SCR216

Damn, talk abut a tight exit. This looks like a pack of frozen fish falling out of the freezer. Sure wish we could have made exits this tight back when we did speed stars out of D-18's. I look forward to reading the answer to this one.

Jello Jerry, __________________________________________________ Ref: Then in '67 ( I 'think' ) Scotty Hamilton made a jump on an Irvin-version of a Rogallo design and wrote about in an article for PARACHUTIST. Irvin had obtained a TSO for that one & it was packed in a sleeve. I talked to Scotty about it a few years later and he said that you had to pull just 'before' you left the step and it still hit you like a freight-train. __________________________________________________ You got that one right. We jumped that puppy at Taft using a sleeve and when it opened it was like a cannon going off next to your head. My helmet had deep marks on each side from hard hardware hits almost every opening using a sleeve. We then tried an cross between a sleeve and a bag, but that was not good either so the next step was a bag, and that did the tick.

Hello Jim, Just wanted to add a little to your info. It might bring some more light to the Parawing history. In a white paper I've had for years: FLEXIBLE WINGS FOR MANEUVERING AND LANDING APPLICATION IN THE DE-COUPLED CONCEPT by: G. R. BARTE, JR. General Electric Company Philadelphia, Penn AIAA 5th Aerospace Sciences meeting Jan 23-26, 1967 -Historically, the first base point for flexible wing technology is the patent issued to Mr. Francis M. Rogallo in 1951. (Rogallo, Gertrude S., and Roallo, Francis M., Flexible Kite, U. S. Patent Office Number 2,546,078, March 20, 1951 -Rogallo, F. M., Lowry, John G., Croom, Delwin R., and Taylor, Robert T., "Preliminary Investigation of Paraglider," NASA TN D-443, 1960. -Rogallo, F.M. "Paraglider Recovery Systems." presented at IAS Meeting on Man's Proress in the Conquest of Space, St. Louis, Missouri, April 30, May 1-2, 1962. - Rogallo, F, M., "Flexible Wing Research and Development," -presented at the Symposium of Retardation and Recovery, Dayton, Ohio, November 13-14, 1962 Also in the paper: An all flexible parawing configuration was first flown in small sizes as a kite and glider in 1948.Durng the intensive recent development work on the all flexible parawing, a total of more than 100 manned deployment and flight were made, 57 and 58, initiated by the U. S. Army parachute team and the John F. Kennedy Center for Special Warfar at Ft Bragg, North Carolina. They were favorably impressed by its simplicity, dependability and control. The all flexible parawing has been successfully flown innumerable times in a 24-ft. (about 400-sq. ft. area) version and has been used for cargo drops. It is commercially available to sport jumpers and advanced versions are now being further tested at NASA-Langley Research Center. (This would be 1966 - 67 time frame [my words]) Ref: #57: Makulowich, 2nd Lt. Michael, "Project Flexwing," Sky diver, May 1966, pp. 18-19 Ref. #58: Hamilton, J. Scott, "Flight of the Parawing," Parachutist, September 1966 pp. 5-9 (As I remember it, I think Scotty was the USPA VP at the time [my words]) This is all very interesting to me because I worked at Irvin Airchute on the Delta II project with Ed Drumheller at the time. Well, enough from me for now. Regards, Dennis Also, check this out: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NASA_Paresev

Thanks Sandy, I talked with Don over the phone a few weeks ago and we had some great fun kicking around the BS we did over the years. That is the way I will remember him. Regards, Dennis

The clouds aren't the problem. It is the rain drops. The points are always facing up as you fall through them.

When I started jumping, the older guys at first were not sure if they wanted me on a load with them, but they didn't say anything to me other than, "keep your third eye open kid". They let me jump and fly into their formations and all of them kept their third eye one me and gave me a lot of room on break-off, wave-off, dump and landing. After a few like that things got better and better. Because of what those guys did for me 45 years ago I am still friends with most of them today. Some of us still get together to jump a few times a year (with some of the new kids on our loads). To me, jumping an old rig or new rig is the same thing. If you don't take the time to learn how to fly what you have, the results will be the same as if you try to fly and land with your eyes closed. The same thing goes for spotting or making a good exit from any type of aircraft. If you don't take the time to check the winds, do a pre-flight and or dirt-dive, you might be the one checking out. Just keep in mind you could take someone with you. Now, if all that sounds like an Old Fart funning on and on, I don't mind because that is how the friends I still have after 45 years in the sport always talked to me when I first started. Now days they just say, "cut the shit Dennis. We are finished jumping for the day, so pass the beer".

Man, you sure hit the nail right on the head with that one. Sometimes in our sport and others, we Old Farts puff up our chest and think we already have all of the answers. Just remember this day when you are older. It will remind you not to talk down to a younger jumper, or anyone else.

