RogerRamjet

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Does anyone know if there are any Freak Brothers in little old New Zealand???

Or am I gonna have to travel somewhere else to get initiated

Sorry, the database only has name and FB# in it, not current domicile.

Maybe you could start the "Sheep Brothers" over there.

Any chance of expanding the database to include address, phone, email, etc.? There are certainly a number of Freak Brothers I knew well that I'd love to drop a "Hello" to if I could find them...

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Hi Ramjet

Got and pictures of "Baby Face" Mr Booth from "back in the day".
R.i.P.

Sorry, I have very few pictures from my skydiving days at all and Bill isn't in any of them. Pam may have some. I don't think she has jumped in many years either, but she still lives in Tampa. Doubt if she has ever been on this forum, but if I can find her number, I'll give her a call.

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your plane losing a whole landing gear with jumpers and having to land at McDill (foam). Was that a tale, or did it really happen?

I remember reading the article in Parachutist, complete with pictures -- I'd say it was real. But I thought it was Tampa Bay skydivers (of course, that may have been Pop's plane). I remember the Tampa Bay because when I next went to visit my grandmother in Clearwater, I looked for the DZ in the phone book. Couldn't find it.

Wendy W.

Entirely possible, remember this was 30 years ago and I got it 2nd hand. Let's see, Tampa Bay Skydivers... I think that might have been the group at State Road 54 and I-75. There were only so many groups around the area at that time, Z-Hills (commercial center at the time), Riverview, SR54, and the Sod Farm near 301 in Tampa. Maybe another old-timer will remember the facts better.

It also makes sense because I think Pop and his operation are/were too far South for MCDill, he probably would have gone to Homestead AFB for foam landing.

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I jumped with Chris back in the '70s in Downsville (Near Hagerstown, MD.) We did some SCUBA, too. Anyone seen his old girlfriend Nancy Previti, Wheaton (MD) High Class of '67? If so, ask her to get in touch. Anyone know what prison Chris is in? I'd like to drop him a line.

I knew I knew Chris' name from somewhere, I jumped with him at Downsville in the mid 70's as well. Was there about a week on vacation. Small world...

I made a lot of jumps out of that plane...

Hey Pops, since this is scary stories thread, I heard one while I was jumping at Z-Hills in the 70's about your plane losing a whole landing gear with jumpers and having to land at McDill (foam). Was that a tale, or did it really happen?

Actually, those plactic ripcords freaked people out even then. Some would not buy the rig because of them. After a fatality at Casa Grande that was blamed on the plastic ripcord breaking, Bill changed over to traditional metal cable/pins for the reserve ripcord (we had already gone to the hand deploy for the main by then). I never got to see the official report or the rig from the accident, so I never was able to determine what really happened. I never believed that the ripcord broke on its own. You would not believe the torture tests Bill put that ripcord material through and it never broke in testing (ovens, freezers, constant bending back and forth, etc.). But, the fatality really had an effect on Bill and he didn't hesitate to make the change. I'm sure a fatality on one of his rigs was going to happen eventually, but I think the rig being blamed really hurt Bill. I know how he felt as I had a friend go in on one of my rigs a couple of years later...

It was actually a very nice setup, it's just that when we invented the hand deploy setup, it rendered it an antique instantly :)

The "Pin" was protected as you say, but the pin was just the end of the plastic ripcord, not a pin in the traditional swedged on type of thing...

Hmmm, do you want stories from Bill or about him...? I'm sure I could provide a little input since I was his first employee and built the first 100 or so Wonderhogs...

BTW, he had no beard when I met him or while I worked for him, that came much later. He was renting a room and a shop from Pam Tayon in Miami when I went to work for him.

I met him during a weekend in Deland, he was up from Miami showing his new rig. I was stunned when I saw it. I was jumping a Strong Piggyback which weighed 53lbs, his new rig was 22lbs! It was wedge shaped and had plastic rip cords and the pilot chute wrapped around the outside of the main container. We talked for a few minutes and I moved to Pam's house the following weekend.

