfortable ride for an extra hour(s) of work when all you have to do is stand up, turn around and close the doors. But, I'll admit, it might have been different on an earlier model like an AH-1G (the most likely alternative on an earlier jump).
So, that aside, any more info from the guys in your unit?

____________________________________
I'm back in the USA!!

[Doogie320 0]

Whit,
maybe we are talking about 2 different incidents, I don't know. My info is third hand at best from a long time ago. I was just a commo guy so the particulars of the AH-1 series are lost on me. I have a friend, retired Cobra type, instructor, 3 tour gunship guy from Vietnam I could ask about that. I don't doubt your story one bit.

I would guess though if there was more than one jump we'd have heard about them by now, so what I heard is likely an embellishment of your story. The best fables do spring forth from fact. But the truth? Hell, I wish I knew.

Take care!

[SkymonkeyONE 3]

I was jumping/instructing at the GB club then, but was also a dues-paying member of the 82nd club. We, the GB club, were jumping on Sicily the day the AH-1 jump went down on St. Mere.

I heard about it later that late-afternoon at the GB club bar from Fridge. Nice. It's my recollection that the "real" officer/pilot in the Cobra was kicked out of the army. The Warrant officer got a General Officer Letter of Reprimand and was allowed to stay in the army. They were certainly dimed out by a jumper in the 82nd club who was pissed that it was allowed to happen. That said, Fridge was definitely not shy about telling people in the bar about the jump either and that probably didn't help matters.

Man, those were the good old days, eh? Dues at the GB club were $7.50 a month! They were still only $10 a month at the 82nd club. I made nearly 1000 free helicopter skydives back then. Hueys, Blackhawks, Chinooks. Can't bitch about that, can you? I always liked it when, once a month, we would run ops right off the helo pad behind 44th med and jump into the lawn in front of the GB club bar.

Can't forget the XVIII club either! I still remember when we had all three clubs running ops on Fort Bragg. On that note, the old manager of the XVIII Corps club, Bill Verner, started jumping again about three years ago out at Raeford. I did his recurrency training. Bill owns a housing contrator company in Fayetteville and can be found on the dropzone every weekend.

[bozo 0]

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Man, those were the good old days, eh? Dues at the GB club were $7.50 a month! They were still only $10 a month at the 82nd club. I made nearly 1000 free helicopter skydives back then. Hueys, Blackhawks, Chinooks. Can't bitch about that, can you?

Free ? On the taxpayers dime. :o)
Been there...done that.

bozo USN....USAR

bozo
Pain is fleeting. Glory lasts forever. Chicks dig scars.

• Quote

[SkymonkeyONE 3]

Don't forget, we paid taxes our whole careers (and still do), so I don't feel bad at all about that little bit of fun.

[bozo 0]

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Don't forget, we paid taxes our whole careers (and still do), so I don't feel bad at all about that little bit of fun.

Dont misunderstand me. I wasnt being critical.
I EARNED everything I got in the military.
Didya notice my smiley ?

SSG bozo

bozo
Pain is fleeting. Glory lasts forever. Chicks dig scars.