goldwing

Seeing what females would do for a Herd T-shirt was always entertaining. Don't even want to think what the guys did for that shirt!!! You haven't lived until you've almost died"

Here's a few more patches from days gone by. Mostly military related. You haven't lived until you've almost died"

For you younger "Sky Puppies" out there, in the late 60's and early 70's the SCR, SCS etc patches were badges of honor particularly east of the Rockies. Here are some examples of patches from the old days......yes, I collect them when I find good ones. Particularly military parachute teams. If you got `em, show `em You haven't lived until you've almost died"

Probably an Air Force BA-22 type rig. Has been in use for decades. See attached image. You haven't lived until you've almost died"

Gordon Foster, who was the original Guardian has been a friend for almost 40 years. We were both Navy Riggers and were stationed at Kingsville, Texas. Did most of our jumping at Laredo at that time. In early 1969 Gordon made his original piggyback replica and jumped it. Things just went forward from there until 1976 when he had to sell the company. You haven't lived until you've almost died"

Anybody know if Guardian is still in existance? I know they were into so government stuff a while back. You haven't lived until you've almost died"

The anti-windblast handle was a standard reserve ripcord on the original CrossBow Piggyback rig if my memory serves me correct. As the article stated it was designed as a single direction pull and in a panic mode it killed too many people without the modification to make it uni-directional. Once modified there was a tendancy to loosen the tension on the clip and the ripcord either floated or caused premature activation of the reserve during a tight exit. Subsequently the easiest solution was to ban them entirely. You haven't lived until you've almost died"

The attached image is a Lodestar owned by a Wisconsin pilot in the mid to late 1970's. He owned and flew a C-182 primarily for the Sky Knights in East Troy, WI. As the demand for larger jump ships increased he bought this plane from Continental Can Company in Alaska. It had a gorgeous interior. It hurt him financially to ferry to longer paved runways that were required. He sold it about 1979/80 or so. Made several dozen jumps out of it with no problems. The pilot was well aware of the stall stories and always maintained good airspeed during exit. Don't know what became of it. You haven't lived until you've almost died"

I got these patches during my time with the Laredo Skydivers in 1968-69. Was a Navy rigger stationed in Kingsville and along with two of my shopmates made regular trips to Laredo to jump. They treated us great. Anyone remember? You haven't lived until you've almost died"

Saw your previous Larry Bagley post before submitting mine. My jumping era was 1968-1984 joining USPA in `68. You'd have to go back into some late 60's Parachutist Magazine to maybe check Norm Heaton's column about the design origin. I think thats where I saw the description. Thats the origin that came from USPA in those days and I'm sticking with it. You saw the Da Vinci design and the comparison is indisputable. Granted that logo hasn't been used for some time, but surely the PCA/USPA archives would have some documentation. You haven't lived until you've almost died"

The true no BS story IS the Da Vinci design guys & gals. Starting with PCA and going into original USPA logo. True, as the sport has evolved people will attach their own definition and the original design logic has been lost. Patche are still a big deal depending on your area of interest. You haven't lived until you've almost died"

USPA stated years ago that the triangular lines on the old PCA/USPA patch were derived from Da Vinci's parachute design sketches. If you see the sketch and cover the right half of the canopy you'll see it. You haven't lived until you've almost died"