If you start a stories thread for Bill, let me know and I will participate (if it's ok with Bill).

Chris,

Thank you for that! I was so shocked when I read about Roger's passing on this board. I read a lot of very nice postings about him, but yours really showed what kind of person Roger grew into over the years.

I met Roger (and Carl) in 1974 or 75 at Z-Hills where the manifester just naturally put Roger & Roger together on the load. He introduced himself and asked "hey, you want to do a pre-star on the way down?" We did, and then raced down to the growing star. When we got to the ground, I went over and said "Wow, you're the first person I haven't been able to outrun in a dive," to which he replied "I was going to say the same thing." Well, we made many more jumps (Carl too) during that meet and just seemed to hit of off (I think just about everyone hit if off with Roger). I was working for Bill Booth at the time, but soon went to work for Bill Buchman and flew up to Aurora with him bringing our L-18 Loadstar for the summer. Roger came over to our house (overtons airport it was called, a house with a 1500ft airstrip for a back yard) and made several jumps with me from Bill's Vagabond. We jumped at Hinkley mostly that summer, but also went over to two places in Michigan for record attempts (Carl took a great series of photos on one jump where Roger helped close the star back up after it broke on one side and was an East Coast record). We did a weekend at Southbend Indiana too where there were more malfunctions than any of us had ever seen (I packed 13 reserves Saturday and 15 Sunday). A few years later, I heard about Carl's death. I talked with Roger who had backed off jumping some, but he knew he was wasn't done. I have been thinking about a 30 year anniversary jump myself (July 1st, 1973 was my first) and had emailed Roger in April about the requirements since I hadn't jumped since about 1980. That was the last contact I had with him.

Roger was completely at ease in freefall, even back then. He had a complete sense of what was going on around him and instinctively knew what to do. I am so very glad to have known him and to have called him my friend. My heart goes out to Missy and Rook whom I have never met, but have been thinking about these past few days.

FB# 271

Well, I trained and jumpmastered for Dina Martin (Dean Martin's doughter) somewhere around 1974 at Z-Hills though I don't know if she's considered famous in her own right.

Worked for Bill Booth for the first hundred or so WonderHogs, he's famous now right?

Ok, in 1973 I wanted to jump. I was 20 and the legal age in Florida was 21. I went out to Z-Hills and got the waiver for my parents to sign. They said "Not a chance we're signing anything that let's you jump from a perfectly good airplane" (they had never seen a jump plane). On July 1st, 1973 the legal age in Florida dropped to 18 and it happenned to be a Sunday. I made my first jump that day.

My parents just said they hold their breath until the weekend is over. They finally came out and watched a jump when I had about 500. I'd have to say they dealt with it, but didn't really understand. Anytime there was a fatality where we (my older brother was jumping too) were that weekend, we called them right then before it got on the news so they would know it wasn't one of us. In 1000 jumps from 73 to 80, they only saw that one jump.

Today, I'm thinking of a 30 year anniversary jump at Z-Hills on July 1st. My Mom is only OK about it...

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Roger, give TK Hayes (DZM) a call at z-hills (1-800-404-9399). he'll fill you in on what you need to get back in the air...

arlo

Thanks Arlo, I intended to do just that and you have made it easy with a name and a number so I won't have to do a web search :)

"First off...I love you name...(thats is what I call all the new jumpers that I think need to slow down some) "

Thanks, I got the nickname due the speed I could dive at. I thought I was pretty fast until I got on Jim Hooper’s 10 man speed team. He put me ninth saying I was fast, but Steve Fugleburg was tenth and beat me into the star for six months until I "came up to speed."

After that, I felt I could outrun pretty much anybody until one day at a Thanksgiving meet, I found myself diving next to Roger Nelson and I couldn't get a lead on him. When we got to the ground, we became "fast" friends.

