Bill Dause At Hearn, Texas

[usedtajump 1]

Any old Texas jumpers out there remember when Bill Dause had his DC-3 and the small door Twin Beech based in Hearn, Texas in the early 80s?

There ase usually a large turnout on the weekends from all over the state and people camped out on the airport, a boogie atmosphere every time we attended.

The first 8 stack in Texas was put together there and personally, was on my first 16 way there, my largest to that date.

As a 100 jump wonder then, I was in awe of Bill and his five figure jump number total. What a thrill it was when he would ask you on a load he was organizing not knowing or careing who you were just to get you skydiving. Surprisingly, many of the loads he organized like that were successful.

I always hated Sunday evening when jumping at Hearn was over but for the most part, the drive back home with friends was special because we felt like big time skydivers having been on larger loads with a few skygods.
Sadly, it only lasted most of one season then Bill moved to Lodi but those times in Hearn will always be special to me.

The older I get the less I care who I piss off.

[longtall 0]

I remember Dauses beech-18 painted white and had"navy" markings...................J......................

" 90 right, five miles then cut."---Pukin Buzzards

[zoobrothertom 5]

Hearn, Texas! I saw my first skydiving in Hearn when I was 17 during the summer of '80. If you drove past the airport, my Uncle's house was the first on the right hand side. Nice little white house with a detached garage.

I remember spending the summer of '80 there and watching the people open. Sometimes over us. I thought, "I want to try that!" A year and a half later, I was Army Airborne and learning to skydive!

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I'm back in the USA!!

[usedtajump 1]

Yep, Navy markings and a very small, almost oval shaped door.

The older I get the less I care who I piss off.

[orangesky 0]

Well, I was on the last jump out of that DC3, it was midnight Dec. 31, 1999 over the Lodi DZ. Except for a later static demo flight which included a cockpit fire, the DC3 has been parked and ignored since. Bill dosn't organize too many loads these days, but I learned so much from him. Although he's not the type of guy that is long on detail, after enough Bill jumps, it just seems to rub off. He's a bird of a different feather, but all in all he has done more for the sport doing just what he does. I jumped out of that DC3 when tickets were $10 and that was the main elevator. Now there is a Twin Otter, two B99s. and a number of King Airs that are farmed out in Canada and elsewhere. It is interesting to hear about jumping with Bill that long ago. Keep it coming.
Oh yeah, that jump had about 45 skydivers on it, my group was a 10 way that flew as planned! The late Jan Davis shot video of our jump. It was spectacular!The plane flew like a hot knife through warm butter, smoothe and solid!

Blue Skies.
os/cg
D-22216