steve1

Jerry, I visited with Jack D. on this forum about a year ago. You might want to look up "First All Collegiant 8-Way". There is a good picture of him there. I'd bring that back up here, but I'm about computer illiterate, and not sure how that's done. I wrote a story recently BSing about that event complete with pictures. I thought I might send it into Parachutist and see if they might want it. But then again I can't spell either, so this may be the only place people read my stuff. At any rate it sounds like Jack is enjoying racing and has a lot of memories of jumping way back when. He sounds like a great guy. I wish I had known him better. I recall making several jumps out of a Beech with Jack that was piloted by Elevator or Otis when Elevator was about 15. We'd take off at Sheridan and jump at a nearby airport. (Does MacMinville sound right?) We built little stars by todays standards, but back then they were considered "big". Those were the days!.....Steve1

Bones, Do you remember Jack Dechristopher, or Elevator the pilot? Those are about the only people I remember from that DZ (around "74" or "75"). And of course Ted.....Steve1

Lou, I jumped with a guy at Lost Prairie a couple years ago who was Special Forces. He had been all over the middle east including Iraq. He said you wouldn't believe all the stuff his team walked away from over there, but there were also times when he wasn't able to walk away. He said he was tired of getting shot up and ending up in the hospital. He had twenty years in, had a teenage boy at home, and he really wanted to retire. He said he didn't know if they were going to let him out. I wish I could remember his name, you might know him. I thought it strange that he had a full beard and still in the military, but then I got to thinking that was probably to blend in with the locals over there.

I hate to hi-jack this thread by telling war stories...but these are good ones. There were a ton of pilots being shot down during the latter part of that war. The communists had a huge number of surface to air missles that were very deadly. I talked with one Marine fighter pilot who evaded death more than once by simply making a big turn at the last second, hoping the missle wouldn't follow. Can you imagine how many gees that would put on your body, or how scary that would be! He made close to a 100 combat missions in a phantom jet. He said most Marine pilots also had to fly helicopters for half their tour, but in spent his entire time in a Phantom. Some of this was over North Vietnam where he definitely didn't want to bail out. Some nights he'd look down at all the lights below, and knew there was noone like him down there to help. He said the SAM missles looked just like a telephone pole coming up to get you. More than once he had a communist mig in his sights, but couldn't shoot unless they showed some form of aggressive action. One of his best stories involved refueling over the gulf... One day they had a C-130 full of fuel. They all flew in formation and one by one they would move up and refuel (in flight). They were waiting their turn when a new navy pilot (who hadn't been in country very long) came barreling in out of the clouds. He ran right into the c-130 and it burst into a huge fireball (complete with flying metal) directly in fron of them. At that moment he thought he was dead, but he was able to keep his jet flying. His wing man sucked in a bunch of junk and he had to bail out over the ocean. They definitely had more guts than I ever will.....Steve1

COL. Iceal Hambleton? Gees...Some days I have trouble remembering my own name. It may have been. I read the story many years ago in Readers Digest....Steve1

I recall one Vietnam veteran commenting on what the best weapon is. His reply was communications. If you can call in enough fire support, when needed, you are indeed a deadly weapon. I remember reading a story about a pilot in North Vietnam who was shot down and trying to evade enemy troops. All he had was a pistol, compass, map, radio and little else. That doesn't sound very lethal does it. One evening he found himself overlooking a road intersection that had a truck convoy filled with supplies and enemy troops. He called in a fire mission on those coordinates and then sat back to watch the show. When it was all over he was awed at all the death and destruction that lay before him....And he was the one who made it happen. This scenario was repeated a few more times before he was extracted. He said he felt really powerful everytime he got out his little radio to inflict hurt on the enemy. Interesting stuff!...Steve1

Gee whiz! Talk about changes in technology. It's hard to keep up with. I went through the list of weapons and didn't recongize much. One thing has probably stayed the same....that being the physical ability of an individual soldier. Packing too much weight isn't a good thing over adverse terrain. Even the weight of your ammo adds up. These are all nice weapons, but for some missions having less weapon may be smarter. I'd say listen to Lou Diamond. He's been there and knows what he's talking about.....Steve1

