Lost Drop Zones Project

[howardwhite 3]

Hmm, I thought Gift of Wings was Tibor's place in West Bloomfield. I have a T-shirt.
I could never sort out the Arcade/Java stuff. I just remember the pissing contests among the upper New York DZs.
You spent a lot more time there than I did. I was just the poor USPA dude who sometimes had to sort it out.

HW

[david3 0]

Quote

More changes.
Thanks to several people for input.
JW

The Herd were (are) a group of jumpers not a drop zone. They jumped at United Parachute Club (UPC) at the New Hanover Airport, Gilbertsville PA, 40.3 North / 75.59 West (Northwest of Philadelphia, PA). My memory tells me the UPC moved out and the airport closed in the fall of 2000. UPC operated out of the Flying M in Germansville PA after that for a few years before closing up. The United Parachute Clubs claim to fame was the Herd and the Herd Boogie among other things.

ETA: http://members.tripod.com/airfields_freeman/PA/Airfields_PA_Allentown.html Scroll down for New Hanover info.

.

[howardwhite 3]

Rhode Island:
Boston-Providence Skydiving Center, Lincoln, RI
Richmond

I need more on dates.

HW

[HornyGorilla 0]

I haven't seen anything about York Skydivers in Hanover, PA. I believe it closed sometime in the late 80's. I jumped at Woodbine, MD from '76 - '80, home of the Mr. Bill dive until it closed. Then I went to Hanover and jumped there until the late '80's. George Bolin owned that DZ. The drop zone was right behind the Utz Potato Chip factory.

There was also a drop zone run by Gordon Reiner in Salisbury, MD - North side of Rt 50 at Naylor Road - that I jumped at in the mid to late 80's if memory serves me correct. I believe it is gone now.

I believe Pelicanland - also Gordon Reiner - is a student tandum only DZ now. So for all practical purposes, it is closed. A site where people rate the DZ really trashes the operation. Shame. I had a lot of fun there.

I may be old and busted up, but no one can take those memories away from me. They were the finest people I have ever met. We watched out for each other, took care of each other and pushed the edge together. You needed 100 jumps on a round before jumping a square back then. Thank heavens you don't have to try to break your leg 100 times now before jumping a square. We used to risk our lives jumping. Now they risk their lives landing. Go figure.

HornyGorilla
age 59 1/2

[mjosparky 3]

Some more on CA dz’s.

Antioch, Arvin, Hemet, Pope Valley, Apple Valley, Cal. City and Murrieta all closed.

Sparky

My idea of a fair fight is clubbing baby seals

[377 20]

Still miss Pope Valley a lot. It was magic.

Other closed CA DZs: Santa Rosa, Crazy Creek, Santa Nella, Calistoga, Paradise.

377

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

[howardwhite 3]

I was at the Skydiving Museum event Friday night. One of the sponsors was Pope Valley. It was, of course, Curt.

HW

[patmoore 14]

Quote

I jumped at Woodbine, MD from '76 - '80, home of the Mr. Bill dive until it closed.

I believe Pelicanland - also Gordon Reiner - is a student tandem only DZ now. So for all practical purposes, it is closed. A site where people rate the DZ really trashes the operation. Shame. I had a lot of fun there.

HornyGorilla
age 59 1/2

Ironically it was at Woodbine that I made my last jump in 1976. We had just moved north from Florida. We made a trip to Ridgley where I had made a few jumps in the past but the place was packed and it seemed like you needed to know someone to get on the manifest. We gave up and headed home. The next day we drove to Woodbine and I made a single jump - not sure why I didn't make more. We planned on returning the following weekend but got an invitation to go rock climbing in West Virginia. We stuck with rock climbing for a couple of years. Hanging up jumping wasn't a conscious decision - it just happened.

In the years since, I've devoted my leisure time to golf, unicycling, ski racing and snowboard racing. I've enjoyed some success at the latter two. Other pursuits are pencil sketching and photography.

Sky Diving was a very important time of my life. I don't have any desire to jump again but I'll hang on to the memories forever.

DZGone.com
B-4600, C-3615, D-1814, Gold Wings #326, Diamond Wings #152.

