C-119 Box Car?

[Meux 0]

I flew Air Force OV-10s for a couple years, totaled about 800 hours.

Never heard of an Army OV-10. The Marines had A models and D models I believe.

In the Air Force we only had the A model, at least while I was in it.

Heard of guys jumping out the back, but I never did it or saw it.

We had little machine guns in the sponsons and a couple hard points for rocket pods.

For night missions we'd load parachute flares and willie pete rockets. The trick was to drop a parachute flare and then circle around and try to shoot it with a rocket. Mission impossible.

Sorry for the diversion.

Back to the Boxcar.

Cheers,

MH

[MikeD10834 0]

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Sorry for the diversion. Back to the Boxcar.

I jumped "Georgia Box" at Jacksonville NAS back in Oct 90'. There was an airshow going on there with some sort of Boyscout anniversary or some such. I remember the F117 was there, under armed guards with the tail covered by a tarp.

Anyway, it was a 60 way mass exit from 7500' and I managed to snivel my way on the jump at the last minute, thanks to my dad. He was already on the load, which made it easier...

So anyway here I am, having a grand total of 8 jumps in the 3 years prior (the last jump 2 months prior to this jump), doing a demo on borrowed gear with a round reserve, no altimeter, no helmet, no water gear, an no fear. As I mentioned earlier, my dad was on the load. Since he only had 1 leg and there were so many jumpers, he sat at the back so to make exiting easier for him. To aid his endeavors, I always followed him; in the airplane, if he was landing out, whatever... He's the first out, I'm the second, and the plan was for me to pull when he does (since I wasn't wearing an altimeter).

So here we are, cruising around over down town Jacksonville waiting for our time. I'm casually (read not holding onto anything) gazing straight down over downtown when we hit an air pocket and I suddenly find myself above the seat. It catches me totally off guard and I feel a sudden panic as I think I'm falling out of the plane. About the same time, I remember thinking that my dad fell out so I'll need to go after him... As I'm looking over, I see him barely on his seat, not hanging on, with his leg off the edge of the ramp. Thankfully, someone had caught him and he didn't fall out. If he did, I would've certainly gone out after him... An impromptu demo into downtown Jacksonville!

Anyway, the jump went off as planned for the most part. Dad dumped at 4K to avoid the crowd of folks trying to land, which put me a bit high as well in uppers that were smok'n. I had a slammer opening and it took a few seconds to get my wits together. I was going downwind, towards the St. Johns river and downtown, and when I got turned into the wind towards the landing area (a grassy area between taxi ways) I was backing up. I did a couple of front riser turns and realized I was losing too much ground and wouldn't be able to get back if I kept it up, so I just hung on front risers (and hung, and hung, ...).

I did make it back, but didn't have any altitude to play. I was last landing, so finding a spot was challenging. There was a spot in the corner I could make, but if I over shot it I would be landing on concrete and could hit the crowd. I nailed the landing as the National Anthem was playing; landed on 1 foot, dropped the toggles as I touched down so the canopy just kinda hovered there for a couple of secs, put my hand over my heart, and held it until the Anthem was finished.

Although this post should probably be in that other thread Stupd things..., this is one of my most memorable jumps and was the last jump I ever had with my dad.

Thanks for the memories!

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[profallrate 0]

I was on those jumps at NAS Jax also. That was a lot of fun. They took the clam shells off the back, and we exited as a tail gate. I think we did 4 or 5 jumps that weekend. It was for an air show for the 50th anniversary of the airfield at NAS Jax.
The jumps were supposed to be all solo jumps, from about 7500 I think. They also had a some aircraft on display including a Stealth fighter, and some acrobatic stuff, dog fights ,etc.
Like Mike said, we were to stand attention upon landing, while the anthem played, we did our best to stand up.

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Lord please help me to be the person that my dog thinks I am.

[winsor 186]

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Sounds like a Helio Stallion to me.
I still have a piece from Mike Mullins wreck back in the early 90s.

359

Very possible, that sounds familiar. But so does Helio Courior.

Courier was recip, Stallion a turbine.

[377 21]

OV 10 Broncos could carry a paratrooper pod according to Janes All the Worlds Aircraft book. Calif Dept of Forestry flies a bunch of OV 10s as fire aircraft. They dont drop retardant but guide tankers to drop points and generally control the scene from the air. They have had very substantial cockpit interior and panel redesign done by San Joaquin Helicopter.

2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

[377 21]

At an airshow in Salinas CA about 15 years ago a civilian Carabou dropped a demo skydiving team. The STOL performance was spectacular.

2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

[matthewcline 0]

I did a demo in Branson MO in 2005 from one. Very cool plane, flown by the Pilot that flew it to VN in the late 60's!

It is a flying museum piece now. Well cared for.

Matt

An Instructors first concern is student safety.
So, start being safe, first!!!

[SkymonkeyONE 3]

"everybody inside, upstars!" Everybody downstairs, outside!"

[fastphil 0]

Here's a 123; used, but not yet used up...

