Going through the loft -- Oh what fun

[wmw999 2,171]

I'm helping a friend go through his loft right now; boy the memories
Susie Joerns' 28' flat circular, in a Piglet
A Starlite rig and main (I jumped one for a long time)
The old plastic Starlite ripcord, and its reinforced replacement (used those)
A Papillon (fixed one once)
Strato-Star, converted from ropes-n-rings to a slider (OK, no connection to that one)
Old pilot chutes -- I used an A3 with the spring taken out to make into a hand-deploy. It didn't work for very long
A Firefly (had one of those, too)
This is going to be a GREAT project!

It all smells skanky, obviously not everything is airworthy -- but dang, I feel real again

We haven't even hit the storage room

So -- what does everyone else have sitting around, just making memories?

Wendy P.

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)

[JohnRich 4]

Harness/container systems:
• Crossbow, 1960's
• Racer, 1982
• Racer, 1994

Chutes:
• Jayval 24' reserve, 1959, 1 jump
• Paracommander, red, white & blue, 1970
• Aqutron (2 of 'em), 5-cells with 14-chambers
• Viking Superlite, 1980
• National 26' Lopo, 1980, 2 jumps
• Eiff Classic (2 of 'em), 1996 & 2001
• Triathalon, 1998

I've had others along the way, but didn't keep 'em. For example, I've owned a couple of Parafoils, but blew 'em all up, and kept sending 'em back to the manufacturer.

Miscellaneous:
• Pointy-heel accuracy shoes
• Hot dog pilot chutes
• And a whole bag full of old parts and rigging stuff

[skybill 19]

Hi Wendy,
So what's just sitting around?? You would ask an old pack rat! Well, for starters,
an old MAR1943 "Fashion Frocks" 24' flat twill reserve! My old 1970 vintage Mini System copy that I made while I was in the Navy, a couple of old pack trays, my old 1976 Wonderpig and Black rainbow strato star (needs lines) a couple of old Jumpsuits, a 1983 V-7 Vector a bunch of old pilotchutes, a 26'Navy Conical (definitely ready to be tacked to the celing for display) boxes of old hardware, ripcords, packstiffiners, eyelets and you-name-it, boxes of old "Parachutist" going back to 1963!! Rigging gear and more rigging gear!! Photos!!!!!!!!!! a couple of boxes of webbing and various types of line and material and a flouresent bar light that says "BLUE SKYS" that Gene Paul gave me!! 'Cant forget a closet full of old Skydiving T-Shirts!!!!

SCR-2034, SCS-680

III%,
Deli-out

[lekstrom10k 0]

See if you have the "Keep on trackingT-Shirt" . The guy has Paraboots ,a 24 foot reserve hanging out in places, from early 70's. Did you ever get the original Richmond Boggie one? My damn wife through mine out because they were worn-out. Women cant comprehend they were worn-out because they were our favorites. Sure gald Hillary didnt get in office

[patmoore 14]

Susie Neumann's US team Papillon from the the early 70s is still in my garage. My ex-wife bought it from her way back when and somehow I wound up with it.

I had a huge collection of t shirts from the sixties and seventies but they were all lost in an apartment fire in 1994.

I still have about fifty issues of Parachutist, Sky Diver, and DZ USA from the sixties and seventies.

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!

[hardarch 1]

Oh yeah...the magazines...I got a few too.
Boxes of Parachutist from the 70's and early 80's...and Spotter magazine. The old Paragear and Relative Works catologs are a hoot to look thru now.

A Pacific Parasports black and gold jump suit (paid extra for the "bells")

Old Bell helmet with original Baush and Lombe goggles

Original Paraplane Cloud and Stratostar owners manuals.

"Patrick" boots from Paragear.

Sold all the rest of the gear for rent money back then.

Stupid me.

