Willard Joseph "Smitty" Smith

[Douggarr 6]

It's been over 35 years since Smitty died at the famous Watkins Glen Summer Jam rock concert (Guinness Book of World Records -- still stands; 600,000 people) on that August weekend in 1973. Smitty (D-2727) was my roommate at college, and he's the guy who got me into the sport. If you want write about it, he said, you gotta do it. He was right. He is one of the main characters in my upcoming memoir, "Between Heaven and Earth: An Adventure in Free Fall," due out in December (Greenpoint Press). Couldn't have done it without you, bunky. Blue skies.

SCR-442, SCS-202, CCR-870, SOS-1353

[jonstark 8]

I was there. Jeez! What a crowd.

Blues Smitty.

jon

[phildthedildo 0]

grenade simulator ,right(IIRC)?

[howardwhite 6]

IIRC, he said he wanted to go out with a bang, over a crowd.

HW

[SkydiveJack 1]

Quote

IIRC, he said he wanted to go out with a bang, over a crowd.

HW

I've heard of this accident over the years.

Can one of you that knows it first or second hand please refresh everyone on what happened?

Maybe your response should be move to Skydiving History & Trivia.

[Douggarr 6]

Some of this thread was already in the history forum, thanks to Howard White -- a year or so ago, I think.

I was there at Watkins Glen, too, and I go into detail about the incident in my upcoming book. But in all the crowd and all the confusion, I thought Smitty landed safely. I knew it was him because I recognized his Papillon. I didn't know he died until the next day, leaving the concert, when my friend heard it on the radio.

Chip Maury (D-865), big-time free fall photog at the time and an ex-Navy Seal (first team ever), told me that Smitty had showed him an "artillery simulator," which is what I assume you're all referring to. Chip told me that the detonation was exactly like an M-18 smoke grenade, or even a real grenade. You have a cotter pin and you bend in the ends, pull it out, hold the handle and then when you let go and the handle snaps out, it goes off in about 8 seconds or whatever.

Maury told Smitty that these artillery simulators were powerful, dangerous, and notoriously unstable (the last two words a direct quote, btw). And you guys know how many times M-18s malfunctioned. Like half the time.

I discussed the tragedy with Chip on many occasions, and we can only surmise that he had the thing in the bungee cord of his chest mounted reserve, and he intended to lower it on a lanyard after activating it. It probably got stuck in the pack because the coroner reported massive injuries to his chest.

That's all I know.

Postscript: Chip Maury was a member of Underwater Demolition Team 11 -- he did a couple of tours in Vietnam. This is a guy who knew about explosives. Smitty being Smitty obviously ignored his cautionary words.

For those who didn't know him, Dan Poynter once famously nicknamed him "Bill you-pull-lower-than-me-and-your-dead Smith." That should say a lot about his skydiving.

SCR-442, SCS-202, CCR-870, SOS-1353