Identify this canopy

[howardwhite 6]

Anyone care to identify this canopy?
No prizes awarded -- just bragging rights.

HW
(p.s.-- I know what it is.)

[Zing 2]

Its a Hornet.

Zing Lurks

[darkwing 5]

Is it a volplane?

-- Jeff
My Skydiving History

[JerryBaumchen 1,451]

Hey Zing,

Here is a Hornet story for you.

Mick Bevens ('74 US Team member) was running a small dz up in Bellingham, WA and Pioneer sent him a Hornet to try out and give them some feedback.

After a bunch of jumps, he decided that the rearmost suspension lines really didn't do much so he cut them off. It still opened kind of ratty.

Some time later, Mick wanted a square reserve so he just packed the Hornet into his reserve container. He said that he did it because it was the only extra square that he had available.

Jerry

[Zing 2]

I had one for a short time in the late 70s (??) ... as I recall, the bottom skin only went back about a third of the way and the single-surface tail had those slots in it. It wasn't a bad canopy, and it packed fairly small, but there were better parachutes around.

Zing Lurks

[jonstark 8]

Yepper; it's a Hornet.

Interestingly; Bill Coe in his earliest efforts building canpoies was keenly interested in it. He owned and jumped one for years and was interested in two things. It packed really small and it was a single surface square. He tried to refine the design but gave up after some success with an early itteration of his PD canopy.

jon

[howardwhite 6]

As I said, I knew what it was -- Zing spoiled the game by posting the right answer 20 minutes after I posted.
The pic was scanned from a Pioneer ad, and the jumper is (I believe) Gary Pond, D-6969.
The Volplane guess was reasonable, although the Volplane (on which I have maybe 200 jumps), did not have the slots in the tail. The Hornet was Pioneer's next attempt at a square. I was not actively working for PI at the time it came out, and never jumped one, but I did see someone get seriously hurt stalling it very high -- she was an old-time jumper with not even that many PC jumps.
I never looked closely at it, but assumed that it was not really "single-surface," but like the Volplane had a lower surface that terminated in a "valve" part way back.
Didn't know the Bill Coe story; interesting. And I know that unlike the Volplane, it did pack up small.

HW

[Zing 2]

Sorry Howard, didn't mean to spoil the game ... what else you got?

Zing Lurks

[howardwhite 6]

  Quote

... what else you got?

This.
For extra points:
1. Name the designer of the canopy;
2. Name the jumper;
3. Describe what current (military) application uses this design.

HW

[Zing 2]

Well, that'd be Nate Pond jumping the Vortex Ring parachute. I believe it was designrd by the same guy who built the Barish Wing Sail. I did some drop tests for scaled down versions of the ring sail that were meant to be used to drop flares and other observation equipment.

And he's jumping into Long Island Sound off New London, Conn.

Zing Lurks

[howardwhite 6]

Damn, yr good.
It was David Barish, and it was the Sailwing, not the Wing Sail.
I have one of the "scaled down versons" built under current military contract, and will drag it out of the garage and take a picture of it.
Geez, I thought this one was pretty obscure, although it is in some of the old books. I showed it to Nate this summer and he just laughed. Got to go rummaging through the archives some more.
HW

[JerryBaumchen 1,451]

Hi Howard,

Zing just beat me to it as to what, who designed; but I did not know that was Nate Pond under it.

BTW, Nate is D-69 and his son is D-6969, right?

As for pretty obscure, we're getting there ourselves.

Jerry

[howardwhite 6]

  Quote

BTW, Nate is D-69 and his son is D-6969, right?

Yup. But please don't ask me to explain this "coincidence."
Nate could, of course, have been D-3 or so, but chose otherwise.

HW

[howardwhite 6]

O.K., here's another.
I have rather crudely airbrushed out identifying information on the front of the canopy.

HW

[Zing 2]

I won't spoil this one, Howard, but i distinctly recall that this main (also a reserve) was advertised to have landings that are "Firm, but not bonecrushing."

Zing Lurks

[howardwhite 6]

  Quote

i distinctly recall that this main (also a reserve) was advertised to have landings that are "Firm, but not bonecrushing."

Not landings, and not so dramatic as you remember.

HW

[Zing 2]

I stand corrected, sir. You are correct. I have all sorts of wierd facts and such stored in the old brain cell, but occasionally I get some things confused ... more often nowadays than in the past.

Zing Lurks

[JerryBaumchen 1,451]

Hi Howard,

Don't recall the canopy; the only thing I remember with a Cat's Eye was Pioneer's 23 ft Tri-Conical. Pioneer was just behind the curve of what was going on with gear development out here on the west coast. They were doing their damndest to catch up but never did. By then, most folks had left Pioneer and their sport gear way behind them.

However, that does look like a Jerry Bird (no ripcord) reserve container.

Jerry

[jonstark 8]

That reinforced tri-con was a bear to pack. The tape lines were really bulky and hard to get into a good place in some containers. Luckily i had a Pop-Top that it fit just OK. Mine was a black and yellow one that had seen Knights service.

jon

[darkwing 5]

That's a Pioneer 23-foot triconical main, part of the famous Jerry Bird RW system they had.

-- Jeff
My Skydiving History

[howardwhite 6]

  Quote

That's a Pioneer 23-foot triconical main, part of the famous Jerry Bird RW system they had.

Yup. Attached is a picture of JB wearing the system plus more description of the canopy. Note the spelling of the last word.
I was at Orange most weekends when the Wings of Orange were practicing there. There was general wonderment that they were jumping rounds and front reserves when all the cool jumpers had PCs in their pigs.

HW

[JerryBaumchen 1,451]

Hi Howard,

When that rig came out and we saw the first one, a local gear dealer said that the most expensive part of the rig was the Capewells and the Velcro.

Jerry

[howardwhite 6]

  Quote

When that rig came out and we saw the first one, a local gear dealer said that the most expensive part of the rig was the Capewells and the Velcro.

Well, there was a lot of Velcro on the reserve closing flap......
The catalog describes it as "...the first reserve container that allows you to concentrate on jumping and never worry about accidental activation of your reserve." Funny, that was not something I lost a lot of concentration over.
I don't remember when the term"rip-off" was first used to describe it.

HW

[darkwing 5]

Notice in the photo that Jerry Bird still looks the same.

I also don't get where the 18mph number comes from. Maybe assuming you are comfortable going as fast backwards as you are forwards in a no wind situation, assume a 9mph canopy speed (which still seems too fast).

-- Jeff
My Skydiving History

[howardwhite 6]

  Quote

Notice in the photo that Jerry Bird still looks the same.

Here he is at Orange in 1974

HW