Turners Falls ?

[tbrown 26]

The thread on the Dorniers that used to fly at Turners got me to wondering whatever happened to that dropzone. I used to jump there a little bit back in the late seventies when they had a cargo door Beech. Spring of '78 they were attempting some 24 Way "box" formations using their own Beech, plus Beeches from Orange and Mansfield. I was not on the 24 Ways myself, but remember watching them while I jumped on smaller stuff. Then I moved out west.

Saw some ads in Parachutist around that time advertising they'd just got a DC-3, then it seems there was some kind of a financial implosion and they were back to a single Cessna ? Then in the eighties there were ads in Skydiving about the Dornier and how you could "experience Einstein's theory of relativity" with its climb rate. Would love to hear some of you Norteasterners fill in the blanks on this really sweet dropzone, it was in some beautiful NE countryside by the Connecticutt River.

Howard ?

Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

[howardwhite 6]

The Turners Falls DZ closed somewhere around 1995, after its clubhouse building deteriorated to the point of collapse and was condemned. We had a fine time destroying the remains with sledge hammers, and took anything worth preserving to Orange, 15 miles east.

The Massachusetts Sport Parachute Club, which had operated at Turners Falls since 1959, has operated since then as Jumptown/Orange, and moved into its new building in April 2006. The Turners Falls legacy remains at Jumptown in the student gear, very well-maintained and still embroidered "Turners Falls."

At various times, Turners had Beech 18s, a DC-3, a Lodestar, Dornier 228s and Twin Otters (in addition to Cessnas and the occasional visiting Caribou and Beaver.)

From 1996 to 200? Jumptown moved to Turners for at least one weekend a year when there was an airshow at Orange, but I know of no jumping there at all in the past two or three years. A beautiful DZ, with great views of (and occasional landings in) the Connecticut River off the west end of the runway.

HW

[tbrown 26]

Thanks Howard. I remember one time choosing to land a Paracommander on the other side of the river after a rather long spot.

Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

[drjump 0]

How about sunset loads into the 'Old Stone Lodge'?
Turner's answer to Inn jumps at Orange.
Don

[piper17 1]

Bob Elliott must have been spotting.

"A man can never have too much red wine, too many books, or too much ammunition"...Rudyard Kipling

[howardwhite 6]

There was a hazard at the Lodge that did not happen at the Inn -- geese. Not only did they hiss at jumpers but they also, well, "soiled" large portions of the ground.

HW