Combat RW

[howardwhite 5]

This series of photos ran in a Para-Gear ad many years ago.
Anyone here willing to admit participation?
Or anyone able to identify the participants?

HW

[mccurley 0]

For runner of a hybred dive??

Watch my video Fat Women
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eRWkEky8GoI

[JerryBaumchen 1,048]

Hi howard,

I remember the photos. I 'think' Lowell Bachman might have been in that group. I also 'think' that they were taken in Wisconson?????

But, yes it was just like that back in those days. Weren't we kewl?????

JerryBaumchen

[howardwhite 5]

Gee, I should have asked Lowell. I sat next to him at a meeting Friday and had the pictures on my laptop sitting in front of me; it didn't occur to me.

HW

[Zing 2]

I don't know who that group is, but the photos sure brought back some memories of the way things used to be.

Zing Lurks

[Gene03 0]

I sure do remember those days.
Never was that good to even get that close at first.
I'm guessing that was taken over Camp Lake, WI.
Memory test here, the dropzone was co-owned by Lowell B. and Leon Sommers(sp?), a rigger at Para-Gear.

The after jump hangout was bar called Marchecks or Marchucks.

A high school friend of mine and fellow Boy Scout by the name of Dave Smith did a lot of packing there on weekends.

Thread drift.
I first met Dave Smith in 1961 when we used to sit in my aunts back yard in Sturtevant WI and watch the "sky jumpers" freefall and then open.
Finally talked my Dad into the short drive to the now defunct airport.
I'm a snotty nosed 11 year old walking around and see this snotty nosed 13 year old pulling a sleeve over a cheapo and stowing the lines.
He was making $0.25 a pack job back them.

If you can come up with anything from the old Sturtevant DZ, that would be really impressive.

“The only fool bigger than the person who knows it all is the person who argues with him.

Stanislaw Jerzy Lec quotes (Polish writer, poet and satirist 1906-1966)

[darkwing 4]

nothing better than a funnel while wearing smoke....

-- Jeff
My Skydiving History

[JerryBaumchen 1,048]

Hi Zing,

Quote

the way things used to be.

The new kids won't know what I'm talking about but I can still remember, back in '67, 4 of us going to 12.5 and no one touched anyone else during the entire jump.

Who woulda thunk? Oh, sorry, we were 'trying' to do a 4-star.

JerryBaumchen

[Zing 2]

After landing from a four-way jump in Alexandria, Minnesota back in about 1973 I remember someone saying, "Hey, I saw you that time!"

Zing Lurks

[piper17 1]

...and if we HAD touched someone in freefall, we would both have been injured due to the closure rate. At least, that was the case back in '71-'72 for me!

"A man can never have too much red wine, too many books, or too much ammunition"...Rudyard Kipling

[wmw999 2,123]

I do remember the first RW competition I was at the DZ for (still a student though). The team that won built a 4-way on all 4 jumps.

Wendy W.

There is nothing more dangerous than breaking a basic safety rule and getting away with it. It removes fear of the consequences and builds false confidence. (tbrown)

[skybill 19]

Hi Howard,
!!!Sure brings back memories of the bad ol' daze of Southland Skydivers, Hammond, Louisiana Airport outa Milt Nobels Cessna 170 and Bob "the Stud" Munn's Howard DGA-15P. "Good Timz!!" Nobody had an SCR back then!! Hell, if ya' had 40 jumps and were jumpin' a 7-TU you were the cats' meow!!!

SCR-2034, SCS-680

III%,
Deli-out

[steve1 5]

Those pictures bring back a lot of memories.

One of the big problems with RW, back in the day, was the exit. Usually they were really strung out. You might be last out, and then barely be able to see the star building, way down there. And that might be on a four way attempt. Every jump you got great swooping practice, but often times messed up when you got there....

[ZigZagMarquis 8]

Combat RW from "back in the day"??!!!??

Heck! Except for the rigs & jump suits & bell halmets... I could pull some screen caps off of a video from a jump I was on just a few weeks ago that ended up something like that!!!

[kkeenan 13]

Being in a funnel with 3 smoke bombs had to be a thrill...

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

[ZigZagMarquis 8]

Quote

Being in a funnel with 3 smoke bombs had to be a thrill...

Not as much fun as it was being in an Otter once when someone set off their M18 while still in the airplane somewhere around 10K!



While the pilot was none to happy... at least he realized that smoke from an engine or electrical fire usually isn't purple.



I'll never forget the chorus of "FUCK" that came from those of us that recognized that distinctive pop of an M18 going off in the plane.

[howardwhite 5]

I was planning to bump this thread yesterday with some new information about these pictures.
And then I got the call with the incredibly sad and shocking news about the death of the man who took them, Lowell Bachman.
I showed the series of pictures to Lowell in Barcelona late last week, as Dan Poynter was preparing to put them in a slide show to be shown at the closing banquet of the PIA meetings.
Lowell told me he took them in color with a medium-format Hasselblad camera -- perhaps the finest camera of its type.
And on the wall of the Para-Gear booth in Barcelona, there was an old catalog with the famous picture of jumpers hanging on the outside of the Fairchild (attached) again in color.
For me, it was another reminder that even those of us who think we've seen a lot of great old skydiving pictures and movies and equipment that there is so much more out there yet to be rediscovered and shared.
And we can all be grateful that Lowell's passion for preserving history -- and his generous support of the vision for a Museum -- means that sometime in the future all skydivers will have a chance to see the collections now in storage at Para-Gear and in personal collections such as his.
In threads elsewhere, I have already posted a link to Lowell's Guestbook. If you valued his friendship, his integrity, and his contributions to our sport, you might want to let his family know of your feelings.

HW