0
stanlholmes

Any Magee MS Skydivers Out There

Recommended Posts

Hey Folks,

I jumped at Magee Mississippi in the late 70's. It was great and I'm surprised we all lived - jumping borrowed gear that I had no idea what it was, trying stuff WAY over my head, etc. Sure wish I would have stayed in it, instead of taking a 25 year break.

Anybody else there??

Stan

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
Never jumped there but been there. Was involved in the early 90s setting up Skydive Dallas with John Mitchell who previously ran the DZ and had a 182 at Magee, 64G, back in the 70s. We stopped off by Mcgee in 92 on our way from Dallas to Orlando for the PIA convention but the DZ was closed then. The Cessna is still a jump plane operating at Caddo Mills airport in Texas and Mitchell gravitates back and forth between Gulfport and Dallas in the home building business.
The older I get the less I care who I piss off.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
I attended a Twin Beech boogie in Magee in the mid-late 70's. We did a few 20 ways as well.
I remember John Mitchell and doing 'electric stars' at night...very drunk.

359
"Now I've settled down,
in a quiet little town,
and forgot about everything"

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
I used to run the Magee dropzone after John Mitchell left, he and i are good friends from years before magee. I fly a twin otter for Gold Coast skydivers now but retired from skydiving about 5 years ago just flying now. I pass throgh magee from time to time and stop by the old dz. Still has the old pea gravel pit there for accuracy. Blue Skies,
Travis Creel
[email protected]

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
I started jumping at Louisiana Tech and remember jumping there(vaguely, lol). Remember names like Drippy Dick and Bookworm. Also recall jumping a DC-3 the first time one was jumped in Mississippi, in Hattiesburg. Was jumping with the Coonass Skydivers then, and THOSE were GOOD times. Electric Star, anyone? BS, BD

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
Quote

I started jumping at Louisiana Tech and remember jumping there(vaguely, lol). Remember names like Drippy Dick and Bookworm. Also recall jumping a DC-3 the first time one was jumped in Mississippi, in Hattiesburg. Was jumping with the Coonass Skydivers then, and THOSE were GOOD times. Electric Star, anyone? BS, BD



Drippy Dick Klimas went to med school and became a Doctor, living/practicing in Birmingham, AL. Dick still jumps.

Can't say what became of Bookworm.

Roy E Ray airport in Bayou La Batre, AL was my home DZ back then. Home to N81W, the fastest climbing D18 in the South.

BASE359
"Now I've settled down,
in a quiet little town,
and forgot about everything"

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
Quote

Quote

I remember John Mitchell and doing 'electric stars' at night...very drunk.



Hmmmmm, tell me more about electric stars.:)


From what I understand.


What you do is take 2 cans (strangely enough usually beer.)

The next thing you do is take an electrical cord and attach an end to one can and the other end to the other can.

Now plug it into an electrical outlet.

Now comes the exciting bit. With two people holding a can a round star is now built.

Six to Eight people is good to start the star. This amount of people in the star usually results in a slight electrical tingle that is increased as people remove themselves from the star.

Usually the star is reduced to two drunken stalwarts, or that is what I am led to believe. I have no personal experience of this.
I don't care how many skydives you've got,
until you stepped into complete darkness at
800' wearing 95 lbs of equipment and 42 lbs
of parachute, son you are still a leg!

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
Welll, I remember a conference meet in Bayou La Batre, Vernon Melancon gave all us Coonasses flat, "cg godfrog" frogs with a grommet thru them on a piece of 550 cord to wear as necklaces. And, um, we had a cannon. And someone took the cannon into town, and, well, i left before the police showed up. GOOD TIMES!!

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
Quote

Welll, I remember a conference meet in Bayou La Batre, Vernon Melancon gave all us Coonasses flat, "cg godfrog" frogs with a grommet thru them on a piece of 550 cord to wear as necklaces. And, um, we had a cannon. And someone took the cannon into town, and, well, i left before the police showed up. GOOD TIMES!!



Yeah, I remember those frog necklaces you and the other coonasses wore...LOL

BASE359
"Now I've settled down,
in a quiet little town,
and forgot about everything"

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Yeaaaaaa....Good times at Magee !! Still have my toad necklace.I remember the flies were interested in it too.Nice to see posts from yall.Hebie Graves stopped me on the road yesterday and gave me a picture taken 1973 that had Charlie Kinlin,Richard Connell,Alan Cross,Carol Blount, Stan Hamilton,and Boogie man in it.Man o man ....those were the days.B|

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
Quote

Quote

I started jumping at Louisiana Tech and remember jumping there(vaguely, lol). Remember names like Drippy Dick and Bookworm. Also recall jumping a DC-3 the first time one was jumped in Mississippi, in Hattiesburg. Was jumping with the Coonass Skydivers then, and THOSE were GOOD times. Electric Star, anyone? BS, BD



Drippy Dick Klimas went to med school and became a Doctor, living/practicing in Birmingham, AL. Dick still jumps.