[skybill 19]

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See if you have the "Keep on trackingT-Shirt" . The guy has Paraboots ,a 24 foot reserve hanging out in places, from early 70's. Did you ever get the original Richmond Boggie one? My damn wife through mine out because they were worn-out. Women cant comprehend they were worn-out because they were our favorites. Sure gald Hillary didnt get in office

Hi strom,
Sorry, din't have the keep on trackin, have seen it though and the character was also on one of the SCR Stumbles shirts. Didn't make it to Richmond so I missed that one too. Got lots of old SoCal DZ shirts and Ghoulidge shirts and "Handcock Hotel New Years' eve Party" shirts!! 'Time for a Skydivein' Garage, no, make that a "Loft Sale!!"

SCR-2034, SCS-680

III%,
Deli-out

[fastphil 0]

Hi Wendy,

I cleaned out the back room last year and put an old gear bag out at the curb with a couple of Strato Flyers, a Starlite, an old silk canopy, an SST Racer and lots of memories. I guess it's all car covers for whoever picked it up (anything at the curb in my neighborhood gets picked thru)...

[davidlayne 5]

My neighbour has a loft full of antiquated gear. Perhaps 25 B4 containers and boxes full of hardware. We keep threatening to inventory it but never get round to it. We will one day!

I sold the majority of my "old" stuff on e bay. A couple of items I do still have that are of interest are.........

An "Aero Indicator" instrument panel for mounting on chest reserve.

A leather Vector serial #11251 D.O.M. 3/19/86.

I am led to believe that this container was built for Deanne Kent.

I don't care how many skydives you've got,
until you stepped into complete darkness at
800' wearing 95 lbs of equipment and 42 lbs
of parachute, son you are still a leg!

[Faicon9493 122]

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Harness/container systems:
• Crossbow, 1960's
• Racer, 1982
• Racer, 1994

Chutes:
• Jayval 24' reserve, 1959, 1 jump
• Paracommander, red, white & blue, 1970
• Aqutron (2 of 'em), 5-cells with 14-chambers
• Viking Superlite, 1980
• National 26' Lopo, 1980, 2 jumps
• Eiff Classic (2 of 'em), 1996 & 2001
• Triathalon, 1998

I've had others along the way, but didn't keep 'em. For example, I've owned a couple of Parafoils, but blew 'em all up, and kept sending 'em back to the manufacturer.

Miscellaneous:
• Pointy-heel accuracy shoes
• Hot dog pilot chutes
• And a whole bag full of old parts and rigging stuff

My 1st canopy was a Viking Superlite!

[AggieDave 6]

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A leather Vector serial #11251 D.O.M. 3/19/86.

I am led to believe that this container was built for Deanne Kent.

Pictures please. That is pretty interesting. Guess it would be a horrible pond rig.

--"When I die, may I be surrounded by scattered chrome and burning gasoline."

[JohnRich 4]

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My 1st canopy was a Viking Superlite!

My first ram-air canopy. It was a good one. Used by a lot of folks for accuracy back in those days. Mine suffered from ultra-violet degradation after a few years of packing outdoors in the sun, and an orange center cell shredded like tissue paper on me. So it's good only as a wall-hanging now.

[davidlayne 5]

Quote

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A leather Vector serial #11251 D.O.M. 3/19/86.

I am led to believe that this container was built for Deanne Kent.

Pictures please. That is pretty interesting. Guess it would be a horrible pond rig.

See attachment.

I don't care how many skydives you've got,
until you stepped into complete darkness at
800' wearing 95 lbs of equipment and 42 lbs
of parachute, son you are still a leg!

[pchapman 262]

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I cleaned out the back room last year and put an old gear bag out at the curb with a couple of Strato Flyers, a Starlite, an old silk canopy, an SST Racer and lots of memories.

NOOOOOOOO !!!!

Please everyone, don't throw things away, at least not before asking around among those that are into old gear.

Those in History & Trivia for a while should know there are those here who are into jumping old things. Sometimes we'll buy something for a modest fee, sometimes we get donations from people who want to see something jumped again... or at least safely stored in someone else's closet instead of taking up space. Pass it on!

I so would like to jump a silk canopy! Even if I have to chop it and not land it. Hell, even just to have one to do a few pull tests on, see what the strength is. The same applies to any 40+ year old 24 ft flat twill.

Ok, I'll admit, some old Racer just isn't in the age range of things that are so interesting. That's more just old, not antique.