They had to raise the maximum age AGAIN, and reduce physical fitness requirements AGAIN, to do so. At this rate you'll soon be able to sign up for the Army as you collect your Social Security benefits. That's a good point. It seems like standards to serve in the military have dropped considerably in the recent year. When I went through infantry training in 1970 there were a ton of low life people being drafting or even enlisting. Don't get me wrong there were also some of the greatest people you could ever meet, in the military, during that time period, but the standards had been dropped so low, that they would take just about anyone with a heart beat just to meet their troop requirements. Personally I would have hated to go into combat with a lot of them because you couldn't depend on them. Many of them were told to either go to prison or Nam. Many I trained with were common criminals. One even bragged to us how he shot a white guy in a parking lot, killing him, and got away with it. I was glad to leave this bunch. Most of them had orders for Nam. Going to to S.F. training was a great change. There was a different caliber of people there. You had to have high standards and even a secret security clearance for S.F. school. (I would have hated to have been in a grunt outfit during that time period.) It seems to me that history is just repeating itself. So if the politicians can't get enough people to serve by lowering standards and extending their time on active duty, the draft is probably the next logical step to get enough troops. I really hope it doesn't come to that. I doubt if the draft now days would be any more fair than it was earlier in history. People of wealth could probably find a way out of it....Steve1

Is this the same packing cathy that used to pack at Lost Prairie? Maybe I'll get down to Georgia some day to make a jump at your D.Z. I trained to make my first jump there while in fright, courtesy of the US Army. Are you still running every day before packing parachutes? I wish I had that kind of energy and ambition.....Steve1

Bob's a tough old bird and one of my heroes in life. I hope he gets well soon....Steve1

No...Those aren't hippies!...That's what hard-core jumpers looked like back in the 70's. Notice that a couple of us were wearing farmer's coveralls. We planned to go to the collegiant nationals that year, wearing them. The plan was to look like farmers with rigs. I was broke that fall and didn't go to school, so I missed out on all the fun....Steve1

Does the Travelair come in a bi-plane model also? The only ones I've seen had the single wing on top. Bob Johnson of Johnson's flying service (in Missoula, Mt.) used tri-motors and travelairs for flying cargo and Smoke jumpers back in the 40's. I think there are extremely few still flying. My Dad lived with Johnson when he was in high school and flew co-pilot in both of these aircraft during that time period. At any rate this aircraft has a lot of history behind it....Steve1

I'll bet you've never jumped one of these....Steve1

BUT...You ARE a DANCER! Oh yes,....I'm still quite light on my feet for an old fart. I can still do a good "La-coo-cher-a-cha", but many say that my true talent lies in break dancing, moonwalking, and that sort of thing. It just all depends on how much I've had to drink before hand....Steve1

QuoteIt that YOU? /reply] No...I don't have ear rings or a hat like that....Steve1

I have to admit that is one nice rig! I was really jealous...... Hopefully my rigger will be done with my PC, before the boogie next year, and I'll try it out......Steve1

This isn't exactly a jump story, but it's definitely a scary story from the old days. And it may not be in good taste, but here goes anyhow.... Back in the early 70's there was probably more drugs being used by jumpers when it came time to party than today. Being your basic redneck I was never part of all that, but a lot of my old pals were. At any rate there was an old Idaho jumper (now deceased) who was at home and he decided to try some LSD. He also had a bad case of diahrea, so he headed for the nearest toilet. About then he started tripping out. He had been gone for a long time so his wife started a search for her delinquent husband. She walked into the bathroom, and there was her true-love with his pants down around his ankles, doing a huge, panoramic, finger-painting on their bathroom wall.....with poo poo. Now if that isn't a scary story I don't know what is!....and it's supposed to be true.....Steve1