I thought he was in Decatur, but yeah, he's still jumping. Probably has more jumps than anybody else in Alabama for that matter. :P Far as I know, he still has his handlebar mustache, but it's been a couple of years since I last saw him.
"Mediocre people don't like high achievers, and high achievers don't like mediocre people." - SIX TIME National Champion coach Nick Saban

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
Rickster Neely's mom used to jump at Magee, MS back in the day and then, much later, I taught him to skydive on Fort Bragg at the GB club. Later, around 1990 or so, when Rickster got out of the army and went back home, he taught BOTH Colon Berry (champion freeflyer) AND Johnny Mulford (of the USAPT Golden Knights) to skydive. Rickster was a total clusterfuck in some ways, but he was the man! His proteges CERTAINLY showed that they got a good upbringing.

Oddly, THE Colon Berry is now back living in Lumberton, MS and jumping at the NEW Gold Coast Skydivers (formerly at Moss Point). Rickster Neely is a K-9 Drug Cop working in Jackson, MS, but still owns my old, original Mike Fury J-1 Javelin with Excallibur 150 and Phantom 145. Seriously.

Chuck Blue

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
That would be Scott Formby. He was my instructor and jumpmaster for my first jump. He lived in Shreveport for years, last saw him at a reunion in Shreveport years ago. The only La Tech jumper i am still in touch with is Tim Garlington, he still lives in Ruston, and comes on dz.com sometimes.....

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
Quote

Quote

Whatever became of Shit for Brains out of Ruston



Didn't every dz have at least one of these? B|

JerryBaumchen


Ever since I started jumping, (nowhere near as long as you) I have seen at least one of those at every DZ or boogie. :P
"Mediocre people don't like high achievers, and high achievers don't like mediocre people." - SIX TIME National Champion coach Nick Saban

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
If any of you pricks from Magee ever want to hook back up with Rickster Neely, just PM me and I will give you his number. If you are a swinger he will likely answer your call sooner. If you want to talk to Colon, then PM me for his number as well. I cannot believe, for the life of me, that Colon has not talked Rickster into showing up at Lumberton and jumping.

Chuck

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
Quote

That would be Scott Formby......



Wrote a story about Scott in the Scary stories from the ole days thread (about the time he backed into the 182 prop) http://www.dropzone.com/cgi-bin/forum/gforum.cgi?post=1684381#1684381

10-12 years ago, while getting ready for work one morning, Scott began feeling ill, layed down on the couch, and died.

One evening my brother and I were at his house. Scott told us about the ordeal he had gone through to get his bird to quit cussing. The neighbors had complained...He would have the bird on the back porch with him, and the bird would (very loudly) start cussin a blue streak. Shortly after telling us the story , Scott made a run to the store. During the 15-20 minutes he was gone, me-n- my brother stood by the birds cage and cussed. When Scott walked back in the house the bird yelled "HEY Mother Fu**er!!" Scott was all like "damn, he's at it again" My brother and I joined him in being mystified as to the reason for the birds relapse.:)

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
Quote

Quote


One evening my brother and I were at his house. Scott told us about the ordeal he had gone through to get his bird to quit cussing. The neighbors had complained...He would have the bird on the back porch with him, and the bird would (very loudly) start cussin a blue streak. Shortly after telling us the story , Scott made a run to the store. During the 15-20 minutes he was gone, me-n- my brother stood by the birds cage and cussed. When Scott walked back in the house the bird yelled "HEY Mother Fu**er!!" Scott was all like "damn, he's at it again" My brother and I joined him in being mystified as to the reason for the birds relapse.:)



Awesome!!! :D:D:D If nothing else, he could have told his neighbors that his parrot had Tourette's Syndrome... :D:D:D
"Mediocre people don't like high achievers, and high achievers don't like mediocre people." - SIX TIME National Champion coach Nick Saban

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
I realize how old this thread is, but it was Travis who put me out for my first jump in 1975, John who mentored all of us, and Mike Blaine who taught me how to fly. Electric Stars were part of the Saturday night entertainment. Would love to be back in touch with any of the old Magee gang.

Marc Patterson

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

0