Things like Pap's and PC's are still in some demand, as are odd things like dual keel Paradactyls (the single keels not so much.)

(Plug: I'm looking for one or two decent fore and aft harness containers at the moment, to hold a PC, something like a Mini System or extended flap military rig.)

As for old T-shirts, there was once a big thread on that, so if anyone takes photos of their old shirts, that's the place to upload them.

A couple times in the last year I tracked down people with interesting old gear... but the guys, retired from the sport, left it in the house when the ex-wife got the house. The gear either got tossed or is inaccessible.

So what do I have that's interesting but unused? There's a nicely padded Advance Air (Handbury) rig, in SOS configuration. And there's the ParaSled, which I haven't jumped yet because I haven't built a bag big enough to hold the thing.

[Amazon 7]

I soooo do not mind jumping all the myriad of old stuff I have... since I am old and decrepit too.

I do take it into the water though.. I do not mind a BIG SPLASH with my fat ass but it beats the hell out of the BIG THUD I made the last time I jumped a surplus military canopy and I met TERRA WAY TOO FIRMA


I do have one old round in there that is all white from 1953... I dont think I will jump that one

At least I have plenty of LPU's to do the water jumps and I have a LOT of water jumps.

I really should dig out all the Wonderhogs..with various 5 and 7 cell mains.. 3 pin and 4 pin rigs and all the round reserves as well as the Pap and Para Commanders MK1 and MKII. CHRIST I have a lot of stuff last time I was digging thru that stuff looking for a D bag with the split with velcro for someone to put an antique canopy in.

TOOOOO Much stuff.

[AggieDave 6]

Thank you. That's really interesting. Seems like a horrible idea, but I guess it worked good enough.

--"When I die, may I be surrounded by scattered chrome and burning gasoline."

[ZigZagMarquis 8]

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Thank you. That's really interesting. Seems like a horrible idea, but I guess it worked good enough.

Seems to me having a leather rig was somewhat of "the thing" to have amongst a niche "back in the day"... of course... I also remember the arguments over repack cycle... Oh, and before someone flames me, I'm not saying they were correct arguments, just arguments...




Anyway, my "old gear" collection is much more contemporary as compared to what most folks have posted about here. I've got several ragged out kill-line pilot chutes, a Vector 2 freebag and pilot chute and a blown-up Manta 288... it was the canopy I did my first static line jump on. I know that because it was all white with a Matilda Bay logo on it. Years after I did my first SL jump on it, it was still in use, but had finally blown up and the DZO / Rigger didn't want to bother fixing it, so it was on its way to the junk heap in the back of the loft there until I asked the DZO if I could have it; figured it would be cool to have. I'm sure there's others out there, but not many that have the canopy they did their first jump on.

[Beatnik 2]

Going off the top of my head here is what I have.

Crossbow H/C
Omega H/C
GS Trac II H/C
Sport Montreal H/C
Para-Twin H/C
B4 H/C
Top Secret H/C
Irvin H/C
Stevens H/C
Custom Montreal H/C
SST H/C
Pop-Top
Racer SST
Vector II
Wonderhog
MC4 complete rig
Para-Plane
Strato-Stars
Paracommanders
UT-15
Thunderbow
Delta IIs (US and Canadian models)
PZ-81
Paradactyl
Double Keel l Dactyl
Strato-Clouds
T10s
C9s
Skytrainer
Para-Sled
Para-Foil w/ spider slider (5 and 7 cell versions)
Cobra
Lancer
Papillon (French and US)
A few prototype canopies

This is about half of it. I will have to dig through it all to find out all what I have.

[mjosparky 3]

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my old 1976 Wonderpig and Black rainbow strato star (needs lines)

You mean this old Wonderhog?

My idea of a fair fight is clubbing baby seals

[skybill 19]

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my old 1976 Wonderpig and Black rainbow strato star (needs lines)

You mean this old Wonderhog?

Hi Sparky,
Those were the daze, 'Don't remember the exact dive but it had to be the late 70's. Got my first frap hat right after the 64-Way. Sure were some fun times.

SCR-2034, SCS-680

III%,
Deli-out