patmoore

I guess you can't edit posts after a few days.

In any event, the submission form has been fixed. AT&T sold my email provider (SNET) to a company called Frontier and my DZGone email was suddenly blocked.

You can submit stories through this link. If your photos are over 1024 kb you can just email them to me at [email protected]

I had forgotten that all competitors at FPC meets got ribbons. Some of these are over forty years old (see attached)

For the moment, the submission form for DZGone isn't working. Please send stories and photos to pmoore(at)snet.net

For the moment, the submission form for DZGone isn't working. Please send stories and photos to pmoore(at)snet.net

Amazing accomplishments for all three: Kittinger, Baumgartnter, and Eustace.

Felix is a class act and was quick to congratulate Alan on his Facebook page: "Congratulation Alan! It takes a lot of courage to do what you did. NOBODY knows that better than Col. Joe Kittinger and myself.
FELIX"

See attached images. I had the good fortune to meet Felix on the plaza outside the Today Show a week after his record jump. Shortly after that I did a pencil drawing of Felix and Joe and sent Joe the original. All three of these guys deserve recognition for their accomplishments.

Update: Count is now up to 510.

Bonus: The Bill Ottley Christmas Card collection is now online. 22 of his legendary cards are on display. Does anyone have some I'm missing?

We just hit a major milestone. The 500th defunct DZ has been identified and more are coming in daily. A huge thank you to all who have been submitting stories and photos. Bookmark the site and keep the memories alive.

DZGone.com

We're now up to 488 defunct DZs in all fifty states.

New photos and stories are being added daily. Check out the story of raccoon at Ridgely....

Thanks! I deleted Oregon City and Cave Junction.

Your idea of a separate smokejumpers page is intriguing but I doubt I'll have the time to pursue it.

I thought I'd be in the sport forever. My first jump was my 16th birthday present in 1962. It was at Orange, MA and my instructor/jumpmaster was Lew Sanborn, D-1. I earned my Gold Wings in 1971 and my Diamond Wings in 1976. I was a meteorologist at Tampa's NBC affiliate Channel 8 (RW pioneer Jim Hooper was a writer at the station) and life was good. I had just won the Florida Parachute Council Overall Men's Championship for the third year in a row.

The woman to whom I was married at the time got transferred to Washington, DC and I quit the TV job and moved. I made one jump at a Maryland DZ in the town of Woodbine. The next weekend we did the long drive over the Chesapeake Bay Bridge to Ridgely, the home of the Pelican Skydivers. I had known the Pelicans for years but there were mostly newer members there that day. My wife and I got on the manifest but kept getting bumped for others. By the end of the day we hadn't made a single jump.

The following weekend my brother invited us to go rock climbing in West Virginia. We enjoyed it and without realizing it replaced one pursuit with another. I never made another jump. That was nearly forty years ago. Ironically, I took a 34 year hiatus from another sport - skiing - and have returned to it (and took up snowboarding) with a vengeance.

Skydiving was and always will be an important part of my life. I spent a lot of time at dusty DZs that are only a memory today (like Woodbine and Ridgely). Six years ago I envisioned a website that would document all the defunct drop zones in the country. I finally retired a month ago and rolled out DZGone.com.

My logbooks which had been missing for five years finally surfaced and I'm reliving the memories. I'm enjoying reading about the exploits of those still active in the sport but I have no burning desire to take to the air again.

On the other hand, I'm heading for Queenstown, New Zealand in November of 2015 to do the 440 foot Nevis bungy.......

Thanks Andy. We're now up to 477 defunct Drop Zones. I suspect we'll hit 500.

Please keep the stories and photos coming........

DZGone.com

Keep 'em coming.....

Few jumpers visited more different drop zones in those old days than the late Bill Ottley D-298. We've uncovered some his legendary Christmas cards.

Do any of you have some of the cards I'm missing to add to the page?

I don't have Millican on the Texas list. I'd love to add it. Tell me what you remember about those stories and I'll add them. We can update them as more folks chime in.

BTW, Texas leads the list of states with the most entries at DZGone.com - 42!

Only a handful of states have no entries: Delaware, Maine, Vermont, and Nebraska. Those states have current operations but no defunct ones that I've been able to identify.

For the moment I'm caught up. We've documented 465 former DZs in the US representing all states except DE, ME, VT, and NE. Texas leads the list with 42. Please dig into your archives so we can add stories and photos to these pages. Thanks to all who have contributed so far!

For the moment I'm caught up. We've documented 465 former DZs in the US representing all states except DE, ME, VT, and NE. Texas leads the list with 42. Please dig into your archives so we can add stories and photos to these pages. Thanks to all who have contributed so far!

It took me a while to figure it out but there's now a submission form for DZGone.com. You can upload your stories and images from there.

Unrelated: I hit my 18th anniversary of being an AARP member. To commemorate the event I took a short ride on one of my unicycles.

Thanks again for the updates.

Took me a long time to figure out how to do it but there's now a form to submit your stories and photos. Several more DZs are being added daily. Save to Favorites and check back often. Dig into your archives to see what you can share.

Thanks JimJumper, Bones, and flyhi. All have been updated.

I'm working on a submission form for DZGone.com that will allow photo and story uploads as well as a Search box.

No restrictions. It'll likely be the newest "defunct DZ" but we can include it. Please send any info/stories/photos to [email protected].

Much obliged!

Here are my Nationals patches from Marana, AZ in '69 and Plattsburgh, NY in '70. I also competed at Tahlequah, OK in '72 and '73

Thanks Johnny. The page for Illinois has been updated. Do you have any stories or photos from there that you can share?

On a cheerful note, my long lost logbooks have been found! 14 logbooks, pilot's log, rigger's log, and my UK D license #648. The latter was my autograph book for years. Some of the pioneers of the sport signed it including my first jumpmaster in 1962, Lew Sanborn D-1. Lew is still very much alive but sadly many of the others have left us. See attached and click the plus sign to blow it up.

Martin - I greatly appreciate it!

On another note, I FOUND MY LOGBOOKS!!!!! For the past five years I've been missing all fourteen logbooks, rigger's log, and pilot's log. I spent the morning digging through a little used closet and discovered them. A pleasant find was my UK D license #648. At the time I hadn't even been to the UK but an acquaintance got one issued to me in 1968. It became a great autograph book. You'll undoubtedly recognize many of the signatures on its pages - perhaps even yourself (SEE ATTACHED). Sadly many of them are no longer with us.

Much obliged! The listing for Bend is now online. Do you have any photos from there?

Thanks shotandahalf.

I'll update the pages in the morning. I knew that Talequah had hosted the Nationals and World Championships but didn't realize there was a year round DZ there. I competed at the 72 and 73 Nationals. See attached image.

Thanks to everyone who is contributing to this project. I want to make it as accurate as I can.

Rick - I remember the strut on the bike. I wish my memory was a little better for other events back then. I updated the Riverview listing identifying you as the accuracy jumper.

I dug out some old color slides earlier this week and scanned them. Most are from Riverview. I can't identify a lot of the folks. I think you're in some of the shots? Anyhow, I uploaded them temporarily to Picasa album.