Gypsy Moths Jump

[yjumpinoz 0]

I had the pleasure today to jump into a fly in at the airport Gypsy Moths was filmed at. I have made several jumps there, but this time I really thought about the history at the Benton Airport near Wichita Ks. I was also celebrating 24 years in the sport this weekend.

[DavidB 0]

Funny, I happened to walk into my brother's 3 or 4 days ago. He had Turner Classic Movies on & they had just started a 10 or 15 minute "filler" between movies about the skydiving stunts & filming of The Gypsy Moths. Fairly informative & fairly technical without information overload, along with being fairly entertaining.

When the only tool you have is a hammer, every problem looks like a nail.

[DENNISA 0]

Hay Marty, I was jumping there when they filmed it.

Dennis Anderson
D-2759

[yjumpinoz 0]

It looks a lot different now. One of our former test pilots bought it and has turned it into a country club. The runway is nearly a mile now. Lots of rich pilots and cool airplanes.

[flyboy6554 3]

Dennis, were you jumping when dinosaurs and pterodactyls roamed the earth??!!

[howardwhite 2]

That "filler" is on the DVD.
I first saw it, as a separate 16-mm movie, at a Lake Placid, NY, meet shortly before the Gypsy Moths came out in theaters. It was brought there by Jerry Rouillard, who was one of the jumpers in the film.

HW

[MakeItHappen 15]

Quote

That "filler" is on the DVD.
I first saw it, as a separate 16-mm movie, at a Lake Placid, NY, meet shortly before the Gypsy Moths came out in theaters. It was brought there by Jerry Rouillard, who was one of the jumpers in the film.

HW

Also on youtube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N--qHBEOEY8

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Make It Happen
Parachute History
DiveMaker

[airtwardo 6]

Quote

Hay Marty, I was jumping there when they filmed it.

Dennis Anderson
D-2759

I think I saw your name in the credits...what's a 'Wind Dummy' ?


Several years ago I was in a friends basement rigging some demo stuff...the movie came up in conversation, and my buddy pulled the original multi-cutaway rig out of a box.

It took me quite a while just to figure out how to get it all on, and I'm here to tell ya, the guy actually jumping it must of have had a huge brass pair clanking'!

~ If you choke a Smurf, what color does it turn? ~

[stratostar 5]

Garth Taggert, last I knew (5yrs ago) still owned the orginal red jumpsuit and black bat wings used in the film.

you can't pay for kids schoolin' with love of skydiving! ~ Airtwardo

[DENNISA 0]

Didn't see my name in the credits. I was a student at the time.

'Wind Dummy' That was the one that bounced in front of the bleachers.

D-2759

[dks13827 2]

I bought it from amazon dirt cheap. From 1969, and believe it or not, the filming would be hard to beat even today. Young jumpers can get a great idea of jumping in that era. The rest of us, well, it is great nostalgia. I noticed that the real jumpers in the movie ( and they are TERRIFIC jumpers, too ) are using ripcord stops. For you youngsters, that was a lead sinker on your ripcord cable that prevented the ripcord from coming out of the housing and getting lost, or dropped. More importantly, it provided a really great opportunity to have your reserve horseshoe on your steel ripcord handle, a problem from which numerous folks did NOT get out of !!!!! Enjoy the movie !!!I guess I should add.... Mike Harris, San Marcos, TX, in 1973 told me a first hand account of how Rick Burke, knowing that ripcord stops had killed numerous jumpers, insisted that he knew how to prevent that from happening to him. He was sadly wrong.

[azdiver 0]

seen the movie several times, got one ? did the opening make a noise anywhere close to those on movie. never even been anywhere close to a round in actual use so. i know the sound when a modern canopy is opening up, when its not mine of course. do they sound the same or did they actually have a pop to them? i know probably stupid ? but still instrested

light travels faster than sound, that's why some people appear to be bright until you hear them speak

[Milo 0]

Quote

seen the movie several times, got one ? did the opening make a noise anywhere close to those on movie. never even been anywhere close to a round in actual use so. i know the sound when a modern canopy is opening up, when its not mine of course. do they sound the same or did they actually have a pop to them? i know probably stupid ? but still instrested

I have the same question after watching the movie. Of course they were opening much lower than any skydive I have been on, so that may also have been a factor in how it sounds on the ground.

[airdvr 197]

No pop..at least not that I can recall

Please don't dent the planet.

Destinations by Roxanne

[JerryBaumchen 1,046]

Hi az,

No, PC's did not make that very short 'pop' that you mention. To me the sound of the openings in the movie sound like something they faked by using a hammer on a piece of wood with a towel around the wood piece.

They did make a much louder & longer 'crack' when they opened at terminal, virtually every time. It was interesting to watch a 4-way open ( hey, this was Cessnas only in those days ) and listen to all the booms.

IMO, the sound was/is much different than a ram air opening.

However the sound was very impressive because 1.1's make almost no noise upon opening at terminal; some noise but nothing compared to a PC.

JerryBaumchen

[azdiver 0]

was pretty sure the actual sound on movie wasnt real, thats why i was asking, so they did have some sort of loud openings, thanks

light travels faster than sound, that's why some people appear to be bright until you hear them speak

[jackwallace 3]

In the movie you buy do they have the truck jump?

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

[dks13827 2]

Rounds do have a sharp crack upon opening that everyone on the ground does hear. I dont remember hearing it during the jump, however. Of course, we were wearing motorcyle helmets !!!

[Douggarr 6]

I interviewed John Frankenheimer, the director, several years ago, and I told him that after The Train and The Manchurian Candidate, Gypsy Moths was my next favorite of his. I remember Parachutist doing a feature article on the stunt jumping for the film -- I think Rouillard or someone else broke a wrist on a hard landing (which made the final cut, if I recall). Frankenheimer relished the fact that Burt Lancaster insisted on making a jump himself -- the producers were against it for the obvious reason.

Still holds up today. Good movie, not great. But you gotta love the skydiving. Of course when Gene Hackman tells Burt not to be late for dinner when he jumps the cape, you know he's going in.

I had a rubber band ripcord stop on my main, btw, and as soon as I read about all the horseshoed reserves, promptly removed it.

SCR-442, SCS-202, CCR-870, SOS-1353

[vanair 0]

in 1981 I visited carl boenish at his home in calif. great movie night. he said the director had the sound guys create the opening noise.
van

[dks13827 2]

Doug, kudos for removing the ripcord stop !! way to go. Just curious, since I am a retired jumper.. do you like AAD, RSL, and steel reserve handle for yourself ? I would for myself !!! My 2 cents.

[dks13827 2]

the short video of how they filmed The Gypsy Moths.

these guys were good,,,,,,,,,, real good !!!!
A toast to all of you pioneer skydivers !!! Thank you.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N--qHBEOEY8&NR=1

[IEJuggalo 0]

...if anyone has NETFLIX, I was able to rent it a month ago. I love NetFlix.

[jumpwally 0]

I don't remember much of a "pop" but i do remember putting in about a pound of flour in many a unsuspecting jumpers canopy when they left the rig unattended....

smile, be nice, enjoy life
FB # - 1083

[OldMan 0]

I remember that from the ground you heard a pretty good crack when a PC opened at terminal but I never heard it when I opened.Sounds like you jumped at the same kind of DZ I did but not only did we put flour in some unsuspecting persons canopy we were known to throw in a couple of handsfull of pea gravel. In this day and time no one would see the humor in that.Probably get you thrown off the DZ.I miss the good old days.