gary0302

As some of you may already know, this Lockheed 10E Electra is now in Atchison KS (Amelia Earhart's birthplace). The Atchison Amelia Earhart Foundation has plans to build a 1930's style hangar/museum to be part of the terminal at the Atchison airport. The 10E, now known as Muriel, will be on display to the public on Saturday, July 15, 2017: https://atchisonameliaearhartfoundation.org/2017/06/13/muriel-viewing-festival-weekend/ Gary David Holbrook on Facebook/YouTube, D-5857, SCS 3657, NSCR 1219, Former S/L Instructor, Former Wizards 4-way RW, Former SE Conference Judge

Correction, my listed email address should have been [email protected], or [email protected]. Gary David Holbrook on Facebook/YouTube, D-5857, SCS 3657, NSCR 1219, Former S/L Instructor, Former Wizards 4-way RW, Former SE Conference Judge

Hi Jeff, I called USPA about this quite awhile back, and then again more recently. I was told both times that they do not have archived video of the 1979 Nationals. I am hoping that someone else has footage, but to be honest, I am not holding my breath. But hey, it never hurts to ask. Gary David Holbrook on Facebook/YouTube, D-5857, SCS 3657, NSCR 1219, Former S/L Instructor, Former Wizards 4-way RW, Former SE Conference Judge

For those that are not aware, Bill Mathews passed away in Fayetteville NC on February 23, 2014. Personally, I only knew Bill while jumping at Raeford back in the late 1970's. However, I am sure that there are those who knew him not only as a sport jumper, but also throughout his military career in Special Forces and as both an Instructor and Master Rigger on the US Army HALO Committee. Bill was never one to try to be anyone's best buddy, it was not in his personality; he was the epitome of the "put up or shut up" kind-of-guy. I considered Bill to be a good friend, and I continue to respect his contributions and efforts both within the US military and the sport skydiving community. http://www.fayobserver.com/obituaries/william-e-mathews-jr/article_fa750a86-cad4-5263-b2a0-143b792715e9.html Bill can be seen in the middle of the attached photo as we jumped Raeford's Lockheed 10E, one of the shots taken by Andy Keech for his hard cover book Skies Call II. Rest in peace, my friend. Gary David Holbrook on Facebook/YouTube, D-5857, SCS 3657, NSCR 1219, Former S/L Instructor, Former Wizards 4-way RW, Former SE Conference Judge

Gary David Holbrook on Facebook/YouTube, D-5857, SCS 3657, NSCR 1219, Former S/L Instructor, Former Wizards 4-way RW, Former SE Conference Judge

Update on the Lockheed 10 E Electra, c/n 1042, seen in the photo of the original post on this thread. This 10E, currently the only one in existence, was completely restored by Grace McGuire. Her original intentions were to attempt to complete Amelia Earhart’s round-the-world flight, but health issues (Lyme Disease) prevented her from bringing her desire to reality. As of today, August 18, 2016, the 10E is actually being shipped from El Cajon CA to Atchison, KS to be part of a new updated museum that is being built for Amelia Earhart (Atchison is her birthplace). Once the new museum is built, the 10E is expected to be one of the feature displays. This 10E was used as jump ship back in the 1970’s with bases in Zephyrhills FL, Barnwell SC and Raeford NC. It was also featured on the cover and inside of Andy Keech’s Skies Call II. For those with accounts on Facebook, her journey can be followed here: https://www.facebook.com/murielsjourney/?fref=ts Also, in response to some of the other posts in this thread; the 10E was certainly larger that a typical Beech 18. At Raeford, we were occasionally jumping 16-ways out of it, and if memory serves me right, there were times where we had close to 20 jumpers on board. Gary David Holbrook on Facebook/YouTube, D-5857, SCS 3657, NSCR 1219, Former S/L Instructor, Former Wizards 4-way RW, Former SE Conference Judge

I know the chances may be very slim, but is there anyone out there that has a copy of the competition RW video from the 1979 USPA Nationals that was held in Richmond, IN? I am specifically looking for 4-way Sequential, but 10-way Speed would also be good too. Gary David Holbrook on Facebook/YouTube, D-5857, SCS 3657, NSCR 1219, Former S/L Instructor, Former Wizards 4-way RW, Former SE Conference Judge