If you're not living on the edge, you're taking up too much room!

[popeyeughugh 0]

i grew up at gift of wings skydive in java ny.my father owned it if anyone wants to know anything or has a memory of it feel free to reply, i remeber from begging to end. i was a drop zone brat,lol does anyone know what happened to our 1953 cessna 180 it was painted red white and blue,thatt was my favorite plane call letter was 13 charlie.thanks POPEYE

[jonstark 8]

Easy enough to find out where the 180 is if you can remember the entire N#.

jon

[jerry9461 0]

The 180 was 2213C. Last I knew Kevin McCole owned it, but that was long ago.

[JohnRich 4]

Quote

The 180 was 2213C.

Now in Alaska.
http://registry.faa.gov/aircraftinquiry/NNum_Results.aspx?NNumbertxt=2213C

[pterodactylLXX 0]

I started at Woodbine in June of 71 jumping their old T-10 stuff after I got back from South East Asia. I got a Thunderbow in March of 72 and Katy bar the door! Five malfunctions and I finally snagged a Papillon from Dave the rigger guy in late 73. I was stationed at Meade in those days and remember oh so well how good to me those folks were! A guy named Rogers used to come up from DC every Saturday morning and we would wait for the airplane and tell tall tales about whiskey drunk, women conquered, and jumps! Not much else mattered in those days except Janis Joplin and some veteran thingys! Love to scan those old log books.
Terry Allan B16354 Pterodactyl LXX

[brokenwing 1]

i forget the date but up into the early 70s there was a field in Campbelltown, PA called Reigle Field. About 1800 feet of grass. Believe the club's name was Falling Stars. They merged with Flying Dutchmen and became Maytown SPC. google map pic attached -- i think

[bravoniner 0]

Anybody remember a DZ in (or near) Lake Geneva, Wisconsin, in the mid-1960s? Take a look at the attachments. It would have to have been after 1963, because there's a zip code in the address. I'm quite sure there was nothing active there after about 1966, or so, so this was a very short-lived operation.

B9

[bravoniner 0]

And, while I'm at it, here are a couple of other things from defunct DZs:

A late-'60s brochure from Parachuting Incorporated at Rainbow Airport, Franklin, Wisconsin.

A Pine River Valley Skydivers patch -- this club jumped at the Richland County Airport, Sextonville, Wisconsin, in the early '70s.

B9

[bravoniner 0]

And, finally, does anybody have any info on the DZ that operated at Air City airport in Sturtevant, Wisconsin, in the early '60s? The primary jump ship was a tri-gear Howard DGA-15P flown (I think) by the late Steve Hay, Sr. [SEE photo]. Lowell Bachman, Jim Stoyas [SEE photo], and other early-day midwest luminaries jumped there.

I'm trying to collect whatever information, names, photos, paper, etc. I can regarding operations at this DZ before it's too late. I fear it already is, but ...

B9

[dzswoop717 5]

George Bolen operated the York Sport Parachute Center at various locations from 1966 until 1987 when Dennis Beattie and myself bought his equipment and took over the DZ as EFS inc. The York Skydivers was a social skydiving club that jumped at Our and Bolen's DZ's.
On August 24th 2013 we organized a memorial and ash jump for our pilot and my father, Gene Weaver. 75 former York Skydivers and another 150 friends and family attended the event that included Helicopter jumps, Cessna loads and Gene's ash jump form a King Air provided By J R sides from Chambersburg skydiving center.
York Skydivrs is no longer an organized club but it continues as a large group of friends that share their love of the skies at annual get togethers. If you were a member or associate of the York Skydivers, please feel free free to message me to be invited to our next unplanned get together.

[goldwing 0]

One Lake Geneva DZ was located adjacent to the drag strip which later became a race track (now defunct) south of town. I believe it closed after the principle owner Connie O'Rourke was killed doing a Santa jump.

I'm told by the former operator there was another DZ just South of Big Foot Beach operated by I think the Whitings. I vaguely recall seeing a sign near the road with a parachute canopy on it. Not sure if it was advertising or a caution sign for motorists.

