lodestar

I have to agree Bill Burr left quite an impression on us all. Bill showed up at zhills one day, kind fo wanting to jump, I think he went through jump school and made a few, that night, we were bumping around the packing area and he approached me, wanting to know if I had any pot, he had never tried it and wanted to. Needless to say, I took him out back and we smoked one.....he kept saying he didn't feel anything and kept saying that for awhile. Eventually a bunch of us decided to head to the hills for dinner, and we took off. Burr was in front of me....he pulled up to a stop sign and just sat there for a few minutes, and then a few minutes more, then it finally became apparent that he wasn't going to move. I wallked up to his car, and he was just sitting behind the wheel looking around. I remember asking if he was okay and he replied" Wow, man, i had to stop driving because everything was soooo far away, is this what it's like being stoned?".....needless to say, it went down hill from there. Moriarity stayed with me for a time, up in jacksonville when I left the hills, and eventually left for Hawiii...that was the last time I saw him. Don't know if brother bob is still in the st pete area or not. I do know as long as moriarity was alive that he would never hesitate to remind me that i was the first one to get him stoned, it was almost as if I was his pot guru or something.... HE will always exist in our memories...

I was a pilot and rigger at zhills in the late 60's. met trevor there. eventually he moved in with me in a one bedroom apartment in temple terrace florida, his idea was to hang a shrimp net from the ceiling and live in that....he did... The funniest thing would be when he would bring a lady home with him...I often awoke to arguments at three in the morning as he tried to persuade the lady to climb the rope ladder up into the net... For a time i lived in jacksonville florida and trevor visited often, he was then into bungee jumping and had a summer concession on the wisconsin illinois border. Sad to hear of his death...his big plan was to get Raliegh bycycles to give him money and bycycles to ride from the us to rio..never happened...but he tried all the time... good memories thanks...

I knew Bob, I was a pilot and rigger at zhills back in the late 60's I was about the same weight as bob and he kept pressuring me to base up with him.... I often used his 32' crossbow which was his main canopy at the time, i think he had a navy conical for a reserve....

Fianlly got a bunch scanned to disc, because of the size, I am posting them at a kodak url. Much easier that way. if you have trouble recognizing anyone just message me and I'll try and figure it out. http://www.kodakgallery.com/BrowsePhotos.jsp?collid=88109133414&UV=430640174966_32295133414 Captions underneath, if you know any of the Unknowns, please fill in the blanks

Yepper! I have dug up a whole slew of old buddies...am enjoying the daylights out of it! bill

Roger, am thinking you mean Laura Lanciotti? if so, pm me ive got some info on her...don't have her email though...would love it as well... bill

Thanks for the post Harry, I flew for jeff at the rainbow apt from 62 till 69 and then moved to zhills. Another interesting thing, At Bong afb, about six of us from chacago, ben laycsak, hand ascuitto, joe donley, a guy named mike, pam mackenroth and a couple of others established the dz there working from a farmhouse on the east end.(the para-ponderosa i think) We used grass strips and began flying jumpers there for a short time. I remember distinctly to get in the air, you had to pull out from the tiedown in front of the barn, and throttle up, going between a double row of trees with some ten feet either side of the wing, until you broke out in the clear and got enough airspeed to get her off. We leased a cessna 180 from a guy in chicago. We converted the farmers chicken coop (paracoop)into a packing and bunkhouse and usually after a long day jumping, would head for Mars cheese castle and drink our selves shitfaced. Probably the worst instance of law breaking was hank and ben, using 44 mags, shot out three or four stoplights nearby, which resulted in the cops waking us up at 3 am. Hank just let go on them and cussed them out for waking everyone up, had they bothered to look they would have found a small arsenal under the pillows....they left though. Had lots of good times there, ben and I often would rent a cub in milwaukee and fly it all over for the weekend, putting a few jumpers small enough out the door now and then. Thanks for the memories... Bill Tuna Case

I believe it was, I have a picture (which i will soon scan and post) of jeff, bonnie and frank standing in front of the aircraft down in florida when he brought it in..... I flew at rainbow from 62-69 when I moved to florida to work for jeff as pilot and rigger....and worked at the hills until jeff got busted in chattanooga. The fbi had me under surveaillance for almost three years after that, making it difficult to fly anymore so I just quit. Those days were something else!!! Bill, Tuna, Case

I probably have over a thousand hours in this aircraft....you may know me as Tuna..back in those days...when i flew her, she was red and white, still had wintip tanks and an aux tank behind the back firewall...\ I still remember that aircraft and it is now somewhere in south florida. Thanks for the pictures....wow... Bill

Thanks, Am new to the forums and website but i did find skratch...thanks for looking it up though... Glad there are still some of us old farts around...lol.... Bill

Ron, Just found this forum.... It's good to see some of us are still kicking...lets get in touch Tuna

Hooper!!! You old rascal you, it's tuna....still alive and kicking... Did you write a book or two? I was googling for you and found a couple of books.... Lets get in touch, lots of good memories to share... Bill

Hey Stratostar, Saw your post about Jerry Bird, I knew him when I was flying jumpers and rigging in z-hills back in the late 60's.... If you see him, say hello, he will remember me as Tuna from those days...

Hey there, I just joined the forum this morning and am delighted to find it! Am looking for old buddies from the late 60's, some names, Scratch Garrison, John Sherman, Bob and Niki Hill, Peanuts, Lurch, Neil and Grace Bothamly, or in general anyone who was around z-hills from 69 through 75... I know, it's a long way back but the mind remembers all those people........some more from Wisconsin, Pam Mackenroth, Ben Laycsak, Hank Asscuitto, Terry Prouty, Phil Goetch, Paul Donnely, Joe Dog, and anyone jumping in or around Aero Park airport in Wisconsin, Omro drop zone, wisconsin, Rainbow airport wisconsin, Hope to catch up with some of you... Thanks. Tuna

Hey there, I just ran across this forum googling and thought it might help me get in touch with others I used to know in the skydiving family. I was flying for Jeff Searles out of Franklin Wisconsin and also the Milwaukee Skydivers out of Aero Park wisconsin back in the mid to late 60's. In 69 I came to Zephyrhills Florida as a pilot and rigger and worked there until about 74 or so. I have about 2500 hours of flying, most of which was with jumpers, I also have a seniot parachute riggers license and was running the loft at Z-hills. If anyone reads this and was there, shoot me an email....might be fun to touch bases again! Bill