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howardwhite

Who and where? #3

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Jacques Istel at Goodhill Farm CT.


Bingo!
Goodhill Farm in Woodbury, CT. is the Pond family place; Nate's brother Larry lives there now. There are still reunions there each August, although there hasn't been jumping into Goodhill for the past several years.
Goodhill Farm was the site, in May, 1957, of the first Collegiate Nationals.
And the picture (according to the Life info) is Jacques Istel jumping a Russian rig; I'm guessing he brought it back from the World Meet in Moscow in 1957.
As to the sleeve, Istel and Lew Sanborn hold the patent for a sleeve attached to the canopy. In the patent, they note an unattached sleeve "is undesirable because of the difficulty in locating the sleeve after the jump and the expense incurred in replacing lost sleeves.
"For military purposes, the separability of sleeve and parachute is an even more serious problem. A lost sleeve can inform the enemy that a parachutist has been landed in their territory."
The picture is credited to Peter Stackpole, one of the best-known Life photographers of that time. It's undated, but I'm guessing it's either late 1956 or early 1957. At that time, attaching or not attaching the sleeve was optional.

HW

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Could it be Nate Pond's cornfield and airstrip down near New Milford, CT? Is it Nate?



I recognized your pic of the strip from a visit there a few years ago but couldn't remember the name of the place or the exact town it is in. There are a few derelict a/c in a decrepit old hangar on the north end. I got the hots to buy the place until I found out whose it was and knew there was no way it would be sold. I remember now you mentioning Nate's new place in VT. Been up there too but didn't know whose it was then either.

cya,
jon

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I think a lot of the property is now in a land trust, so there's no way it's going to sprout the megamansions that are now infesting the land.
At one time or another the hangar has housed 36C and 88C, the two 170s that were I think used in the meet and are still owned by jumpers.
The meet attracted a lot of press, including a feature story in The New York Times, which noted that Charlie Hillard and Steve Snyder flew up from Georgia to participate.They were, of course, later the first two to pass a baton in the U.S.
Another small news story attached.

HW

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any more info on that canopy?


Briefly, the vortex ring parachute was invented by David Barish in the mid-fifties and got a lot of publicity, including a spread in Life magazine. But it never really fulfilled the hype.
The lines from the separate canopies converge in a swivel (above the jumper's head in this picture.) The canopies rotate about the swivel, kind of like helicopter blades. Once open, it was very stable but as a personnel parachute it had problems (opening shock, steerability, etc.) The Air Force tested it in the late 50's as a possible mid-air retrieval device. Now, it's probably used only for light loads (flares, etc.)

HW

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Looks more like an oversized thong bikini:)



...from one of those "Fat Women" you're always singing about Steve?


;)
--
Murray

"No tyranny is so irksome as petty tyranny: the officious demands of policemen, government clerks, and electromechanical gadgets." - Edward Abbey

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