lodestar

32' crossbow?

Hey Pat, Found your books on Amazon, they are in the mail.... Speaking of age, I turned 66 this year....damn..... Having a small reunion with Mike Patterson and Ron Schott from the hills in a couple of weeks...looking forward to that.... Congrats on your anniversary.... Tuna... Do you remember the flight we made with your broke leg and the great Dane dog? I still do....that dawg pinned the ramp crew in the office at Indianapolis till we got it contained....what fun....

Thanks Jack, More likely an alternate pilot, I think Searles was down in Florida at the year change, smart move, it's cold in Wisconsin....lol... Didn't know Rainbow closed but not surprised by that, suburban expansion has killed a lot of small airports that used to be "out of town" I'd love to get ahold of Frank, do you have any info on his email or other contact info? I know we continued the tradition at the hills in subsequent years but the 182 had a door so it wasn't too bad. Thanks.. Tuna

Okay....at Rainbow the only radio they had was unicom and no tower per se, but if it was 69/70 I would have been in Zhills as I went there Easter of 69. If it was 68/69 would have been me for sure....I had moved to Rainbow from Aero Park after their 182 was burned up by one of the pilots trying to start in cold weather and overpriming the engine resulting in a backfire and subsequent fire that pretty well destroyed the aircraft. Nearest tower to there was likely Milwaukee, Mitchell Field or someone may have been on unicom (122.7) at Rainbow, I know they did have that available during daytimes... I think Searles did keep the operation at Rainbow for a few years after he moved to zhills but not sure who would have been flying then, possibly Frank Youngquist? Do you remember who the pilot was? Tuna

Jack, Where was that jump? I can remember doing several of those up at Aero Park and at Rainbow as well....no door on the 182, precise timing so you went out in 1969 and landed in 1970 etc. etc. Radical wind blast through the door, carb heat on full, inky dark with no streamer drop....asses frozen off....oh yea....

Way Cool Pat! Time flies when you're having fun dude, and between all of us we have had some big fun for sure...lots of great memories, mammaries and more..... It is truly amazing how the sport has evolved through the years bringing friendship, camaraderie, a love of a kick ass sport and a network of incredible people larger than the universe. Hope you have a great celebration, one of these days we have to organize some sort of reunion of all us golden oldies.....before we all need handicapped facilities...lol.... Hugs all around Tuna

Some great pics Rog, Helen Tyson and Ruth Lanier....two very sweet ladies indeed, I know Ruth passed away and am still looking for Helen....she was a buddy from the old Illinois/Wisconsin days, Helen's father was a hoot, she was part of the Horlick family, Horlick's Malted Milk and other products, from Racine Wis. Great pictures for sure, thanks for digging those up...

Wow Hoop! What a great back story on that issue...One can easily figure that the armed services had good reasoning for doing things the way they did but sometimes to us whuffos, we don't have the full picture and therefore tend to question activities we aren't sure were or were not done for one reason or another. Thanks so much for clarifying that issue, it's much easier to understand practices and policies when you know that back story. Only makes me appreciate your research work even more. I'm enjoying the book and can't wait to read further.

Hey Hoop, That makes sense....but I had to wonder how a small aircraft like those birddogs would be effective, lets say, with no observer, more horsepower (maybe use a Cessna 180) and a pair of wing mounted rattle guns and a bit of Kevlar on the belly....Kind of a light observation aircraft with a stinger....as it were. I was at the point in the book where your brother was after that barge in the river and the difficulties he had getting a rocket to nail it.....he had some cojones to go that low but I have to admire his tenacity and using the weather to advantage....quite a man he was....quite a man...

I'm enjoying the book immensley and have nothing but respect for the men flying the catkillers. I am wondering why they were not armed with more than rockets. It would seem a wing mounted fully auto machine gun would have added so much to their ability to squelch ground fire in some occasions. What is puzzling is that even the observers were cautioned against firing their M-16's at ground troops, supposedly to keep shell casings out of the aircraft's interior from fouling things up. Was there a particular reason that these aircraft remained relatively unarmed? Observation aircraft non the less, it seems odd to have an unarmed aircraft in proximity to ground troops.

Nope, can't really say I remember that particular one....I left for zhills in may of 69 so it may have been after that.... I do remember though, Laycsak, Hank and myself making up pipe bombs with reloading powder and trying to blow holes in those big tanks on the north side of the field. We also were into guns and did quite a bit of shooting around there in the off times. Ben laycsak, Donley, Hank and Joe dog somehow got wind of some national guard training going on and replete with face camo and loaded weapons took it upon ourselves to do a counter action and try and capture a few of them...it turned into a mexican standoff with all of us retreating with our nuts intact, all but Dollard who had the misfortune to end up hitchhiking back to the farm and got picked up by a sheriff who had responded to the Nat. Guards call of armed assailants....as I recall, the next day we were visited by the local gendarms and questioned but we just denied everything and because none of the guard had a good look at us, we got away with it.....we did remain chaste for the next few weeks though....