Here ya go Sandy, Gary Young, SCR#1 still lives in the North West. Gary's Dad was a pilot for us at Taft in the late 60's. I think Jim Dann, SCR#6 lives in the West. Both Gary and Jim attended a reunion held at Taft 1 1/2 years ago. Don also attended and jumped during the reunion. Bill Stage also attended that reunion.

Thanks Sandy, I talked with Don over the phone the first of the month. Don was the same as I always remember him over the past 45 years. Don said he was dragging his leg a little so we agreed to have a foot race down the Taft runway when we next meet. He said the only problem was, with both of us having one bad wheel each, when we start we might both go off in two different directions. Hell, 1 1/2 years ago he was full of life and jumping at one of our Taft reunions. Every time I think of Don I smile. Regards, Dennis

"With a little help from your friends" Now, that is what I always love about our sport. No matter where you jump in the world jumpers are always the same. Ready to make sure everyone at the DZ has a great time. Party-on-Rafael!!!

I still have my 1969 Ward/Vene SKyMster jump suite I got from Terry Ward and Frank Venegas. In the early 70's I installed the leg bell-bottoms from an old pair of levi's and Bobby Sinclair attached camera man mini wings so at 235 lbs I could fly with smaller people. Last year for some reason the gut band would not reach all the way around me so I cut it loose to make room for my extra equipment. Now my lower center of gravity can drop down a little more. But I am finding out that it does cut down on my tracking speed some.

On our way home, Lyle Cameron said we should stop for lunch, so we stopped at a bar along I-10. As we entered the bar (in mass) the bar tender went into a panic. To him we looked like an out of town gang so he called the local PD. The police came, IN FORCE! Hell, it looked like something out of a Blues Brothers film. You know, with black and white cars coming to a fast stop with all of the special effects tire sounds and lots of lights, and police running around and around trying to find out who is in charge. They made us all go outside (without our beer) and it was up against the wall MoFo. We were told that they didn't need our type there and we should LEAVE TOWN, LIKE NOW. Well we were not up to having a wall to wall talk with the local PD so we said, "yes sir, no sir, you are right sir, we are wrong sir" and we beat feet out of Dodge in my 69 Chevy van with smoke coming out of it. I don't think telling them that we just jumped nude into a resort would help our situation so we kept that one under check until we were way way down the road back to Hermosa Beach. It only took us about two miles before we started cracking up way out of control. The only thing we were very upset about was we didn't get any beer and I didn't get the thorns out of my butt until we made it all the way back to the Rumbleseat bar in Hermosa Beach. Damn, all we wanted to do Offisa was to have a little fun in the sun. One month later I got my brother up in the air again at Elsinore. At first he had a hard time finding the right position to fall in. He was in a slow spin because of the extra drag on one side, or lack there of on the other side. Every time he came around I would slap him upside the head to stop his spin. He got the message about the 4th time around and everything fell into place after that.

Bob, You may be talking about the August 15, 1971 Miss Nude Cosmos Pageant at the Oakdale Guest Ranch in San Bernardino, CA. Frank Carpenter from the Hermosa Beach Rubleseat Para-Scuba Club/Bar put the jump together. We had 7 guys (Myself, Doug Kin, David Farkle Craig, John Lanvetter, Ron Durham, Donovan Wall and I think Bill Parsons), and one girl (Ron's daughter) on the jump. OUr pilot was Darrell Spanky Craten and we used his D-18. The same D-18 Darrell grounded out at Taft a few years late. My brother had lost his right leg during the SCR Stumbles at Elsinore just before the Pageant, so he could not jump. He was in the pool during our jump. As everyone was looking up to watch the jump my brother started yelling "SHARK" and brought his stump up above the water surface dripping with blood. Their was blood all around and one lady in the stands had to be taken away. As we were landing near the pool area a lady ran onto the target area and was trying to take a picture of me so I had to turn fast to keep from landing on her. I ended up in a bush. Not the bush I wanted at the time.

