Camp Lake Wisconsin

[captain1976 0]

Can anyone share any and all info about Camp Lake Wisconsin (just over the Illinois border)?

I keep my airplane there and I built its hanger (2001) on the old pea gravel pit because it made a nice foundation base. There is a (long) packing table in the old hangers but its been buried for many years.

I understand Roger Nelson and his brother Carl made their first jumps there, but thats all I know about it as I jumped at Hebron Airport in Illinois in the old days.

You live more in the few minutes of skydiving than many people live in their lifetime

[lodestar 0]

Can't say that I remember that DZ but it's possible....I was back and forth between Milwaukee (Rainbow) and Bong AFB and Chicago in the late sixties, there were a few small DZ's in the area but dont' remember right now what they were...both were very close to the interstate just over the border and may have been the one you are trying to find....I'll put some thought into those and see if the brain remembers names...sometimes it takes awhile...

[Faicon9493 114]

I remember Hebron! They had a AN-2. It was a comfortable ride but very slow getting to altitude.

[lekstrom10k 0]

I first met Roger and Carl at Hinckley in1972 when Jim had Otters come from St. Louis. I thought they might have started there. Learn something every day.

[captain1976 0]

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I remember Hebron! They had a AN-2. It was a comfortable ride but very slow getting to altitude.

Yeah, I used to fly it. Th AN-2 which was great for putting out a bunch of static line students but the damn thing quit climbing at 4K

You live more in the few minutes of skydiving than many people live in their lifetime

[captain1976 0]

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I first met Roger and Carl at Hinckley in1972 when Jim had Otters come from St. Louis. I thought they might have started there. Learn something every day.

I recall reading a book that I think was written by Nelson where he told the story of his Father taking him and his brother to Camp Lake for their first jump course. Thats all I really know. An old jump friend told me today that they think the guy who ran Camp Lake Skydivers was named Leon Summers.

You live more in the few minutes of skydiving than many people live in their lifetime

[trebilco 0]

Leon did own the drop zone. It was a student mill in the 70's. It was called the Pig Farm. Most jumpers moved on to DZ's that focused on RW. East Troy, Rainbow, Hinkley and Chicago Hammond.

[lodestar 0]

Aaah, of course....the pig farm.....I remember that for sure...

[AeroPark 0]

The Pig Farm was in Bristol, Wisconsin just South of Kenosha as I remember it. Mostly a student mill, however, we used to jump there with a rotating 4-way competition - East Troy, Pig Farm, 7-Hills, Wisconsin Skydivers and I think another drop zone. This was sometime in the mid-80's. They had a Beaver that climbed real slow and you could carry on a conversation with the team that was on the step while your team was still inside...

Camp Lake - that is where one of the guys that jumped at East Troy used to live. I remember when I was on student status and all the student gear was stolen from East Troy. Mark, Gene & I drove out there to borrow some old army gear that I had to jump with to keep on making student jumps. I made one or two jumps with that gear and thought I was going to die for sure. We were so spoiled with the pop top reserves and smaller containers that held our PC's.

I can't remember his name for the life of me, but he was very short and later on had a stroke, but still came out to watch us skydive....someone out there knows who I am trying to remember! Help!

Jeanne

[jackwallace 3]

Aeropark
I think you are thinking of Gabor. What a guy.
The pig farm was full of good people. Hank Asutto and Jake Cramer, NASA, Joe Dog and his dog: Dog. I think Stoya's jumped there and Conny O'rourk.
THen the place closed and most of them moved over to the place on Q (I think) then that place closed and became a untra light field.
THis could all be wrong though, the 70 were hard on my brain.

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

[lodestar 0]

Hey Jack,
Hank, Jake, Joe Dog+dog and Ben Laycsak and myself all were there at one time, we moved out to Bong AFB just west of Kenosha and were operating out of a farmhouse flying a 180 leased from a guy in Chicago.
Jim Stoyas and his main squeeze Helene Tozier were also around the Pig Farm, we drug Barb Prouty along with us and a few of her friends made first jumps at Bong...a guy named Mike Dollard as well. Most of us had been jumping/flying at Rainbow and it was just closer to get to Bong, we converted a chicken coop into a packing area and slept in there at night on the tables. Our local bar was the Mars Cheese Castle out on the interstate.
Our runway was a tree lined lane that eventually opened up onto the open area, I can remember taking off and seeing trees about ten feet off each wingtip till you got in the clear.
Fun days for sure..
I remember Stoyas slamming into the roof of the barn at the PigFarm and sliding off, hitting the roof of an attached lean to shed and hitting the ground, groaning, "My leg, my leg, oohhh, my arm" neither of which were broken but severely bruised, he was trying to avoid the power lines on the road next to the farm.

