piper17

Jack, By brief, I meant less than 24 hours. Don't judge me to your performance capabilities! "A man can never have too much red wine, too many books, or too much ammunition"...Rudyard Kipling

I did NOT need to hand deploy; I was enjoying female companionship at the time. "A man can never have too much red wine, too many books, or too much ammunition"...Rudyard Kipling

Don't know who this one belonged to but it was in Deland during the winter of '78-79. I enjoyed a brief romantic interlude in this aircraft late one evening.... "A man can never have too much red wine, too many books, or too much ammunition"...Rudyard Kipling

When you say "the US Team", you are, of course, talking about Mirror Image - the eight-way team. The Army Parachute Team, the Golden Knights, were the US 4-way team and jumping Pioneer Merlins for mains. They may have had K-XX reserves but I can't remember for sure. Just had to get a plug in for my old employer, Pioneer Parachute Company. ;>) "A man can never have too much red wine, too many books, or too much ammunition"...Rudyard Kipling

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

I still can't find a lot of my best slides but here are a few from the World Meet in Z-Hills. Pioneer was supplying Merlin mains to the Knights who made up the US 4-way team...those slides are ??? somewhere. Booth duty in the tent with a dirt floor, while mostly boring and hot, did have its occasional benefits. "A man can never have too much red wine, too many books, or too much ammunition"...Rudyard Kipling

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

....in the red?!? After all the money Pioneer paid for on-site advertising??? ;>) Sorry, Hoop - Couldn't resist. I also remember BJ telling all the exhibitors long before the meet (at a USPA or PIA meeting perhaps) that he wasn't sure where we would be locating our booths but it WOULDN'T be a tent with a dirt floor. Of course, that was exactly where we ended up albiet pine bows covered the dirt/sand floor. I remember blowing my nose for weeks and getting black soot....gross but there it is. "A man can never have too much red wine, too many books, or too much ammunition"...Rudyard Kipling

Well, Howard named a couple - Dave Adams and Kari . Ray Williams is the red-headed and bearded guy and is an Aussie. He eventually got into judging and I ran into him in France or some other European country judging and he worked in Malaysia for awhile doing some rigging for Pioneer when we sold a large order to their military around 1980. The big-haired guy on the left was English. We picked him up at Z-Hills to fill out the team. I don't remember his name any more. There is Danny Thompson, another ex-Pieces of Eight New Englander on the right wearing a hat. Also, a guy from Florida (his girl friend is in one of my pictures of the C-46) on the left wearing a hat but his name has faded from memory. Charlie Greenfield (aka Captain Smooth) long hair and beard (next to Kari S) was from Michigan who went to the Gulch to jump. I last ran into him at a Freak Brother Convention a bunch of years ago. After about 35 years, that's the best I can do. Sorry! "A man can never have too much red wine, too many books, or too much ammunition"...Rudyard Kipling

How about a young Mike Ginnis, later of Visions and other teams. He was a Pan-Am stew...sorry, flight attendant, at the time. "A man can never have too much red wine, too many books, or too much ammunition"...Rudyard Kipling

If the temperature on the ground is less than my age, I don't jump! I've never seen snow around when it was 62+ degrees! Time to move to Florida. "A man can never have too much red wine, too many books, or too much ammunition"...Rudyard Kipling

Here are some shots from the meet. Most were overexposed and this is the best I could do with Photoshop Elements. The team is the Adams Family. We won the "Meet Director's trophy" for sequential RW - the first year it was awarded. How many of the team do you recognize? The C-46 was used that year. Slow climber but a lot of people on board. "A man can never have too much red wine, too many books, or too much ammunition"...Rudyard Kipling

