RogerRamjet

Hi Mike, not sure why when you bought your rigs would dictate when either started making their rigs. When I left Booth to work for Buchmann and moved up to Aurora for the summer, there were a ton of Eagle rigs being jumped at Hinkley already, so he had been making rigs for a while before I got there. ----------------------- Roger "Ramjet" Clark FB# 271, SCR 3245, SCS 1519

While I worked for both "Bills," I have no idea who's rig was in service first. I never saw an Eagle rig before going to work for Buchmann, but his operation started in Ill while I lived and worked in Fla. I expect they both started pretty close to the same time, but have no way to know for sure. ----------------------- Roger "Ramjet" Clark FB# 271, SCR 3245, SCS 1519

I remember Suzie working at Booth's Relative Workshop (pre-uninsured days). I dealt with her on the phone ordering and tracking my rig. Great lady, always helpful. Here's a shot of her I took at the '77 Z-Hills Turkey Boogie.... Suzie "Hogback" was a nickname often used, as I recall. Yeah, that's Suzie alright. I started working for Bill Booth while he was renting from Pam Tayon in Miami. We used her converted garage to build the first 100 or so Wonderhogs. Bobby came on right around that time and just a bit later Silly started working there. The story I heard at the time was that Suzie showed up on Silly's doorstep and asked to move in (don't know if the girlfriend rating came then or after). She came to work for Booth also. I left shortly after to work for Bill Buchmann building his rigs. Not sure how many more rigs they built before the move. Booth then moved up to Deland and I believe all three went up with him. ----------------------- Roger "Ramjet" Clark FB# 271, SCR 3245, SCS 1519

Thanks for the update. Not really visualizing the final sail into Montana though Yeah, I miss both Roger and Carl and think of them from time to time. No skydiving gear left for me though. Made my last jumps out at the Sod Farm near Tampa finishing right at 1000. Didn't really plan to stop, just kinda went less and less. Got married too, no kids. Living in South Florida now in Lake Worth (West Palm Beach area). Current sport is competitive waterskiing. I've been up to Deland and Z-Hills a few times. Went to Z-Hills for Walter Lamdin's Sister's memorial jump. She was a jumper too, not sure if you knew her though (Jane Lambdin). Her daughter and some of her friends made tandems for the event. I took my camera for that and also there were several of us there from Hooper's 1975 Ten High Bunch speed star team. See this link for pictures I took: http://www.flickr.com/photos/16626901@N00/sets/72157623605573411/ Not long before that event, my wife and I went to London on vacation and Hooper came up for an evening. Hadn't seen him since the 70s, so great to get together and remember the great times we all had back in the day... Been up to Deland too. Carl Daugherty is still going strong and has offered to do a recert training and AFF jump with me for free. Bob offered the rental rig and ride up for free as well. Haven't done anything about it though. Haven't ruled it out yet either. I'd love to talk to you a bit. PM me a phone number and a good time and I'll give you a call if you're up for it. ----------------------- Roger "Ramjet" Clark FB# 271, SCR 3245, SCS 1519

Yeah, Mr. D had an 8 track, 8 speaker system. I preferred Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon myself for the run to altitude. I too remember the transition around 5k on the blowers... ----------------------- Roger "Ramjet" Clark FB# 271, SCR 3245, SCS 1519

Hi Bobby, funny thing is your name is spelled Grey in the Freakbrothers website. What the hell are you doing in Montana?!? ----------------------- Roger "Ramjet" Clark FB# 271, SCR 3245, SCS 1519

Did you ever fly the Deland "Mr. Douglas" DC-3? It also had 2 stage super chargers. Not sure what engines though. It was the fastest climbing DC-3 I jumped from. If you have indeed flown both, which is faster and by how much? ----------------------- Roger "Ramjet" Clark FB# 271, SCR 3245, SCS 1519

Hi Kim, great story. I believe George is residing and occasionally jumping at Z-Hills area these days. He's on facebook as well. ----------------------- Roger "Ramjet" Clark FB# 271, SCR 3245, SCS 1519

IMG won't work on this forum, here it is linked: http://i524.photobucket.com/albums/cc329/redfish443/2009_1214jacket0011.jpg ----------------------- Roger "Ramjet" Clark FB# 271, SCR 3245, SCS 1519

I don't know who was rigging. I do know that I took over as rigger shortly after I started jumping, but I don't know who I replaced. ----------------------- Roger "Ramjet" Clark FB# 271, SCR 3245, SCS 1519

Z-Hills July 1st, 1973. $40.00 FJC with static lined T-10s. I did get a certificate with that