[indyz 1]

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I think you are thinking of Gabor. What a guy.

Just a note, Gabe passed away in December 2008. At the time he was still dropping by East Troy semi-regularly to watch the jumpers and tell stories.

[captain1976 0]

Wow, glad to see I'm not the only one around (they're dropping like flies) from that era and thanks everyone for the memories.

I also jumped at Pigfarm in Bristol (Run by Rich Winfield and Frank ??? long Polish name. I lived about 3 doors down from Frank and would visit him often. I speak with Rich on occasion and he lives in Missouri.

Made a few in the 70's at East Troy and of course Hebron was my home base as I operated it from 74 to 76, but jumped there before and after until it closed in 1985.

I even made a few at Rainbow Airport in Franklin, WI and I think it was managed for a larger company out east by a guy named Bob Young. We used a Cessna 195 there.

Jim Stoyas floated around several DZ's but made Heborn his home in the early 80's as he is the one who purchased our AN-2.
His last jump at Hebron in 1982 was a real tragedy (I was the pilot) and Gabe did pass away last year. I jump now at East Troy in the Summer and he was a regular spectator in his final years (I think he was a stroke victim).

Any other memories? keep 'em coming.

You live more in the few minutes of skydiving than many people live in their lifetime

[AeroPark 0]

Thanks, Jack! Gabe was such a great guy. I made quite a few jumps at Bristol Pig farm in the early to mid 80's. Took my JM certification there, too. I remember Barney and a couple other guys (whose names escape me right now) as well as Laurie and many others.

Jeanne

[jackwallace 3]

Tuna, you remember one winter we jumped at Bong. Made Pirate hold the card board up for the door on the beach with his wooden leg and packed in the terminal at Kenosha airport?

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

[lodestar 0]

Nope, can't really say I remember that particular one....I left for zhills in may of 69 so it may have been after that....
I do remember though, Laycsak, Hank and myself making up pipe bombs with reloading powder and trying to blow holes in those big tanks on the north side of the field. We also were into guns and did quite a bit of shooting around there in the off times.
Ben laycsak, Donley, Hank and Joe dog somehow got wind of some national guard training going on and replete with face camo and loaded weapons took it upon ourselves to do a counter action and try and capture a few of them...it turned into a mexican standoff with all of us retreating with our nuts intact, all but Dollard who had the misfortune to end up hitchhiking back to the farm and got picked up by a sheriff who had responded to the Nat. Guards call of armed assailants....as I recall, the next day we were visited by the local gendarms and questioned but we just denied everything and because none of the guard had a good look at us, we got away with it.....we did remain chaste for the next few weeks though....

[captain1976 0]

I do remember though, Laycsak, Hank and myself making up pipe bombs with reloading powder and trying to blow holes in those big tanks on the north side of the field. We also were into guns and did quite a bit of shooting around there in the off times.
Ben laycsak, Donley, Hank and Joe dog somehow got wind of some national guard training going on and replete with face camo and loaded weapons took it upon ourselves to do a counter action and try and capture a few of them...it turned into a mexican standoff with all of us retreating with our nuts intact, all but Dollard who had the misfortune to end up hitchhiking back to the farm and got picked up by a sheriff who had responded to the Nat. Guards call of armed assailants....as I recall, the next day we were visited by the local gendarms and questioned but we just denied everything and because none of the guard had a good look at us, we got away with it.....we did remain chaste for the next few weeks though....

[GENERICJOHNSON 0]

Frank - mighta been Polish, but signed my logbook with Russian-spelled name, "Trkovsky", and I learned a lot of rigging from him, . . . and, of course, from Master FU, Steve Givens, bless that man for his patience. Could go on & on with names - this trip all started for me in Fedo's basement, Bob Federman that is. I'd really like to know what happened to all those wonderful players - some Hinckley, some PigFarmers, some Hebronites -> Works, Bohr, Bomber (Baum), Dirty Mary, Rick Hill, Barney, Hot Dog, Capt Ziglo, Scum Peplinski, Major Bruce Long, and baseman Carl Shepard. If have info, lemme know, tx.