Nowadays, with everyone so comfortable standing on their heads, I'm sure pretty much everyone could outrun me :)

"We took a Lockheed L29 Loadstar (29 jumpers) up to Aurora IL."

Sorry, that should have been Lockheed L-18 Loadstar...

Hi everyone, I did all my jumping in the 70's and haven't jumped since 1980.

History:
1000 jumps, over 700 on squares (of the time, para plane, sled, cloud, and mostly StratoStar).

4 cutaways, 2 intentional on shot and a half capewells, 1 real on oneshot capewells, 1 intentional on 3-ring.

Accomplished relative worker, jumped with Deland and Z-hills (10, 16, and 20 man) winning teams in Turkey meets of the day.

Now:
Competative Water-skier (in other words, I'm fit).

I'm thinking about making a 30 year anniversary jump at Z-Hills where I made my first jump on July 1, 1973.

Questions:

What are my options? It seems Z-Hills offers static line and tandom at least.

1) Static line would be ok.
2) I'm not interested in a tandom jump.
3) Are buddy jumps (two jumpers on either side of the student) still available?

What else is required?

Thanks!

Guess I'll have to reply to myself since all the text I typed in for the quote on Amazon was somehow lost...

5 Cutaways on capewells!!! I looked at your number of jumps and this seems very high. Please tell me they were intentional?

I had three cutaways on capewells, 2 intentional with Shot and a half, 1 real (lineover on a C-9 round) with One-Shots.

An interesting note, I was wearing one of Booths early Wonderhogs (I worked for him back then, and he was just starting to work out the 3-ring system). The rig had one of the first hand-deploy pilot chutes (with the pouch on a belly band) and still had a plastic ripcord for the reserve (yes, I came down with the reserve ripcord, it was a case of beer if you didn't back then). Booth changed to a metal housing/ripcord system soon afterwards when we received word of a fatality in Casa Grande blamed on a broken ripcord.

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I know how to pack itWe are having a GREEN Meet at Snohomish, WA on May 10. We will be jumping the old gear ONly Rounds are allowed. You should bring it on up... we have several people who can teach you how to repack it... and I have 5 cutaways with Capewells.. I would be HAPPY to train you on thier use
Oh and yes I will be jumping in my old orange USAF Flight suit and Corcoran jump boots. I wish I still had my old Flight helmet to complete the "look" I even spitshined the jump boots so they look purty.

Amazon

Ok, I'll add one from the past (Z-Hills circa 1973). We were on jump run for a large rw load. As I lined up, I noticed the guy in front of me had a label on his reserve flap that read WARNING - EXPLOSIVE CUTTERS INSTALLED.

I might not have been as close to him on exit as usual....

Roger

Thanks for the invite Clay, don't think I'll be up Cleveland way anytime to soon though. When I left Bill Booth's shop in Miami, I went to work for Bill Buchman building his rigs. We took a Lockheed L29 Loadstar (29 jumpers) up to Aurora IL. for the summer and jumped at Hinkley. I was the first person to jump there with a StratoStar and all the locals were amazed at my 1 foot landings and the speed of the canapy. We took the plane over to Stergus (sp) MI for some East Coast record attempts where we set a new East Coast record of 32 (round star). We also jumped another spot in Michigan, but I can't remember the town (Maybe Roger Nelson will read this and remember). We went down to the Richmond Boogie that summer and also down to Southbend Indiana. Southbend had the worst air of anyplace I ever jumped. I packed no less than 15 reserves on Saturday and 13 on sunday and had some of the wierdest openings on my StratoStar ever! I made a few jumps at Hagerstown MD, Woodbine MD (where I was 8th in their first ever 8 man star), and a few jumps up at Rainbow WI. That about sums up were I've jumped. If I made one in Ohio, I don't remember it.

