lodestar

None other, that one and a few others that are excellent reads....

Shot in the dark on this but weren't the peas primarily to cushion impact when going downwind for accuracy? There was another use which usually happened at night and involved the disc and a member of the opposite....sex..... I'd think with the advent of squares and the diminishing number of accuracy jumpers the expense may be a factor.... Just guessing....

Wow! I'm blown away by your most generous offer Richard, although I'm not current, it would be a totally amazing thing to just take a ride! Those are the most awesome aircraft I was ever in and flew. By Frank, do you mean Frank Youngquist (sp) I remember when he flew the 95N to Florida and I believe Searles bought it at that time, somewhere I have a picture of Frank, Jeff and Bonnie standing in front of the 196. I'll have to dig that up. I was flying a 182 for Wisconsin Skydivers which burned up one Easter, I then contacted Searles and got to flying at Rainbow, in Franklin and there met Frank on occasion. Don't remember anything of the crashes or of the sister ship. That would have been in 1965-66. I then moved to Chicago and started flying at Bong AFB in 1967, left there in 69 to fly for Searles at the Hills. I'd love to take you up on your offer, let me think and figure out when would be a good time, awful busy right now but PM me with your email and we can get together for that. Wow, still spinning with the memories....thank you , thank you , thank you....I'm not far away in St. Augustine. Tuna...

Yep, I think Tony Patterson aka Ferret, but dont' think Revis is in there....

Man, Oh Man, is that gorgeous, hard to believe I have about 300 hours in that sweet thing.... Must have cost him a bundle.....but is it ever worth it.... Thank you so much for finding that.....does the heart good to see it!!

http://i524.photobucket.com/...h443/untitled196.jpg I'm thinking the second from left in this shot may be Roger Ramjet?

Larry, that's what I thought but wasn't sure....I think Hoop designed the one with stars around the perimiter... I'll take credit for the "Z" though, I first had that painted on the doors of my green pickup we used at the DZ, as you may remember the "Z" is a takeoff from the ZigZag papers....might have had some significance back in those days....

A couple more, Hoop, if you're out there, I think the patch could be the very first one before the one with stars on the outside. I'm wondering who designed this one.... http://i524.photobucket.com/albums/cc329/redfish443/ZHills-02d12.jpg http://i524.photobucket.com/albums/cc329/redfish443/untitled196.jpg http://i524.photobucket.com/albums/cc329/redfish443/DSCF1354.jpg There are three new ones, two more of the 196 and one of the patch I found recently. You will still have to cut and paste this in your browser window but these are direct links. I'm drawing a blank on who is in the second picture but all of them were together in my upload.

Any clues on the other picture? Apparently I was at the controls, the prop was spinning and only recognize Larry and I think Donna? Might be Phil Smith in the aircraft behind me but can't make him out well. Interestingly enough, Ty Zellers was nice enough to gift me with a wrist compass which was Seal issue, I still have that....I'd forgotten about that till Larry identified him....

Ran across these two pics.... http://s524.photobucket.com/albums/cc329/redfish443/?action=view¤t=ZHills-02a12.jpg http://s524.photobucket.com/albums/cc329/redfish443/?action=view¤t=ZHills-02a12.jpg Thought someone might be interested. You may have to cut and paste to get there....DZ site didn't want to load them due to size... That would be me in the blue T-shirt and headband.

you might want to ask Pat Works about the time myself and Sally Parsons stopped in Chicago to visit overnight....particularly if he still has the picture that I left on his camera that morning I left....he may post it, and with my blessings.... Tuna...... I remember that mass jump, we had found a wonderful ex military pilot, Jim Haerer(sp) who directed the various pilots in the proper technique for formation flying....I was flying the 196 that day....one helluva drop as I remember...

Thanks Pop, That rang a lot of bells....I remember Coppe, Wolford, Jenks and Wimpy..... Hope you are well, you may remember me from Zhills, Tuna.....I knew you and your son from those years....was there in 69-72. I think it was through Hasenfuss I got to work there, he had a 190 so I was familiar with those and somehow connected with Bartlett, don't remember exactly how but remembered the flying. May well have been on Coppe's days off....