Hey Jack, Hank, Jake, Joe Dog+dog and Ben Laycsak and myself all were there at one time, we moved out to Bong AFB just west of Kenosha and were operating out of a farmhouse flying a 180 leased from a guy in Chicago. Jim Stoyas and his main squeeze Helene Tozier were also around the Pig Farm, we drug Barb Prouty along with us and a few of her friends made first jumps at Bong...a guy named Mike Dollard as well. Most of us had been jumping/flying at Rainbow and it was just closer to get to Bong, we converted a chicken coop into a packing area and slept in there at night on the tables. Our local bar was the Mars Cheese Castle out on the interstate. Our runway was a tree lined lane that eventually opened up onto the open area, I can remember taking off and seeing trees about ten feet off each wingtip till you got in the clear. Fun days for sure.. I remember Stoyas slamming into the roof of the barn at the PigFarm and sliding off, hitting the roof of an attached lean to shed and hitting the ground, groaning, "My leg, my leg, oohhh, my arm" neither of which were broken but severely bruised, he was trying to avoid the power lines on the road next to the farm.

Aaah, of course....the pig farm.....I remember that for sure...

Somebody at photobucket needs to get a life......

No idea why photobucket did not like this but here it is again http://i524.photobucket.com/albums/cc329/redfish443/2009_1214jacket0004-1.jpg

Can't say that I remember that DZ but it's possible....I was back and forth between Milwaukee (Rainbow) and Bong AFB and Chicago in the late sixties, there were a few small DZ's in the area but dont' remember right now what they were...both were very close to the interstate just over the border and may have been the one you are trying to find....I'll put some thought into those and see if the brain remembers names...sometimes it takes awhile...

I got most of those patches one or two summers while escaping the Florida heat, I travelled from Sarnia across to Quebec visiting drop zones and packing reserves and doing minor rigging work here and there. The DZ I remember most was at or near Lake Simcoe and another at St. Antione above Montreal, another one near London and one in Sarnia and maybe Guelph....and one near Tilsonburg as well and Eddie Grimm in Niagara and a bunch at Oshawa. Don't remember much about the centennial meet but was probably there to get the patch.... Had some good times there, stayed with Steve Sutton and crew in T.O. for a time and remember a tiny farm strip somewhere nearby, the guy had a Piper Cub we did a few lifts in. Quebec was quite a different place back then with anti American sentiments. Fun times for sure... In Sarnia, Neal and Grace Bothomley were hosts....

Thanks Rog, How did you do that? And another one I found: http://i524.photobucket.com/albums/cc329/redfish443/2009_1214jacket0006.jpg

Hooper forwarded a picture of the Ten High Bunch, and I was included as a pilot and wearing my old patch jacket. I had been looking for that jacket for ten years or so, not steady but keeping an eye out for it. I found it while cleaning out the camping gear shed. The two interesting patches to me were one that i think Hoop designed for the ten man star, with a "pilot" banner attached, the other was an 8 man patch that Bill Newell and I got together and modified the center bullseye to form a "P" for pilot. Other patches some of you may recognize from the Wisconsin/Illinois area. These are direct links: cut and paste in your browser window. Eight man patch http://i524.photobucket.com/albums/cc329/redfish443/2009_1214jacket0007.jpg Ten High bunch patch: http://i524.photobucket.com/albums/cc329/redfish443/2009_1214jacket0011.jpg Para Gear and Para Ponderosa (Bong AFB, WI) http://i524.photobucket.com/albums/cc329/redfish443/2009_1214jacket0004.jpg Para Gators (?Jimmy Godwins?) http://i524.photobucket.com/albums/cc329/redfish443/2009_1214jacket0008.jpg Wisconsin Skydivers and PCA patch http://i524.photobucket.com/albums/cc329/redfish443/2009_1214jacket0010.jpg Milwaukee Skydivers, center, to the right Tampa Skydivers and below another style of Z-hills patch. http://i524.photobucket.com/albums/cc329/redfish443/2009_1214jacket0005.jpg St Thomas Can. on left, Centennial meet Sarnia Ontario, lower left Parachute Assoc. of Toronto , right Mon-Yough Skydivers (not sure where that is) Some of you may remember me wearing that jacket in the cooler months at Zhills, others while I was up in Wisconsin... Hope you enjoy the trivia.

Looks like a typical weekend fuster cluck to me.....lol....quite a nice potential for screw ups with that many aircraft....hope it went well....

For sure Roger, I was Skypeing with Hoop just a couple of days ago and he mentioned he saw y'all. It sounds like you guys did a whirlwind tour of the place...some pretty magnificent places and things to see....hope you are taking lots of pics for sure. Talking to Hoop was a hoot, he is still the same old same old Hooper for sure....and had a razor sharp recollection of the days at Zhills we all remember. It's kind of like we all have a different piece of the puzzle and when we put them/us all in one place we get a full picture of how it was. I'm sure thinking some kind of reunion is gonna be a must do, we just have to put our energies towards it and it will happen. Take 'er easy Rog, enjoy the trip..... Tuna

And I might add, it's fascinating reading....just like you were there.....keeps you on the edge of your seat knowing what those guys went through, especially the efforts to save ground troops who, without the Catkillers in the air would most certainly have perished at the hands of the VC.

By the way Hoop, congratulations on your successful book marketing campaign....there are a few websites I follow, would you approve of my linking your book on those? Oh, please extend my hello to Roger Ramjet Clark when you see him....

Just got my copy in the mail today.....can't wait to absorb it asap.....

Clear on the right Skipper. I'll take the chicken. You might get the flaps up on 4395N but you're gonna have trouble with the gear.....