In 1970 I was sitting in the Green Beret Parachute Club in Ft. Bragg drinking a cold one. We were supposed to be pulling a detail, but we ghosted out and our sargent in charge showed us this really cool hang out. There were freefall photos on every wall and I was fascinated. I only had about about eight army static line jumps, and knew that someday I was going to be a skydiver. At any rate our sargent was a sport jumper and he was doing his best to sell me his para-commander. He had orders for Nam and he wanted to sell it. So one of the dumb questions I asked him was about automatic openers. So, in a Southern drawl he went on to educate me about how they worked...."Yep, I used to have one on my rig. I was in the middle of a style routine, doing a back flip, when wham...my damn chute opens. It jerked the hell out of me. When I got on the ground I took off my harness and ripped the damn thing. I then threw the son-of-a- bitch as far as I could into the bushes. So, at any rate that's about all I know about the early automatic openers.....Steve1

Not true on the wheelchair. Wally was ambulatory when I first met him in 1973, when I did my first jump at his DZ. He limped a lot, but I never saw him in a wheelchair. He died of "natural causes" (lots of mileage on him) in about 1987 (I'm pretty uncertain about the year). ............................................................. I never saw Wally in a wheelchair. I saw him a few times after the accident in Idaho and Montana. He may have had one stashed someplace, but I never saw it. I stopped for Boise's boogie last Saturday. It was interesting to see a big picture of Wally on the wall. Only a few people there still remember him. Someone there said that the para-plane jump was his last. Where have all the years gone? Darkwing, was you there at that Boogie? Maybe I jumped with you....Steve1

Sounds good Jeane...My PC may not be ready to go since I need some work on the tape wells. My smokejumper rigger is busy on fires. Maybe I can get some quick work done on it at the Prairie. I'd love to jump your Pap if not. I'll bring the boat...Steve1

Thanks for the help. Gary Lewis's manual shows the slot patterns for the various PC's. (Even the Russian paracommander). It's really packed with info. I learned a lot by reading parts of it and am still referring back to it. It came with my PC when it arrived. I'm not sure where a guy would go to buy one, but I've seen them for sale on e-bay. It makes for interesting reading.....Steve1

I'll keep that in mind Ripcord4...Steve1

Jerry Bird's All Stars came to our jump meet in Montana during the early 70's to jump Missoula's DC-3's. I was a newbie to the sport back then. B. J. Worth had like 200 jumps back then, and was one of the organizers of that meet. Actually they were smoke jumper aircraft. DC-3's were considered top of the line jump ships back then. If I remember right, they did some world record attempts that same weekend. And yes, it was out of a good old DC-3. The world's record then was like a 30 way round. My, how things have changed....Steve1

Hey Paul, Hope you can make it. I heard Kevin hit a power line with a dangling rip cord, (back in the 70's) and the juice deformed his hand somewhat. He was probably flying that same Red Devil when it happened. I don't know all the details on that, but I'll bet Fred does. Back in the early 70's Fred, Kevin, and I had the only red P.C.'s in the state. It's good to be famous for something. And bring Anne with you. Maybe we'll get you both in the air again....Steve1

............................................................. I appreciate the advice. I stood up the last Mk1 that I jumped a year or so ago. If I can modify this one to fall about the same, I'd love to make some jumps on it each year. I don't want a rig that I can't jump. According to Gary Lewis, by making these modifications to the comp model, it will be almost identical to a Mk1. The modifications are fairly simple. (shortening up the two long turn slots, and putting a data panel over the large drive hole in the back). The only real difference from a Mk1 will be that it will be short lined which can increase the rate of decent somewhat. Mr. Lewis says that if you weigh less than 190 pounds there should be no noticeable difference in decent from a MK1 (even though it is short lined). I've never jumped a short lined PC, so I don't have a clue if this info. is accurate. This canopy looks to be in really great shape and I hate to see it just sitting in storage someplace. I was jumping yesterday with a smoke jumper (skydiver-rigger) who says he is willing to do the work on it, and he wants to jump it also. Maybe he's crazy also, but I think I'll give it a try. With French jump boots and a good PLF...What could go wrong? If the landings are too rough I'll make a para-sail out of it....Steve1