billabx

This may be in the wrong thread, but since this is where the discussion of "Who's on top?" is happening, it's where I'll post this. When I first saw the picture, I thought it was Connie sitting on Sheila's shoulders too. But as I'm thinking about it, it seems to me that Connie started living in Deland around the time that Beanpole (Mike) started getting heavily into windsurfing and wasn't jumping as much. It seems pretty unlikely that she would have been in this shot.

Hey, If you survived long enough to remember many of the subjects in this forum, you probably killed off more than a few brain cells in the process. Now I have a question. While I know "Ohio Fang" well, I also remember another Fang who worked for Para-Flite and used to travel around a lot for them. Is this "Herd Fang" or yet another to confuse us old farts? I went to a few Herd Boogies and knew a few of the guys in passing, but I survived long enough to kill off lots of the aforementioned brain cells. Bill

Different Fang. The pictures are of Jim Fangmeyer from Ohio.

Cheapskate that I am, I'm still using PS Elements 3.0. They have a "Remove Color Cast" process but it didn't work all that well on these shots.

Now you've both got the gears turning in my head. I think it probably is Kathy at 11:00 between Connie Simpson and Sheila Whitten. I'm also thinking Karen is between Sheila and Julie at 1:00 instead of at 8:00 next to Sandy. That would make the only two I'm clueless about the two ladies at 8:00 between Cheryl and Sandy. I also remembered Julie's last name being Conway-Common. I don't think she stayed with the sport much after graduating AFF, but she was a really nice girl and everyone liked her. Bill

I played around with them a little more. Can't seem to get the blue cast fixed to my satisfaction, but the resolution is better. I just replaced them in the original post.

Thanks Howard. I'm not too familiar with best resolutions etc for online forums. The checkerboard pattern is only in the lower res versions, must be an artifact of the compression. I'll post a link when I get the Flikr page up. BTW the jump was on Nov 17, 1979. I knew it was pretty cold from the way Fang was dressed.

Yes Jon, I remember your visits well. (or at least as well as I remember anything from those days!) I found this dive in my old logbook. Sept 7, 1980 I wish I could remember Julie's last name. She was an early AFF student and I filmed a lot of her early dives. The dive pictured was her 15th jump. (Pretty hot for those days!) As best as I can remember, the others on the jump were (clockwise from Julie at 3:00) Candi, Cheryl, ?, Karen, Sandy, Connie, Martha?, Shiela, and ?. Bill BTW I've replaced the photos with better versions.

Just a couple of old photos from when I lived in Deland. The first is Candi Prosser swooping down to a WSCR star. The second is the star with Mike Truffer lurking outside just before he docked on it. As I recall recipient's name was Julie. She's at three o'clock with the red refrigerator on her back.

As promised, here is the entire series of Fang's exit. I'm gradually scanning more of my older photos and will post them here as well as probably setting up a Flikr page with the whole collection. Bill I've replaced the photos with better (I hope) versions.

I found the original slides tonight. Now all I have to do is get them scanned into digital form and I'll post them. Bill

Guess that makes us all part of "history and trivia"!

On closer review of the stills from an earlier post, it does appear to be a 182. I originally remember Rande saying it was a 172 (which I thought a little strange at the time) and looking at the stills, the spinner appeared to be for a fixed-pitch prop. When I looked again, I can see the prop control on the instrument panel and cowl flaps in one of the head-on shots. I stand corrected. Guess I've lost more brain cells than I thought since then.

A correction to that. The plane is a 172 as I originally remembered Rande saying, not a 182.

Thanks for the link to the previous threads. Lots of good discussion there. Bill

I'm trying to find some real information about the effect of age on reserve canopies. Recently my usual rigger told me they were not comfortable repacking my 25 year old Swift reserve due to it's age. While much of their argument against continuing to use it was based on advances in technology and design, they did make reference to their uncertainty about it's structural integrity based on it's age. I've owned this canopy since new and have had one or two subterminal rides on it. I've yet to be convinced that it is no longer safe to use. I'm not aware of any studies that have been done on fabric strength for materials that have not been exposed to UV or chemicals. I know there are arguments for new gear, but I'm really interested in facts over opinions. Thanks

Hmmm, Now that you mention it, I may have given that to Mike for the 81 World Meet program. Too many brain cells have washed under the bridge. Like I said, I'll try to find the rest of the series when I get home again.

Thanks for reminding me about this. I hadn't thought about it for quite awhile. Rande and I were talking about filming Fandango one of the last times I saw him before he died. He told me that the producers told him to find a plane to use and he went out and bought a cherry late model used 182 and brought it home (Pope Valley?) to prep for the film. As he was wheeling it into the paint shop. a local pilot inquired about buying it. After the paint and interior were done, the same pilot told asked him if he was really stupid enough to fly that thing! After the filming was finished they let Rande keep the plane and he said for months afterward he had almost round the clock free security from the local sherif's office. They were positive it had to be used for flying dope and staked it out to catch the smugglers! As a footnote, I never realized until the 1981(?) Nationals when Rande and I were working with a small independant film crew what an incredible pilot he was. We were shooting exit shots of the teams from the DC-3's and one of our guys was in a 182 that Rande was flying in formation. He parked that Cessna's right main gear about four feet above and a foot over the left wingtip of the 3 and it looked like it was welded there! I think he said later when we were talking about it that he had been an F-4 instructor in the USAF. Who knew? At any rate, he was a great friend and is greatly missed to this day. Bill Sutton

BTW Howard, I'm curious about where you found this one. As far as I remember only Fang and I had copies back then. No internet to post photos to. Nice to see some of the old shots still exist somewhere other than in a box in one of my closets! Bill

Well now, What a surprise to see this picture. It's Jim Fangmeyer on top of one of Xenia's Twin Beeches. It's one of a series of four photos I took sometime in the 70's (I also had a super 8 movie of the same jump) We had been playing around with the floater handles on the Beech and discovered we could swing up on top of the plane, slide back to the leading edge of the horizontal stab, lean up into the windblast, stand up and "Surf the Beech" pretty much as long as we wanted. At exit time, you just stood up a little more and the wind would carry you back between the vertical stabs. I seem to recall the pilot mentioning that he felt the contol yoke jerk if we stepped on the elevator with the last backward step. (Maybe why we quit doing it. Fabric elevator and all!) Fang tried to get a shot of me doing the same thing, but I think his camera jammed or something like that. I'll see if I can find the originals and post the whole series when I get home next week.