The part about the control locks for the horizontal stabilizer is NOT true. See my description of the event above. The DC-3 crash in Evansville, IN on 13 Dec 77 with the University of Evansville basketball team WAS caused by the rudder lock and aileron lock being left in place compounded by a weight/balance issue. I was a pilot for that company at the time and, as I stated before, had been flying right seat with Chris until this load. There was a theory being put about at the USPA Awards Banquet that year that the Evansville crash might have been attributed to the same control cable issue as the Richmond crash (and some from the FAA were at the banquet as I recall) but the NTSB report for Evansville identified control locks and weight/balance. There were other issues beyond that in the Evansville crash that were either not discovered or ignored but that's another story. I should imagine that there is an NTSB report for Richmond as well....but, perhaps not. "A man can never have too much red wine, too many books, or too much ammunition"...Rudyard Kipling

Someone did go out the door as it was crashing and suffered some injuries but I can't remember exactly what. Someone sitting at the "hamburger door" (the cockpit emergency exit) got hit by a prop and was pretty dinged up. What happened to cause the crash (as I recall and I am not going to swear that this is exactly what happened) was a turnbuckle in the elevator control cable hung up on a rib. The cable had worn a groove in the rib. I recall (vaguely) that there was an old AD to correct the problem but this aircraft had recently come into the US from Canada and this AD had been missed. When Chris realized he had a control problem was right at V2, he pulled the power off just as the aircraft popped off the ground. I don't think it got up more than about 20 feet in the air. His quick reactions prevented a much more serious crash. That's the best I can do with this thirty year-old memory. Chris Price would be the best one to ask about this. "A man can never have too much red wine, too many books, or too much ammunition"...Rudyard Kipling

The slide has a Feb 77 date but I'm assuming I took this at the Turkey Meet in 1976. I guess I could check my log books but I have enough of a mess what with thirty-seven years of skydiving slides strewn about! Round engines galore. Hoop will have to tell you who owned the various aircraft. "A man can never have too much red wine, too many books, or too much ammunition"...Rudyard Kipling

Here is a shot of the DC-3 that crashed on take-off at Richmond, IN. I believe the year was 1978. Chris Price was in the left seat but I don't know who was in the right on that load. I had been flying with Chris up until this load but my 10-way team was called and I had to go jump. I had been flying DC-3s out of IND in 1977-78 for the company that crashed and killed the U of Evansville basketball team and missed that crash as I had flown a FedEx freight run the night before. I knew Chris and Bob Branch and was asked to fly right seat with Chris as they needed an experienced 3 pilot. I got lucky twice in one year! "A man can never have too much red wine, too many books, or too much ammunition"...Rudyard Kipling

Exactly right, Hoop. It's Bob Branch (who I saw again at the USPA Open House this past year after a very, very long time) and Jack Bergman. I'm not sure of the year, however....1978, 79, or 80. "A man can never have too much red wine, too many books, or too much ammunition"...Rudyard Kipling

A broken DC-3...nothing new here but quickly fixed. Who, When, and Where? "A man can never have too much red wine, too many books, or too much ammunition"...Rudyard Kipling

Some are easy while others might require dusting the cobwebs out of the brain. "A man can never have too much red wine, too many books, or too much ammunition"...Rudyard Kipling

That is Roger Ponce deLeon. "A man can never have too much red wine, too many books, or too much ammunition"...Rudyard Kipling

These are from March of 1976. It was a CPI road trip to warm, sunny Z-Hills during a cold, nasty New England winter. There is a VERY well-known RW guy in one of the pictures who most should recognize. "A man can never have too much red wine, too many books, or too much ammunition"...Rudyard Kipling

Jim, After almost thirty years, I'm not positive about much of anything except that I'm getting old! I do have another similar shot and I'll take a closer look with my reading/computer glasses on! "A man can never have too much red wine, too many books, or too much ammunition"...Rudyard Kipling

Jim, I was thinking that it was Connie Simpson, now Cox. "A man can never have too much red wine, too many books, or too much ammunition"...Rudyard Kipling

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

I guess the loads were backed up when I took this one. "A man can never have too much red wine, too many books, or too much ammunition"...Rudyard Kipling