SCS292

If people are shooting at you from the ground, a shorther canopy ride might be advisable.

I never figured out why they call it a near miss. Looks a lot like a near hit to me.

I jumped in V-Mills 11-21-71 and not again till 1-2-72. I only made one jump in December of '71 and that was in Angleton. Those were early jumps and I was just getting the feel of flying. Lots of RW Attempts but a few successes in getting in 2 or later. Spring of '72 is when it all came together and I was making good progress on my RW. You mentioned the A&M group and I was mentored by John Mincher in those days. He got me on the load for my 8-man at only 44 jumps. I wound up finishing college at A&M also but not till '79. I got my pilots license while I was there and wound up with multi-engine and instrument ratings. I also did a stint in balloons in the early 90's. Here is a picture of me from my passport in July '72 after living at V-Mills for several months. John Mincher has a great Valley Mills thread just in case you haven't seen it. Rick Johnson

Was that the "White Whale", Gary Lewis' twin Beech? I made 3 SL and first freefall out of that plane. Many memorable jumps from it after that. Gary loved to fly that plane and he was really good at it. You would never see a better buzz job.

Roanoke, that was it, thanks for jogging my memory. I was never asked for a license either but I was denied jumping one time in Beaumont because I wasn't a USPA member. It was shortly after I got my 8-man and wasn't a big deal because they didn't even have 3 other jumpers that did RW to make a Cessna load and I didn't unpack unless RW was involved. I had some WUFFO friends in Beaumont that wanted to see me jump so they had to come to V-Mills later. Sorry for hijacking the Seagoville thread.

Was Seagoville called Southwest Paracenter? If so, the first two jumps in my logbook were there. 8/1/71 & 8/7/71. I was never there, made my real first two jumps in Angleton. A friend gave me the logbook with two jumps already in it to allow him to jumpmaster me and avoid the $35 first jump course. I only had to pay $3 for each of his JM jumps. I remember him coaching me on what I remember as Seagoville but now all I remember is an antenna farm. Right place? Tom Bishop D-591 was forged for the first jump and maybe LF or LT Son C-5098 on the second. I guess my buddy was an OK JM. He had me in freefall on my 6th jump, first RW on 10th jump and SCR & SCS on 44th. I got lots of coaching from others at the DZ 'cause all we talked about back then was RW!

I love pictures of PCs. They make my heart beat faster.

Nothing gets the heart beating like a good twin Beech buzz job. Mike Mullins could sneak up on the Valley Mills DZ in his twin Beech from Austin and buzz it better than anyone. So low he had to lift the wing to clear the 55 gallon oil drum we had on a 4 foot stand. A twin Beech and a DC-3 needed lots of oil. Add a visiting twin Beech and you might need two barrels.

We used to prop the right engine of twin Beech at Valley Mills (The White Whale) when the battery died and there was no money for a new one. It usually only took 2 or 3 tries to get one going and then the second one had power to the starter. Gary Lewis knew how to sweet talk those radials.

I guess you had to be there.

In the round days we didn't have "packers" for sport jumping except for student rigs. The closer you were on the manifest the sloppier the pack job would get, including using your reserve to hold tension and just giving the whole thing a good shake instead of flaking. I packed a few student rigs for a dollar apiece in Galveston. A student had a nice streamer on one of my pack jobs that opened slowly resulting in a nice soft opening shock. I got fired from packing but tried hard to duplicate that pack job on my own rig. Sometimes my rig seemed to open a couple seconds before I pulled, straining me through the harness.

I used to think I was a real pilot too!

Well I’ll be.................. "It just dawned on me why Mayberry was so peaceful and quiet. Nobody was married. Here are the single people that come to mind. Andy, Aunt Bea, Barney, Floyd, Howard, Goober, Gomer, Sam, Ernest T Bass, the Darling family, Helen, Thelma Lou, and Clara In fact, the only one married was Otis and he stayed drunk.

I made a few jumps with Bill Newell in 1972 when he visited Valley Mills. I think he might be in the notorious category.

That whole recap was excellent. I especially liked the bit I quoted! Well written.

LOL

These are the only 2 patches I ever got. I guess the one on the right was my favorite because I feel like I really earned it although I got both on the same jump, my 44th. That was early at the time since we didn't have wind tunnels and my combined free fall time up till then was about 18 minutes. The 7 guys who jumped with me from 2 Cessnas at 10,500 were awesome to let a low time guy on the load. I was in a 6 man the weekend before and John Mincher vouched for me and there wasn't anybody else at the DZ with more experience. Spiderman also got his SCR on the same jump and he had a D license. The SCS patch is well worn and somewhat faded. I immediately sewed it on my jumpsuit and then moved it to my backpack when I hitchhiked from Houston to NYC and then all over Europe in 1972. I hoped having it on the back of my pack might connect me with other jumpers but no one ever recognized it. It didn't dawn on me till later that there were only 292 in the world at the time I got mine so not many folks out there knew what it was.

My number was 264. With the draft projection being 125 or so at my draft board, Dec 1, 1969 was my last day of classes for several years. It was a big weight lifted for me. Some of my friends weren't so lucky and the Texas Guard picked up quite a few new recruits.

That is a pretty picture! Wish I had one of my old PC.

I haven't verified this on Snopes, but it sounds legit. A recent study found that women who carry a little extra weight live longer than the men who mention it.

Arguing over a girl's bust size is like choosing between Molson, Heineken, Coors & Budweiser. Men may state their preferences, but will grab whatever is available.

Someone who was there should tell the stories from the Millican, TX DZ. Two interesting ones would be the tree removal from the runway and the killing of the neighbor's cow and Texas Ranger involvement. I never got tired of hearing those retold at the V-Mills DZ.

Is that true north or magnetic? Rick, Texas A&M class of '72

Spot on with the "bad" part.