33zulu

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Everything posted by 33zulu

  1. Oh, geez. Sorry to see this. I had the pleasure and honor to spend some time with him at the '81 World Meet in Z-Hills. Another loss. Sigh. R.I.P. Hoop.
  2. Jumped with Bobby on numerous occasions in El Paso and Ghoulidge. Several times for his Gold Wings jump. Lol. Quite a character! R.I.P. Bobby V.
  3. No, my white one is long gone. Wish I still had it, though. Was lots of fun and easy to pack. Free packed it many times with no bag. When I ordered it in 1977 it arrived in a shoe box. That was kinda freaky. "This is all the canopy over my head I get?" But it flew well and with my light weight, gave me consistent stand-ups. A friend had one and I asked him if he still had it in storage somewhere. If yes, and he's willing to part with it, I'll let you know.
  4. No double keel, but had several hundred jumps on a couple of single keels. One black, which I passed on to a friend, and a white one. I'd split the nose slider on them for a touch better performance. Made about 25 jumps on the black one with no main slider at all. Jumps 1-24 were gravy openings, but that 25th one about killed me, so slider went back on. Some pics attached. The colorful Dactyl was Zing's.
  5. Oh no, say it ain't so. Johnny Crews....what a guy! One of the first jumpers I met back in Pelicanland in '73 then from '75-'77. Quite the character. An original. RIP, Johnny, and condolences to Sandy and other Pelicans.
  6. He kindly sent me this after I wrote him a few years back. I'd mailed him this page from the Dec. 1960 National Geographic and he signed it for me. Was a childhood idol and his jump got me dreaming of the days when I'd be jumping, too. RIP.
  7. Can't forget the Cunning Stunts!
  8. Oh, no......not Jeff. What a guy. Made nice jumps with him at Coolidge. Bummer. Sigh....
  9. Halloween Boogie, 1977.... seldom if ever matched. Tom Piras, Zing, Ernie Butler, etc. in rare form.
  10. Another of my early idols in the sport. Sigh.... R.I.P.
  11. Russ was a much loved jumper from El Paso who jumped at all the Ghoulidge Boogies in the 80's and early 90's passed away Sept. 20, 2020. He'd had numerous health issues and as many close calls as the proverbial 9-lives cat, but finally his time here expired. Gone, but never forgotten. R.I.P. old friend.
  12. Here's an old letter I got from M. Anderson Jenkins long time ago. Also attached to letter is article on his drowning from Mike Truffer's Skydiving magazine.
  13. My first Dactyl, the black one. Came from Handbury in a shoebox. Note no slider, as I'd cut it off. About 100+ jumps on it back in the 70's, then another 200 on my white one.
  14. My single keel Paradactyl. Opened "yesterday" with a snap! Sweet ride. Had a black one (sold to a friend) and a white one. Pic below of both of us under canopy.
  15. World Meet Z-Hills 1981..... the boogie between competition jumps I got grounded for a low pull (gee seemed normal to me) and Dave noticed that scene. Grinning and on the sly, he pulled off his boogie wristband and gave it to me. "Keep jumping, I'll get another." One of a kind, ol' Dave. Miss him. R.I.P to a good man. In pic, he's on far right in younger days.
  16. As kind as human being as I've known. RIP dear friend.
  17. Another shot of Joe, down in the scrum around Wes Shiles.
  18. Mig and Cindy! They around somewhere? Lost track after they left El Paso and went to Florida.
  19. Rick had made numerous jump friends across the country, having worked at the Jump Shack in Michigan in 1978 and jumped at many boogies and meets. Good friends in Michigan. .. Dell, Harry, Shirley & Mike Weber, Mike Johnston, John Sherman and many more. Rick jumped there and also in the 70's Z-Hills meets in Florida. Coolidge, AZ. was another favorite jump locale and he was a regular there at all the boogies from the late 70's through the 80's. He was a fun-loving participant in the notorious Ghoulidge Halloween Boogies, including the first one in '77. He participated twice at the Charley Pride Cancer Benefit demos in Albuquerque as well as the Cancer Benefit exhibitions in El Paso. He was a master rigger, having learned the trade from the late "Strange Dave" Kasehagen. He will be sorely missed by his close friends in El Paso and those who remember him from fun times in the sky. Attached below are various shots of RW in the sky and on the ground. 1. Nabisco dive over Holloman AFB in NM. with White Sands in background. 2. Tracking over White Sands 3. Packing his Starlight canopy in Albuquerque 4. On left of picture along with Terry Bradshaw at a demo 5. Soaring over US-Mex. border 6. Leading the way out of a Turbo Lance 7. Climbing to altitude 8. Pic from front page of Z-Hills paper, Nov. '78 9. In black jumpsuit over west side of El Paso, 1983
  20. Attached here is the obit for El Pasoan Rick Wells who passed away in July of this year. In the follow up post, I'll upload several skydiving photos of him.
  21. Had a black single-keel Dactyl in '77, then a white one after that. Had trouble with the slider hanging up on the black one as the grommets on slider were too small and my flyweight body wasn't heavy enough to bring it down. Ended up taking off the slider and cutting the nose slider in half. Free packed it with no stow bands on lines. Worked fine for 24 jumps. Then the opening on 25 was like "yesterday" and caused a brief red out. lol.... Never a problem with the white one. Had bigger grommets, too. Fun canopies and packed super small.
  22. Martin Caidin also wrote a fine adventure yarn called "Jericho 52" which dealt with the finding and restoration of a dilapilated JU-52 in the jungles of Peru and used to fly out of danger and into further adventures. Good read. Pic attached.