I do remember Roger Wolford as one of the jumpers....there were no squares when I was there. What sticks in my mind though was the river....and not the lake....thanks gents

Anyone around who remembers the summer jumpers in Wisconsin Dells? It would have been Tommy Bartletts Water Shows, and I remember flying for him in (I think) a 195, back probably in the summer of 67-68. It was a tough jump for most, you had to land on a beach in front of viewer bleachers and Tommy was pretty specific about landing only on the beach and not the water. The jump was usually from 2,800 and with the winds and variables it made the jumps challenging at best, you had to parallel the river and turn in at the last minute to land on the beach. All this with PC's.... The jumps were in conjunction with a water ski show. The setting was the Wisconsin Dells, the river was the Wisconsin River and the "Dells" were huge rock formations that tourists would view from riverboats that Bartlett had. Just don't remember any of the peeps that were around that summer....but had a blast. Further searching on the net I found that the first show with jumpers was in '66 but appears that it was held on Lake Delton and not the river as I remembered. I do have a distinct memory of flying jumpers and letting them out on the river, but it may have in fact been Lake Delton. I'll poke around some more and try and clarify that.

Anyone seen or heard from Mike Patterson (Rumpson)?

Thank you Howard, nice group of pictures. It was a curiosity why the one parachute on the exit string was white and the others OD. Leads me to wonder if there were any white T-10's out there. It looked a bit large for a reserve. Could have been the standard 28' maybe? Have you any wisdom to add on that one picture? And, by the by, I just wanted to send a nice "attaboy" over to you for your consistently good and unusual posts and incredible pictures of those days and of present, you certainly have a wealth of information and experience and are a wonderful asset to the board and us curious lurkers. I'd like to thank you for that..... Tuna

Right this moment on DishTV ch 276 (NGEO) one hour special on DB Cooper.

The exact dates are fuzzy but I can remember a couple of guys coming through Z-hills just before I left there in 72 who were working for Strong enterprises who were testing deployment methods for the new squares....they showed several of us the new "diapers" and also some incredible bruises they had gotten from jumping test jumps without the diapers. If my memory is correct, that would put the developmental process for diapers somewhere in that year.

By Doggies, what a beautiful thing.......kinda nice knowing what the taxpayers money can do to protect our national forests...... But still, it's a sweetheart, looks outrageously modern and has all the toys in addition to the looks.... Maybe Santa will bring me one to play with, preferably on floats.....retractable ones of course.....

I've been trying to make sense of this thread and having said that, I can only but ignore the brilliance of your collective intellect and return to the unconscious vastness if unknowing. Give me ambiguity or give me something else....

It would seem to present a difficult problem with fitting harnesses and gear to their bodies. I'd wonder if they could physically withstand opening shock. I do remember having some issues with small jumpers, those under 5'2" were often difficult to fit standard harnesses to. Any riggers out there ever put a harness/rig on one of them?? Another thought as well, how much do they weigh?

What color is the parachute that the FBI currently holds as evidence from the Cooper hijack? What color is the tie that remains as evidence?

At Z-hills one really bad rainy day, everyone was bored shitless and looking to get into trouble....three jumpers, I remember Mike Patterson being one, pestered Jeff Searles to let them jump out at low altitude into or near a big thunderhead, hoping to catch the updraft and see where it took them...Searles okayed the jump only if I would take em up...I was young and reckless so I said sure thing....but I wasn't gonna get too close to that thunderhead... Off we went, got up to about 5 grand or so, I flew them as close as I could with the 182 (6472A) till there was significant buffeting going on....out they went...opened immediately and went laterally at about 40-50 mph estimated....hauled ass Northward from what I remember into some nearby wooded swampy areas where they walked out from. Meantime the T-storm nailed the Hills shortly after I landed and tied the aircraft down.... A few peeps went out looking for them and eventually found them looking like drowned rats about 7 or 8 miles from the airport.... That's what they did for fun in those days....

Thanks Wendy, his avatar looks like Phil and I wasn't sure if he was one in the same... Sorry Phil, didn't mean to confuse you any more than I am..... Tuna

Fast Phil, If you were the Phil SmithI remember from z-hills let me take you back some... I remember one evening, very likely that alcohol was involved and I think in your apartment at the time, you and several others were testing the theory that you could jump on a waterbed and burst it.....there were no winds present at the time, and I don't recall whether or not the waterbed burst but I remember you,,,,yes you, standing on a dresser, leaping onto the waterbed with a classic plf landing and hollering "GERONIMO!" Remember that ? Tuna