I am not sure how this particular episode will translate into a story, and hopefully it will help that I have a few eye-in-the-sky photos to get my point across. This adventure started out at a nearby crop dusting operation, located in Eastover, North Carolina on April 27th, 1980. A few of the pilots that worked for this company also were occasional jump pilots out at our home drop zone in Raeford, NC, so we were very comfortable with their experience and abilities. Our main purpose was to get not only plane-to-plane photos, but also to have camera-mounted shots from different angles during craw out and exit. Andy Keech (as some of you may know, one of the best known skydive photographers in the world at the time) was invited down to coordinate these jumps, in hopes that he would get some usable material for the next volume of his “Skies Call” book series. He had visited our drop zone before to take photos of our Lockheed 10-E for his prior edition of “Skies Call 2”, so we already had a relatively good working relationship. To our knowledge, this particular kind of situation (jumpers on all 4 wingtips) had not been documented, or even attempted before. We had previously jumped this aircraft once before, and we decided that it could provide for some dramatic photo opportunities. In order to prepare the aircraft for these attempts, motor-driven cameras were mounted on the tail, and on the left wingtip (with the help of a mounting bar to get the camera lens away from the edge of the wing, and up on a higher angle of viewing). Our seating arrangements involved emptying and completely steam cleaning out the chemical hopper located just in front of the pilot, so that we would be able to squeeze our 4 contorted bodies in to the tiny space available. Once the actual exit sequence started, the pilot would activate the tail-mounted camera, and once we were all in position, I would switch on the left wing-mounted camera. We made a series of jumps with variations of our positions on the wings, photos can be seen below. Unfortunately, one of our attempts did not pan out quite as we had expected. The plan was to capture a photo of Phil Rogge (on the upper left wingtip) and myself (on the lower left wingtip) in a dive-type of an exit in the foreground, along with Dave Mangis and Ed Christy with grips and performing a side-by-side back-loop in the background off of the upper-right wingtip. In order to accomplish this, we tried to work out a visual exit command, starting on a hand signal that I was to control. Once we were in position, I was to hang out from underneath of the lower wingtip (so that Dave and Ed could see me) wave my right hand in one downward swoop, and we were all to start a 3 second count sequence (one thousand one, one thousand two, etc……..) This delay was supposed to accomplish 2 things: it was to give Dave and Ed time to stand up off of the wing to be in position to exit in a back-loop, and it was also to give me time to get myself back under the upper left wing, so that I could re-establish a better grip and a position for my part of the exit. My good buddy Phil (either in his excitement or a total misunderstanding of the count sequence) came off the upper left wing almost immediately after I gave the signal, way before I had a chance to regain a solid grip. Because he left out-of-sequence, and because of the flight characteristics of the crop duster, the left side of the plane rose quickly, causing me to buckle at the base of the wing support with my half-hearted hold on the wing brace. Now normally on most airplanes, this would be no big deal at all; I would have just let go and slide off of the back of the wing. But no, not in this case! My left leg had slipped down to the actual control surface, and my foot was in danger of slipping down in between the control surface (which, as you probably know, causes the plane to turn), and the spray piping system used to distribute the chemicals during crop dusting operations. Can you say possible plane crash? If my leg would have gotten lodged between the wing and the spray pipe in this manner, the plane would have gone into a very unwanted roll, with no way that I know of to correct it. The crop duster, possibly the pilot (he was wearing an emergency rig), and I would have been scattered across the patchwork countryside of eastern North Carolina, and of course I did not want that to happen. So there I was, kicking my leg frantically in a feeble attempt to keep my foot from the deadly gap between the spray pipe and the control surface of the wing. I also attempted to pull myself a little farther up towards the front of the wing. Finally, I was able to somehow get to my hands and knees, and I leapfrogged like a scared rabbit over the trailing edge of the wing and spray pipe. I was so glad to be in freefall again; I was back home, so to speak. I can’t even remember where I actually landed, but I know that because of the delay in my exit, it took me awhile to get back to the landing strip; I probably had to bum a ride with some farmhand driving down one of the local backroads. Needless to say, once I got back, I had a very animated conversation with Phil and the rest of the group. Gary David Holbrook on Facebook/YouTube, D-5857, SCS 3657, NSCR 1219, Former S/L Instructor, Former Wizards 4-way RW, Former SE Conference Judge

Hi propblast, I think it would be also good to add that the canopy should be given time to settle down after any types of turns or corrections. Here is a link to a video showing a typical stand up landing under a Piglet II using rear risers. You can see that the risers are pulled down relatively quickly; go to just before 4:58 on the video. There are other examples of stand up landings on the video, but it's more difficult to see what actions the jumpers took in order to be successful; decent examples of PLFs too. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zT50OdOwAXE Gary David Holbrook on Facebook/YouTube, D-5857, SCS 3657, NSCR 1219, Former S/L Instructor, Former Wizards 4-way RW, Former SE Conference Judge

