WGore

I met Earl years ago at 1 or several of the National Championships and thought that I remembered him saying that he had packed the rigs. As far as the Cooper threads, I don't have that much time or patience to follow them. Interesting mystery, yes, but not an obsession. GUNFIRE, The sound of Freedom!

1.6oz LO-POs. That was a little before my time but 1 of the guys that taught me had one. Probably just used a military pattern and used a lower porosity fabric and had the modifications already worked in. IIRC they were still right at $200, a lot of money back then. The PCs were $250 when they came on the market. GUNFIRE, The sound of Freedom!

Wasn't Lucaya Air owned by a guy named Floyd something or other from KY? If it is the one I'm thinking about it had the big Wright engines on it instead of the P&Ws. And climbed like a home sick angel. GUNFIRE, The sound of Freedom!

Not really Jerry. The original owner bought it in Oct 64 and I bought it from him in late spring 65. I sold it when I got drafted in summer 66 to make payments on my car while the folks tried o sell it. Spent the next couple years jumping rags while in the Army. Up side was we could get them for $10 through Quartermaster sales. Learned how to sew modifying the things for the Ft Knox Parachute Club. Lots a good times there even though we didn't get any aircraft support from the Army. Bob GUNFIRE, The sound of Freedom!

Now there's a name I haven't heard in a while. IIRC Earl packed the rigs that they gave D B Cooper. GUNFIRE, The sound of Freedom!

Probably due to canopy slump in the sleeve. I got one of the first red, white, & blue PCs in my area and remember going back to a rag during the weekend because the openings were easier. Had bruises on my legs and shoulders from the openings. Of course those comfortable Milsurp container systems didn't help much either. Finally one of the sky gods of the time suggested sitting up on opening. Gee wish I had discovered that sooner. GUNFIRE, The sound of Freedom!

QuoteHi lucky, There were two schools of thought: One was to make it VERY long so that the sleeve & pilot chute would be behind the canopy and not into any of the steering slots. Two was to make it VERY short so that the sleeve & pilot chute would sit in the pulled-down apex area. Personally, I preferred #2; make it very short. The short line will increase opening shock. Something about seperating the snatch force from the actual opening deceleration. There is an explanation of this in Poynters manual. Personally I liked the long one, not for that reason though. After all in those days I was still bullet proof! GUNFIRE, The sound of Freedom!

I beleive that he did manufacture them for awhile when they first became popular. His 4-way team won the first RW Nationals in Plattsburg. Anybody remember their team Name? It's on the tip of my tongue put can't quite pull it up. GUNFIRE, The sound of Freedom!

Jumper looks like Tony Fugit. Don't have a clue on the aircraft. I remember the rig but don't recall manufacturer. GUNFIRE, The sound of Freedom!

Had a SL conopy over the horizontal once, that will get the adrenalin up just as fast as a malfuntion. Slammed in full right rudder and it slid off leaving about 5 ft of canopy behind between the horizontal and the elevator. Only 2 gores of a 28 footer escaped without some kind of damage. Also had 2 JMs extracted from my aircraft in the days of front mounted reserves. Both of them with helping hands from me. No damege to aircraft or people other than ego. The rest of the students wanted to know why their JM left them behind. Sometimes jump piloting can get way to exciting. GUNFIRE, The sound of Freedom!

How about Greene County Cleveland. I vaguely remember going to a meet up there around that time and it being some kind of team event. Bob used to be at all sorts of events as judge back then. IIRC the team I was on took 3rd in the RW event. Like Amazon, at first I thought it might look like GCSPC Xenia as well. That 2nd shot with the parasail is hard to tell although I remember several guys damned near getting busted up on one of those things on windy days. I remember one day down at GC KY it was so windy we tied one off to a fence post and flew it. Had to get 5 or 6 guys to walk it down to put riders on. Danny Stone got on it and we left him up for about an hour. He was about half froze to death when we finally pulled him down. GUNFIRE, The sound of Freedom!

Howard, do you know what DZ that was at? I was still living in OH back in those days although traveling to KY on the weekends. GUNFIRE, The sound of Freedom!

I guess I qualify for an OFP as well. Had sinkers on several rigs going back to 65. IIRC Crossbow rigs had the sinkers from the factory on the ripcord. GUNFIRE, The sound of Freedom!

Thanks! Jumped a Gullwing and a Voyager in the mid 60s. Neither one anything to write home about as far as climb rate. GUNFIRE, The sound of Freedom!

OK, time to clear up this mess. Both pictures were posted on Flickr by Vince Marchese. We made a bunch of jumps together back in the day, including our mutual 100th. When I posted the first one, I didn't know what it was. I then posted the other, which is a Porter; as the two are near each other on the Flickr page, I (stupid me) thought they were the same. It was an inadvertant red herring. They aren't. After consultation with Vince, we agree the first one, inside the plane, is this Stinson, which we jumped at Norfolk, MA (and is which is now hanging in the Seattle Air Museum.) What I remember about the Stinson (aside from the fact that it had no door and was really cold in the winter) is that there was a ball of putty above the instrument panel in which the pilot would stick the screws and other loose parts he found on the floor. HW Which Model? I was thinking Gullwing from the first photo. But the last one is hard to tell although it doesn't look like a Gullwing. GUNFIRE, The sound of Freedom!

Streamer! But I remember my old man talking about them from WWII, way before Skydiving was recognized as a sport. Pre 58. GUNFIRE, The sound of Freedom!

Rhodesian D-16 Suid Afrika D-318 GUNFIRE, The sound of Freedom!

I knew that!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! GUNFIRE, The sound of Freedom!

David, (Butch) Marvin Krebs was the first signature. He used to live down around Richmond KY last I heard. Haven't seen him in 15 years or so. At one time he , Dave Ellis, and Bob Peirson owned the 182 that flew out of Rising Sun IN. Eventually ended up on the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico. The 2nd signature was J. C. Pugh who used to be the rigger for GC back then. And of course the 3rd is Jim West. I assume the 13 year old would have been George Loudikas. GUNFIRE, The sound of Freedom!

I got a dislocated shoulder jumping in high winds and hit a fence. I was on active duty. Maybe I could get 40years back disability. I think my shoulder is starting to hurt right now. GUNFIRE, The sound of Freedom!

Lovely airplane to fly. Radial Engines just sound like an airplane engine is supposed to sound. GUNFIRE, The sound of Freedom!

My first rig I took my Christmas bonus and bought a 3rd hand candy stripe W-Gore (hence the handle) and 24ft twill reserve for $65. Had one ride on that twill, no stand up. Did several rides on a 26' Navy and stood it up every time. That was a good reserve. The only thing that W-Gore did well was go down fast. Lots of big holes and plenty of porosity. Makes me flinch just thinking about those landings. GUNFIRE, The sound of Freedom!

Charlie was actually in the Army Reserve and he missed so many Reserve meetings because he was skydiving that they activated him. Ended up in Germany on the 7th Army team skydiving. Talk about falling in the shmidt house and coming out smelling like a rose. I had to do the real Army. When they were trying to get me to re-up I told them I would for a slot on the Knights. The re-enlistment NCO said that he couldn't do that but I could have E-6 and an all expenses paid trip to SEA. I declined! GUNFIRE, The sound of Freedom!

Andrew Carter Thornton III, Knoxville TN, Aug 85' 75 Kilos uncut cocaine strapped to his chest. Street value at the time appox. 6mil. To me that is pretty cost effective. GUNFIRE, The sound of Freedom!

David, were you there when Kenn Heismann, and Charlie Hughs were still there? In any event I will pass this on to them. Bob GUNFIRE, The sound of Freedom!