As for making another jump now, I wouldn't know what's required. I have no rating as there were none for RW or general jumping back then (just ratings for style as I recall). I did have a Senior riggers license and was a rated Jump Master. If I were to make another, it might be on my birthday (May 21st) when I will be 50.

I will be active on this forum as I try to find out what happened to some of my friends from the old days...

Roger

Hi Andrea,

I'm living in South Florida now (West Palm Beach). My primary sport is competitive water-skiing, haven't jumped since about 1980. I have been out to Pahookee just to see what has changed and I had heard Roger Nelson (A friend of mine from the 70's) might be there that weekend, but no show for him at least.

Yes, a lot has changed since I was active. There seem to be about as many fatalities a year, but now most are under open canapies. I sure couldn't swoop like these new canapies under my StratoStar, but I probably would have to have worked a little harder to kill myself too!

Automatic openers are much more prevalent now (good thing) and it's nice to see that virtually everyone uses some form of both the hand-deploy pilot chute and the three-ring release systems that came out of Booth's shop while I worked there. I've always felt those are the two most important contributions to the sport after the parachute itself.

Licensing is also now required as far as I can see and that concept just wasn't around when I was jumping. Rules for advancement back then were mostly on a drop-zone by drop-zone basis. I agree with the current system though, it's much more consistent and safer than anything we had then.

Of course most people are jumping from much more capable aircraft now too. I was lucky to be at Z-Hills where we had a 182, a 180, a C-47 (DC-3), and a L10E Lockheed (held 10 jumpers, similar to a "twin Beach."

I see posts here from Roger Nelson and Bill Booth and I'm sure there are others that I knew and will run across here as well.

Roger

Well, if your old enough and jumped at Deland then it would have to be "Dark Side of the Moon" by Pink Floyd played through the "Mister Douglas" DC-3 8-track system. Circa 1974-75

Roger "Ramjet" Clark

Hi all, I'm not as old as some, but older than most...

Jumping carreer: 1973-1980
Jumps: 1000
Primary DZ: Z-Hills
Ratings: There weren't any for relative work back then.

Claims to fame: Well, I'm not really famous, but
1) Senior rigger at Z-Hills from 73-75 (working for Master Rigger Jeff Searles/Owner)
2) 16th in first ever 16 man diamond (Deland)
3) 19th in first ever 20 man papillon (Z-Hills)
4) Worked for Bill Booth building the first 100 or so rigs before he was anybody.
5) Freakbrother #271

Happened on this site by accident, but I'm really enjoying the forums.

Roger "Ramjet" Clark

Wow, I can't believe that Arch still lives, much less that the old "I went in at 130 mph" fable is still around. I was jumping at Z-Hills back then and jumped with Arch from time to time. He had a very annoying habit of padding his jump log. I would see him maybe three or four times a summer while I was working at Z-Hills and jumping daily. I would make around 250 jumps in a year and he shows up with 900 jumps when I have 500 (we started about the same time in 1973). I asked him where he had been jumping and he replied "just here at Z-Hills." On a jump later that day, Arch was having trouble falling in a stable position....

As for his famous fall at Cypress Gardens, Pat Moore who was the weather man at the same TV station Arch worked at and had over 2000 jumps at the time witnessed the jump. He said Arch went into the orange grove at an estimated 45mph (certainly fast enough to cause those injuries). What Arch failed to tell anyone was that he had a malfunction on his main and only released one capewell, then (paniced) spent no time at all to release the other and went directly to the reserve which entagled with the main. Arch kept telling his managers at the TV station that he was going to go on the air and tell the world about his 130mph miracle so Pat told them what really happened. They warned Arch not to do it, but he did anyway. He was fired the next day. The next time I heard Arch on the air, it was doing traffic reports for one of the local radio stations.

I hate it when the media gets all their information from one source (like Arch himself in this case) without checking the facts...

Roger "Ramjet" Clark
Senior Rigger at Z-Hills from '73 to '75