[jackwallace 3]

Bohr's dead, shot himself accidentally. Fedo is around Rockford area. Pat posts on http://www.facebook.com/groups/28649069239/

Thats facebook: Oldschoolskydiving.
He just put a big story on about Hinkley. Some pics on there of Givens, Bohr , Helen at Rainbow sitting on the 196. If you page back a few days.
Do the names, stories. That's what this is for. Otherwise it gets lost forever.

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

[captain1976 0]

Found a picture I took of Fu Givens with Rick Olchovik at the Pig Farm reunion in 1992. Rick was killed 2 months later in the Hinkley crash

You live more in the few minutes of skydiving than many people live in their lifetime

[Bobber95 0]

In 1977 I made my #2 and #3 static lines there at Bristol. I remember there was a diner there and I had a t-shirt that had a pic of a pig in free fall saod Pig Farm #2 Bristol, WI, I wore it for yrs, just found a pic of me wearing it last week. The reason I found this site.

[threecats407 0]

Dragging up an ancient thread. I was cleaning out a desk drawer and ran into my lowly 25 jump career logbook all made at Bristol. Names that are gone now that signed that log book. Maybe more that I don't know of.
Bud O'Conner
Rick O.

Have some names I can kind of make out and wonder if any are still making jumps. Phil Coe, Larry Lattish?, W. Lesjak?, Jeffery Rich, others I can't read all from 82 and 83.

So odd that my first and last jumps had Bud as my jump master. I wonder if that Beaver is still flying?

[captain1976 0]

threecats407

Dragging up an ancient thread. I was cleaning out a desk drawer and ran into my lowly 25 jump career logbook all made at Bristol. Names that are gone now that signed that log book. Maybe more that I don't know of.
Bud O'Conner
Rick O.

Have some names I can kind of make out and wonder if any are still making jumps. Phil Coe, Larry Lattish?, W. Lesjak?, Jeffery Rich, others I can't read all from 82 and 83.

So odd that my first and last jumps had Bud as my jump master. I wonder if that Beaver is still flying?

Hey, Bill Lesjak still jumps and shows up at East Troy on occasion but not sure about the rest. We lost Rick O in '92 from the Beech crash at Hinkley and I think Bud was around 83 in Sandwich from a freefall collision with John T.

You live more in the few minutes of skydiving than many people live in their lifetime

[threecats407 0]

captain1976

***Dragging up an ancient thread. I was cleaning out a desk drawer and ran into my lowly 25 jump career logbook all made at Bristol. Names that are gone now that signed that log book. Maybe more that I don't know of.
Bud O'Conner
Rick O.

Have some names I can kind of make out and wonder if any are still making jumps. Phil Coe, Larry Lattish?, W. Lesjak?, Jeffery Rich, others I can't read all from 82 and 83.

So odd that my first and last jumps had Bud as my jump master. I wonder if that Beaver is still flying?

Hey, Bill Lesjak still jumps and shows up at East Troy on occasion but not sure about the rest. We lost Rick O in '92 from the Beech crash at Hinkley and I think Bud was around 83 in Sandwich from a freefall collision with John T.

Thanks! I believe tandem was just beginning when I was going to Bristol. Bud had begun taking the course and offered to take me as a rider at some point when he finished it. He jump mastered me on my last jump and I quit shortly after. Went to his service after the fall.

Bill Lesjak put me out a couple times at least. Thanks again

[mauijim54 0]

I spent 4 years, 1976, 77, 78 and 79 jumping regularly at the Pig Farm in Bristol. When I quit in 80 I sold my rig to Ramy Winfield, I believe he had just turned 16 in 79 and had started jumping. Bud was my instructor for my first static line jump. It was a great place to hang out. I remember Fu, Jimmy Olsen, Frank, Rich, Rick, Rocky, Joe Neary, John Cullerton, Mike (Hot Dog), Lynne Thomas, Kathy Proctor and Steve, Tom Sandberg, Kevin. I have wonderful memories of that time and feel bad that I lost touch with everyone. I think about them often.