[Zing 2]

Years ago at a dropzone that no longer exists, there was a slurry tanker base for fire fighting aircraft. It wasn't easy, and there was always the possibility of the pilots getting in trouble with the forest service folks for letting "civilians" on the contracted aircraft, but ... jumps were made from C119s, B17, P2V Neptunes, PB4Ys (the single tail version of the B-24), PV2 Harpoon and a few other tanker type aircraft.
The pilot of the C119 I jumped out of, who shall remain nameless to protect the guilty, is the only person that ever made me get out of the way of a buzz job. It's hard to moon someone when your face is buried in the dirt!

Zing Lurks

[377 21]

How did you exit the Neptune? Man, that's sure a rare jump log entry.

2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

[Zing 2]

That was a lot of brain cells ago, but I recall a bailout hatch in the belly of the slurry tanker.

Zing Lurks

[kkeenan 13]

Years ago there was a C-119 flying jumpers at the yearly Warbird airshow in Titusville Fla. They had the clamshell doors removed in the back, so it was completely open at the rear. The C-119 had a lot of accelleration with only a few people on board. On the first load, everyone was sitting near the back and as the airplane rotated and left the ground, they all freaked out as they started sliding toward the edge (no seatbelts !). Needless to say, there were a lot of fingernails digging into the aluminum deck. I think they all sat farther forward after that.

Kevin
Galveston Skydivers
Class of '71

_____________________________________
Dude, you are so awesome...
Can I be on your ash jump ?

[ZigZagMarquis 8]

????

Did "they" ever develop a version of the C-119 with an in-flight clam-shell or ramp style tail-gate... as in a door in the back that could be opened/closed in-flight?

I had thought that was one of the limitations of the C-119 design? That if one wanted to drop stuff out that back, one had to remove the fairing, made of plywood, off the back before take off and fly the aircraft that way? ... made for a noisy, cold and draggy ride, I'm sure.

Anyway, here's a pic of a C-119... it is an AC119K version, circa Vietnam.

[kkeenan 13]

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Did "they" ever develop a version of the C-119 with an in-flight clam-shell or ramp style tail-gate... as in a door in the back that could be opened/closed in-flight?

Ths clamshell doors could not be opened in flight. They were either on or off at takeoff. The jump doors, which were man-sized doors, were commonly opened in flight for paratroop drops, etc.

_____________________________________
Dude, you are so awesome...
Can I be on your ash jump ?

[kkeenan 13]

Here's an interesting C-119 photo. This is the later mod with a Westinghouse J34 jet engine added.

_____________________________________
Dude, you are so awesome...
Can I be on your ash jump ?

[Zing 2]

If that is the C119 I think it is ... it ended its days in a belly landing on a gravel bar in a river in Alaska. The story pilot dEd Dugan and co-pilot Jim Slocum tell about the final flight of that airplane is really something.
A jump from a burning airplane below 300 feet ... after pushing out a bladder full of fuel ... watching the floor under the pilot's seat start to tear loose and curl under the nose as the airplane slid to a stop.
No shit, you wouldn't have wanted to be there!

Zing Lurks

[377 21]

http://www.geocities.com/Pentagon/Quarters/4980/airborne.html

2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

[Gadget 0]

Clicky

http://www.geocities.com/Pentagon/Quarters/4980/airborne.html

If people from Poland are called Poles, why aren't people from Holland called Holes???
My logbook

[LAP 0]

November '68, Benning, 1st 5 jumps ALL out of C-119 "Packet" complete with A/C skin rivets "turning" during power up and all. Y-E-A-H-H Baby!!! LAP

[ZigZagMarquis 8]

Ooooh! Look at all the dials!!!

[howardwhite 5]

Helio picture is (I think) a Courier. (The picture is partially faked; the original has a terrible-looking sky so I cloned in a pretty one.)
Stalliion picture is definitely a Stallion; it says so on the cowl.

HW

[NickDG 23]

Those are both Helio Stallions. The second one looks exactly like the one Jim Perry owned. We used it at Borderland in San Diego, and then for a while in Lake Elsinore. That same Stallion later crashed with a runaway electric trim switch at Perris killing the pilot. As the airplane tucked under, he blew the door and got out but the prop got him.

I worked as an A&P for a guy who restored Helios on the west coast. And I worked on that airplane (but not the trim switch) . . .

The below photo is a Helio Courier.

NickD BASE 194

[steve1 5]

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Ooooh! Look at all the dials!!!

Remember when skydivers would take one of those big ole altimeter dials and mount it on top of their belly reserve. Not only were they snag points, but they hurt when your face hit them on a hard opening....

[Zing 2]

Howard, I believe the Army airplane in the first photo of your post is a Pilatus Porter ... quite a different animal than the Helio Courier or the Helio Stallion.
There are also a few Porters around that were built with a normally aspirated, horizontally-opposed engine. It had impressive short-field take-off and landing capabilities, but were dogs as far climb rate was concerned.
Interestingly, both Helios and Porters were designed for the same purpose. It was the mounting of Garrett or P&W PT-6 turbo-prop engines that REALLY made the airplanes perform.

Zing Lurks