got one for you guys

[GQ_jumper 4]

My teammate asked me a good question this morning that I couldn't answer. He wanted to know the oldest DZ in the US, he said Raeford, I thought it was in SOCal, I know Elsinore goes back a ways, I did a little searching and got half an answer. I know the oldest DZ still in operation is in the NW, but if anyone could tell me where it al began in the US that would be great.

Thanks all.

History does not long entrust the care of freedom to the weak or the timid.
--Dwight D. Eisenhower

[airtwardo 7]

Orange, Ma.

~ If you choke a Smurf, what color does it turn? ~

[BillyVance 35]

Quote

Orange, Ma.

Bingo! Just what I was gonna say.

It's also the oldest continuing operated DZ in the US.

"Mediocre people don't like high achievers, and high achievers don't like mediocre people." - SIX TIME National Champion coach Nick Saban

[JerryBaumchen 1,467]

Yup, Orange is the oldest commercial operation (but no longer the same operators so that begs the question). However, I think some club operations predate it. The oldest continuing club is the Seattle Skydivers; but they are no longer involved in any operation, training, etc. Just a social function these days.

Jerry

[howardwhite 6]

As noted, Orange Sport Parachute Center, which opened May 2, 1959, was the first commercial parachute center in the country, but obviously people were making sport jumps elsewhere before that.

The people who started Parachutes Incoporated, the operator of Orange and, later, other centers, included Jacques-André Istel, D-2, Lew Sanborn,D-1, and Nate Pond, D-69. All, but especially Istel, had been visiting college campuses in the Northeast for some time before that, stirring up interest in creating college clubs.

The first collegiate Nationals meet was held in 1957 at Goodhill Farm in Connecticut, the Pond family place. Many early sport jumps were made at Goodhill -- I guess that makes it a DZ. People still jump there the first weekend of every August.

The Mass. Sport Parachute Club -- which still exists and currently operates the Jumptown DZ at Orange -- also dates back to at least the spring of 1959. MSPC jumped at Turners Falls, MA from then until 1996 when it moved 15 miles east to Orange. (PI had closed more than a decade earlier, so there was a gap in operations there.)

And I'm sure the west coast, and parts in between, will also chime in.

HW

[AirCav 0]

The oldest DZ for continued operation in the US is Skydive Greene County in Xenia Ohio. Founded in 1961 and has never stopped operations.

GW685,D3888,C5052,SCS843

[airtwardo 7]

Quote

The oldest DZ for continued operation in the US is Skydive Greene County in Xenia Ohio. Founded in 1961 and has never stopped operations.

Didn't LSPC start before that??

They're still rockin'!

~ If you choke a Smurf, what color does it turn? ~

[JerryBaumchen 1,467]

I think that the Seattle Skydivers and their successors at the Snohomish airport go back way farther than that.

Jerry

[jdthomas 0]

I wonder where the kstate club fits in to this.. that club has been around awhile as well.. Off to research that now!

www.greenboxphotography.com

[steve1 5]

This is a little off the subject, but I've been told many times, that our skydiving club in Montana is the oldest continually running "COLLEGIATE" club in the U.S. It was started in the early 60's possibly late 50's. I have a boogie T-shirt at home that has the exact year. I'll have to go find it.....Steve1

[howardwhite 6]

The UMass/Amherst parachute club was around in 1959 (see attached). It kind of morphed into the Mass. Sport Parachute Club, which is the operating club for Jumptown. UMass/Amherst students are jumping there.

(A slightly strained reach for "oldest continuous" status.)

HW

[JerryBaumchen 1,467]

Hi Howard,

And the guy in the photo is jumping the 'latest' in canopies, a 1.6.

All those that know what a 1.6 is, raise your hand.

Jerry

[Zing 2]

That was the new-fangled type of material that was supposed to have a lower porosity.

Zing Lurks

[Erroll 80]

Quote

The UMass/Amherst parachute club was around in 1959 (see attached). It kind of morphed into the Mass. Sport Parachute

I was amused to see the second jumper referred to as a "Sky Diver" (in qoutes). Clearly a newish term at the time.

[JerryBaumchen 1,467]

Zing-zing, we have a winner.

Jerry

[howardwhite 6]

Quote

And the guy in the photo is jumping the 'latest' in canopies, a 1.6.

The "guy in the photo" is D-3. The other guy is D-245.
(I figured everyone knows what a 1.6 is.)

HW

[wartload 0]

There was a sport parachuting club in the Washington DC area in the 1930s. I'd have to research their DZ location(s), though. They kept having to move DZs because of legislation attempting to do away with the "suicidal" sport.

[skybytch 273]

Quote

And I'm sure the west coast, and parts in between, will also chime in.

If I'm remembering my history correctly, Istel also ran a dz at Hemet, California at about the same time.

[howardwhite 6]

Yup. Officially opening in January, 1960, with Lew Sanborn in charge.

Picture (stolen from Thom Lyons' Project PI site) attached.

PI, of course, later ran a DZ at Elsinore for some time.

HW

[PhreeZone 20]

Greene County in Xenia Ohio opened in 1961 and still has the same owner and location.

Yesterday is history
And tomorrow is a mystery

Parachutemanuals.com