I had both of those patches. Had the XX patch on my pop-top reserve. ----------------------- Roger "Ramjet" Clark FB# 271, SCR 3245, SCS 1519

I think Nick is right too though I didn't know there were tables in the back of the book... It was about time from exit altitude to 2000 feet (normal pack opening altitude for experienced jumpers at that time). 12,500 = 60, 10,500 = 50, 7500 = 30. And then there were the style guys and gals who went (at least at Z-Hills where I started) to 6600. Not sure what the time to opening was for them since they got into such a tight ball for the turn/loop sequences. ----------------------- Roger "Ramjet" Clark FB# 271, SCR 3245, SCS 1519

Ok, email is rogerbclark at bellsouth dot net Thanks! ----------------------- Roger "Ramjet" Clark FB# 271, SCR 3245, SCS 1519

If I'd known you were doing this, I would have come up this year! Count me in for next year

That's the Fast Harry I remember for sure! ----------------------- Roger "Ramjet" Clark FB# 271, SCR 3245, SCS 1519

Congratulations Pat! Proud to know you and tickled to death to find out I'm mentioned in "UWF." If you make to to Deland or Z-Hills, let me know and I will come up to say hi if possible! ----------------------- Roger "Ramjet" Clark FB# 271, SCR 3245, SCS 1519

So one day I'm sitting in Jeff Searles office and he is talking with Lou Howell about getting checked out in the 196. Lou already had tail dragger experience I believe in a 180 and might have been flying the L-10E by then also. Jeff: "Ok, just take it to the back runway and taxi up and down a bit to get the feel of it." Lou: "What about take off?" Jeff: "Take off is just a fast taxi." That was it. About a month later, Lou dropped a load at 12,500 from the 196 and when he began his decent, the oil pressure dropped to nothing. He shut down and performed a perfect dead stick. I suppose that incident completed his final checkout Other than finding the "training" humerous, I never really thought about it until reading recent incident threads where dead stick jumper pilots (from altitude) crashed short of the airport. Certain pilots just seemed to be more "on top of things" than others and Lou seemed to be one of those guys to me. Always felt comfortable with him at the controls... Since the pilots contributing to this thread are still with us, I have to assume you guys are part of the "on top of things" group as well! ----------------------- Roger "Ramjet" Clark FB# 271, SCR 3245, SCS 1519

There was another guy, Jim Whiting (I think) that I jumped with who was living at a University near Aurora. I remember Bill Buchmann taking the Loadstar somewhere one day and Jim and I hitched a ride and jumped into Jim's dorm. Surprised a few pedestrians when we touched down on the street at the campus. The good old days. Instructor rating. Hmmm, I trained and put students out at Z-Hills FL, Rainbow WI, Hinkley IL, Downsville MD, and probably others and never had a rating or even a license. 1000 jumps and I would not be able to do what an A license holder is allowed to right now ----------------------- Roger "Ramjet" Clark FB# 271, SCR 3245, SCS 1519

It's where I first met and jumped with Roger & Carl... Roger, Carl, Jim (Bohr), Red (Kostiba), Pat and Jan Works to name a few... ----------------------- Roger "Ramjet" Clark FB# 271, SCR 3245, SCS 1519

I have a lot of very good memories of Hinckley and it's jumpers... ----------------------- Roger "Ramjet" Clark FB# 271, SCR 3245, SCS 1519

Thanks for posting Richard; nice to get the scoop from someone who knows! Great seeing you last March for the Jane Lambdin memorial jump, hope to see you again soon. ----------------------- Roger "Ramjet" Clark FB# 271, SCR 3245, SCS 1519

Wow, I knew there were a handful of conversions, but wouldn't have bet two of them served at dropzones I've jumped at. Very cool. I sent a private message to Richard Porter on Facebook pointing him to this thread. If he responds there instead of here, I'll pass along whatever he has to offer. Just saw him ealier this year at the Jane Lamdin memorial jump along with about half the 1975 10 high bunch. See photos here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/16626901@N00/sets/72157623605573411/ ----------------------- Roger "Ramjet" Clark FB# 271, SCR 3245, SCS 1519

I didn't have the two aircraft confused if that's what you mean. N3878V was a 195, while the Z-Hills plane is a 196 (450hp engine conversion). I have a ton of jumps from the Z-Hills 196; fantastic aircraft for it's time. ----------------------- Roger "Ramjet" Clark FB# 271, SCR 3245, SCS 1519

Looks like Jef Searles on the far right who I believe owned Rainbow for a time (and Z-Hills). Si Fraser took over from him and that's who I worked for when putting students out there. ----------------------- Roger "Ramjet" Clark FB# 271, SCR 3245, SCS 1519