Quote

You haven't lived until you've almost died"

[SCS292 1]

Google Earth has some old aerial/sat photos available in some areas. I have used it to locate the old Galveston Skydivers DZ in Dickinson, TX. If you zoom in on Lake Geneva in the area you suspect the DZ was located you will see a button in the bottom left of the image that says "History". Click that and a slider will appear in the top left that has all the old photos by year. They might have one old enough to see the DZ on the ground. Tip: if you zoom out you get some older low rez photos on the slider. Just for grins I had a look at the Wag Aero airfield NW of Lake Geneva and zoomed out it goes back to 1988, not far enough back to get to the era you are looking for, but another quadrant may have some older stuff available. It is a cool tool but can be frustrating when the area you want to look at is just off the edge of an old photo and you only have the newer stuff.

[lodestar 0]

I flew that 182 for Bill, small strip near Baldwin Fl.
0ne runway and you were required to contact a tower at an AFB to get permission and then tell them when the jumpers were on the ground
Pia but we were making jumps

[patmoore 14]

Four and a half years later this thread is still alive. I did buy a domain to create a website devoted to defunct DZs but it'll probably be a year before I can retire and devote the time to it that it needs. When I do have it up and running I'll be looking for stories and photos. It should make for some interesting entries.

DZGone.com
B-4600, C-3615, D-1814, Gold Wings #326, Diamond Wings #152.

If you're not living on the edge, you're taking up too much room!

[jackwallace 3]

bravoniner

And, finally, does anybody have any info on the DZ that operated at Air City airport in Sturtevant, Wisconsin, in the early '60s? The primary jump ship was a tri-gear Howard DGA-15P flown (I think) by the late Steve Hay, Sr. [SEE photo]. Lowell Bachman, Jim Stoyas [SEE photo], and other early-day midwest luminaries jumped there.

I'm trying to collect whatever information, names, photos, paper, etc. I can regarding operations at this DZ before it's too late. I fear it already is, but ...

B9

There were two. The first pig farm and the second pig farm. They have an annual reunion. The airport is still there, sort of. They fly ultra lights out of it. It was a hell of a place. Connie O Rouke, Hank Ascutto and Jake the Snake Cramer having gun fights. Bud O'conner, Tom Larson and his dog NASA, Joe Dog and his dog, Dog, the sky diving dog.

U only make 2 jumps: the first one for some weird reason and the last one that you lived through. The rest are just filler.
scr 316

[bravoniner 0]

jackwallace

***And, finally, does anybody have any info on the DZ that operated at Air City airport in Sturtevant, Wisconsin, in the early '60s? The primary jump ship was a tri-gear Howard DGA-15P flown (I think) by the late Steve Hay, Sr. [SEE photo]. Lowell Bachman, Jim Stoyas [SEE photo], and other early-day midwest luminaries jumped there.

I'm trying to collect whatever information, names, photos, paper, etc. I can regarding operations at this DZ before it's too late. I fear it already is, but ...

B9

There were two. The first pig farm and the second pig farm. They have an annual reunion. The airport is still there, sort of. They fly ultra lights out of it. It was a hell of a place. Connie O Rouke, Hank Ascutto and Jake the Snake Cramer having gun fights. Bud O'conner, Tom Larson and his dog NASA, Joe Dog and his dog, Dog, the sky diving dog.

No, the Pig Farm(s) was/were different DZs. The Air City (Aero Sports) DZ was on an old airport between Sturtevant and Racine, WI, just off Highway 11. I know it was in operation in 1962, '63 and '64, and I think Leon Somers ran the show before he headed off to Camp Lake. The Air City airport was gone by the late '60s, turned into (what else?) a residential subdivision. But the local watering hole (the Airport Inn) and the main hanger seem to have survived.

B9

[bravoniner 0]

patmoore

Four and a half years later this thread is still alive. I did buy a domain to create a website devoted to defunct DZs but it'll probably be a year before I can retire and devote the time to it that it needs. When I do have it up and running I'll be looking for stories and photos. It should make for some interesting entries.

Good on you, Pat. Valuable info is disappearing (or at least getting blurrier) every day.

B9