I was hoping to get this point of view from another perspective, but this is what happened from my end: Before leaving for Z-Hills for my very first large boogie of this kind, I only had 271 jumps, with a successful 5 way round being the largest load I had ever been on. All of my jumps beforehand had either been out of a Cessna 172, 180, 182, or 207. So, my buddies and I got to Z-Hills to experience a world that we had only read about in Parachutist magazine. At the time I was jumping a 28’ 7TU that had been shortlined and gutted, which I was stuffing in a Jumpshack SST. For all practical purposes, our group from NC was in absolute heaven and we soaked up every minute of it. I ended up making a total of 9 jumps that weekend, with the very first one building to 8 skydivers; hell yes baby! The weekend was just about over, and the group that was trying to build a 40-way box decided to make one final attempt before the sun set and the meet was over. It was announced that there need to be more skydivers needed to fill the DC-3 before takeoff, so our group of 9 jumped on board with another smaller group. The DC-3 was to be in the lead, with the Lodestar as trail aircraft. Obviously, being in the same plane with what I knew to be some of the world’s finest skydivers was pretty overwhelming, but our group tried to keep a low profile to the best of our abilities. I did remember one comment; “do the guys in the Lodestar know that we are making 2 passes before our exit?” Others in their group just blew it off and continued to focus on the task at hand. Each group had its own separate pass; our group of 9 exiting second. Once our jump run started and knowing that this would be my last jump out of a big plane for quite some time, I tried my best to concentrate on what we had planned. I can’t specifically remember what sequence of formations we had hoped to accomplish, but it started with a 9 way round. Our exit was relatively good and our round began to build one by one. The next thing I knew, the sky was filled with people! The jumpers in the Lodestar apparently had been misinformed, and they thought that our pass contained their group. I can’t know for sure what was actually going through their minds at that moment, but I can imagine that they were highly pissed. But, skydivers do what they do; they make formations larger. Our original 9 way round started growing bigger and bigger, and bigger. At one point, the round started to waffle, and just after a grip was dropped, another one on the other side broke as well, and before I knew it, each group had closed the gaps and created 2 separate rounds. It goes without saying that I was so stoked that I felt like I was in a dream. But then, reality set in; it was breakoff time and I needed to track my butt off in order to make sure I was clear. I remember turning towards the city of Zephyrhills and tracking as hard as I could at least down to 2000’ or so, hoping for the best. After landing, our group had to discreetly celebrate, because the other jumpers were extremely unhappy; both those in the Lodestar and DC-3. Arguments were still taking place a little later when we went to the main building for the last time for that weekend. Too bad for them; very, very cool for us. It wasn’t until I got back to NC that it dawned on me that I could have registered for my SCR that weekend, but oh well; win some lose some. Gary David Holbrook on Facebook/YouTube, D-5857, SCS 3657, NSCR 1219, Former S/L Instructor, Former Wizards 4-way RW, Former SE Conference Judge

I realize that this thread is super old, but I do have a few images to add to the conversation. At the time these photos were taken, the only canopy that I owned was a shortlined 28" 7TU (packed in a bag and stuffed in a Jumpshack SST), but I did borrow a Piglet II to skydive into East Carolina University's homecoming game during the fall of 1976. I remember having to make a relatively low turn before landing; the canopy did not have quite enough time to recover before I ended up on my butt. Other jumpers that were on the jump used an assortment of canopies; Piglet 23, 2 Stratostars, and a Paraplane. The jumper under the Stratostar is Jamie Guin. If you want to see how the canopy landed under normal circumstances, click on this link and go to 4:58, I am jumping the same canopy at the dropzone that was located in Mt. Olive, NC. I probably weighed 155-160 at the time. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zT50OdOwAXE Gary David Holbrook on Facebook/YouTube, D-5857, SCS 3657, NSCR 1219, Former S/L Instructor, Former Wizards 4-way RW, Former SE Conference Judge

Is there anyone out there that participated in the last 40-way attempt that took place at the 1977 Easter Meet at Z-Hills? I am particularly looking for anyone that exited the Lockheed Lodestar, which was the trail plane for that particular attempt. This jump took place at sunset on that Sunday afternoon, and was billed as a world record attempt. Something unique happened on this jump, and I would be interested in getting someone else's perspective. Thanks. Gary David Holbrook on Facebook/YouTube, D-5857, SCS 3657, NSCR 1219, Former S/L Instructor, Former Wizards 4-way RW, Former SE Conference Judge

Received copy today in great condition, thanks drjump and to all others that responded. Gary David Holbrook on Facebook/YouTube, D-5857, SCS 3657, NSCR 1219, Former S/L Instructor, Former Wizards 4-way RW, Former SE Conference Judge

Haven't found a firm commitment yet, but I do appreciate all of the responses so far. Yes, this is the one that has photos off all of the competitors from that year's Nationals. Gary David Holbrook on Facebook/YouTube, D-5857, SCS 3657, NSCR 1219, Former S/L Instructor, Former Wizards 4-way RW, Former SE Conference Judge

Hello to all, I am hoping to be able to locate and purchase the back issue of Parachutist Magazine, September 1979 (contains results from the 1979 Nationals). If you can be of assistance, please contact me at [email protected], thanks. Gary David Holbrook on Facebook/YouTube, D-5857, SCS 3657, NSCR 1219, Former S/L Instructor, Former Wizards 4-way RW, Former SE Conference Judge