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Zootographer

Aerobats - 3rd ID SPC, early '70's

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Aerobats - Third Inf Div Sport Parachute Club, early 70's. Anyone remember? Names coming to mind are 1LT Bob ("Bing Bing") Iverson (fearless leader), Steve Maikowski, CPT Glen Puffer (our first paraplane pilot), ASO Bruce McDaniels, 2LT Mike Burt, SP5 Ken Larcher, 1LT John True (parasled pilot), SFC Lester Pelfrey, Dale Lyons, Nicki Mainero, Bob Linke. Civilian Tom Shafer. Jumped 421st Medevac Hueys at Conn Barracks (Schweinfurt) and with the Germans at Hassfurt out of a Dornier. Anybody out there?

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Wouldn't be surprised. He had been busted and was doing penance for smuggling some good Lebanese black in from Amsterdam when I met him (or so the story goes). Still a good leader. I liked the dude. One of the better jumpers in our group. Heard he went to Casa Grande afterwards.....

"...Death sharpens life, discipline sharpens pleasure..."

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Wouldn't be surprised. He had been busted and was doing penance for smuggling some good Lebanese black in from Amsterdam when I met him (or so the story goes). Still a good leader. I liked the dude. One of the better jumpers in our group. Heard he went to Casa Grande afterwards.....



Lebanese would be blonde.

Black plate from Pakistan or Afghanistan. Temple balls or fingers from Nepal.

Red from India or Arabia.

Green (Kief) from Morocco.

At least that's the way the High Times Market Report would have it.


Blue skies red eyes,

Winsor

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Yep, Iverson was at Casa Grande in 1974-1975. He left to go to the Maharishi University in Iowa to become a Transcendental Meditation guru or something. He was a great instructor, and lots of fun to be around. I stayed in touch with him for awhile, but lost touch after about '77. Would be great to find him again, but I wonder if he's even going by that name anymore. :)
Jimmy Juicer

Jimmy Juicer
SCR 4181, SCS 1978, NSCR 791, ACE 63

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And I would be CPT Puffer, and Steve Maikoski and Ivan Beach (also an Aerobat) just got together online after 40 years. Bob Iverson was one of my favorite people on Earth. Don't think that he and the 70's Army made a good fit, but I would've buddied with him in a tight spot any day!

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Steve here. Bob Iverson kind of disappeared. Bruce McDaniels succumbed to cancer shortly after 9/11/11. Ivan Beach and GlenPuff are now keyed in on this forum.

I jumped for a couple of years at the Death Zone in Casa Grande before hanging up the ParaPlane. I may make a jump this summer to join the over-60's.

Hope this gets to others.

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Wow, I made my first jump at Conn Barracks in 1968, got my B 7395 in 1969, made the Aerobats team also in 1969. I was there until June of 1970 and then ETS. The only name I recognize in the posts are Robert Louke. Does anyone remember: The club founder Chuck Newman, John Collings, Larry Loutowski, Norman Miller. Ron Workman Dan Williams, Chuck Shelton, Bob Kern, Paul Limeiux, Jim Brown and his wife and Jerry Laney (D1110). We all jumped a L-20 Beaver during that time frame. Also a german named Petrowski. This list is almost a who's who from 1968 to mid 1970.

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Well, you're going to have to go a bit to catch up to me, Steve. I just made my first jump in 32 years, at the age of 71, at Elsinore on Saturday. Hated like hell to have to do an AFF with two instructors but I'll live with it. It was great to get back into the air. I missed the handle and before I could give it another try the main side instructor had it out. The harness fit left a little to be desired. After opening the chest strap tried to take my head off and stayed up under my chin the whole way down. Misjudged the landing a bit. Started the flare at about 30 feet instead of the 10-12 they say and managed to somehow slam my big toe on my right foot. It was black by the time I got home and I'll probably lose the nail but who cares? Get out there and do it. The fun is still there.
Jim Chandler D-4501
If you know how many guns you have - you don't have enough!

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Zootographer

Aerobats - Third Inf Div Sport Parachute Club, early 70's. Anyone remember? Names coming to mind are 1LT Bob ("Bing Bing") Iverson (fearless leader), Steve Maikowski, CPT Glen Puffer (our first paraplane pilot), ASO Bruce McDaniels, 2LT Mike Burt, SP5 Ken Larcher, 1LT John True (parasled pilot), SFC Lester Pelfrey, Dale Lyons, Nicki Mainero, Bob Linke. Civilian Tom Shafer. Jumped 421st Medevac Hueys at Conn Barracks (Schweinfurt) and with the Germans at Hassfurt out of a Dornier. Anybody out there?



We're you getting reliable support from the huey outfit?.

When jumping with the Germans was that at their DZ.?

We had the privilege of jumping with some of the clubs at Bragg one weekend in the late 60s. Their acft support was rock solid:)
We belonged to the Ft Lewis Sport Parachute Club as a DOD civi.
Their was some kind of a problem with the commitment of the aviation unit providing acft support for a weekend club.

Rumor was the aviation commander preferred to give his people the opportunity to spend their weekends home with their families.

Still got 75 jumps out of Hueys, Blackhawks and the Hooks In 2 yrs. The price was right the civi dz was located outside the back gate. Life was good.

Met lots of great people jumping with military clubs. :)
One Jump Wonder

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Stevenski, I noticed you mentioned a Bruce McDaniels in your post. I was wondering if he is the same Bruce McDaniels who was a Chief Warrant Officer in Heidelberg German in the Army in 1968/69. I worked for a CWO Bruce McDaniel back then. My e-mail is Cats51@aol. If he is the same person can you e-mail me on this. Thanks!

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You were there at the same time I was. My 6 jumps were in June of 1968 and I recognize some of the names in your post. I did 3 jumps out of a U6A Beaver and 3 from a German PA22. It was a great experience and the folks who managed it all were great!

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I was a 'hanger on'...made one jump at Hassfurt with Bob Iverson as my jumpmaster and would hang around on weekends, taking beaucoup pictures with my Canon F-1...I've got prolly hundreds of slides in my closet...if not thousands...Have two pix of Iverson...OK to post 'em???

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Anyone remember Bill Jones and his family jumping at Conn Barracks??? He was an AF rigger, used to drive every week from IIRC, Wiesbaden or one of the bases way out west...he had two sons one 16 and one 17...I was in a OH-68 one Saturday when the older son jumpmastered the younger one...both had well over 500 jumps at the time...he crashed into the peas one day and did some damage to himself, went to the clinic and came back looking to jump again...his wife put her foot down. He had a very young daughter (IIRC 8 yrs old) who would pack your chute for a quarter...he dad, mom and brothers taught her well!!!

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