Just checked with Kevin Donnelly on the subject. Kevin is 90% sure it was a Security Rig. I think Ray Cottingham was on the same load.

jeannie got her way most of the time. While jumping at Yolo a CH34 landed with some National Guard on it. jeannie said to my brother and I, "lets make a jump on the governments dime". We got on and the crew chief said, "you guys had better get off because we need to get going. jeannie told him that we would get off but not until that puppy was at 2000 feet or better. They took us up and we did our thing. A 3-way from 2000'. They landed again and said they would let us jump one again but they didn't have much time. My brother and I cut away our mains and we went up again and did a 2-way with only our reserves. Remember what Forest Gump always said, jumpers are what jumpers do....

jeanni was a great person to travel with. When So. Cal jumpers were staring to branch-out a van load of us would drive up from LA to the SF Bay area, picking up people on the way. jeanni would open up her place in SF for us to flop down for the night before we went up to Calistoga to jump at the old downtown DZ. Yes, the DZ was right smack downtown. You could land, repack and walk about 100 yards from the packing tables to the store or to a hotel. At Taft during the first 10-way meets jeanni found me sleeping in my sleeping bag between cars in the hotel parking lot. She stuffed my head down in my sleeping bag, held it closed and kicked me in the butt and then told me to get my butt up and go sleep on the floor in her room with the 10 other people that were also trying to save their money for jumps the next day. One weekend at Elsinore jeanni, my brother and I jumped into Elsinore from Taft. The winds were very high. We ended up landing going backwards about 1/4 mile south of the DZ. Man we sure got a lot of flack from Gary Douriis that night at the Elsinore Rumbleseat. I could go on and on, but I think you get my point. jeanni McCombs was one special person and her friends will always remember her for that.

I think the address on the advertisement picture is of the a member from the first Rumbleseat located in Hollywood. The club and bar moved to Hermosa Beach in the 60’s. I still have my mug I got from Frank Carpenter, the bar owner ~ 1964. IronClad was another thing all together.

Are you sure that is you on the end Lynn? Looks like a kid to me!

Hello Skratch, I thought that might get your attention. We all knew and understood the problems you had on the ground. You told us what was up after the first jump and we knew what to expect from there-on. Hell, you know how much competitors like to snivel. That issue actually helped take “a little” of the pressure off of us by keeping us focused on the formations. It also made for some great jump stories down the line. For sure it didn’t stop ANY of us from partying every night after the jumping was over. If you remember, during the Z-Hills meet Max backed right into the ONLY, I mean THE ONLY tree right in the middle of a very large field. We had to get a chain saw to cut the tree down and get his rig for him. The wind came up right as the tree started to fall and his main inflated pulling the tree back onto his rig before it hit the ground. It was like a clip out of a Keystone cops movie. After Z-Hills Max and I made a few more trips across the country on his corporate dime to check-out new Drop-Zones and get them into our log books. During our travels the Z-Hills stories were a real hit. Don’t take the ribbing so hard Skratch. You knows we loves ya. Regards, SCR-216

At the first Z-Hills 10-Way Turkey meet in 1969 our spotting of the DC-3 was done from the ground by the judges, and they put us ALL so far out nobody knew which way to track on break-up. Well, my Dad always said the best way to get to know a new place is go bet lost in it. OK Dad, but after two or three times being put off of the DZ and into the outback it starts to get old. All-in-all that was one great weekend and 10-Way meet. Regards, Dennis Henley SCR216

Thanks Peter, Both are great reading. Command the Commander came out the year I started jumping. That was back when I was young enough to take landing down-wind, and at the time almost liked it. These days, with only one good landing gear under me I use a the into-the-wind butt slid landing. No Blue Ribbons for butt slides these days, but the beer is still the same after jumping. Regards, Dennis Henley

Hello Howard, I found a white paper with almost the same picture in it. It is a Domina Jalbert Parafoil From Notre Dame Aero-Space ~1967 The University of Notre Dame took what was a cross between a concept and demostration-type kite, and converted it into an efficient, aero-dynamic device. At every other air-cell membrane location, a series of flares is attached beneath the Parafoil wing. There flares act to distribute line forces and cannel air flow such that span-wise flow is reduced, tip looses lessended, and aerodynamic efficiency improved. The distribution of force and aft flare area is critical to stability avout the three axes. The paper is from the AIAA 5th Aerospace Sciences Meeting in New Your / Jan 1967 AIAA Paper No. 67-200 FLEXIBLE WINGS FOR MANEUVERING AND LANDING by: G.T. Barte, Jr General Elctric Company Philadelphia, Pennsylvania This paper has a great comparison of supened flexible wing systems. Modified Parachutes: -Parasail and Para-Comander by: Pioneer -Cloverleaf by: Northrop Single Membrane Flexible Wings: -All flexible Parawing by: NASA/LaRC & Irvin (I worked for Ed Drumheller on the Irvin wing when I was 19) -Sailwing by: Barish & Pioneer -Small Leading Edge Parawings: Conical, Cylindrical by: NASA Double Membrane and Inflated Wings: -Goodyear Wing by: Goodyear -Jalbert Parafoil by: Norte Dame -Large LE Parawing by: NASA/LaRC & Others -Slotted Circular Wing by: North America Aviation S & ISD The paper also talks about: -A few Republic Close-Coupled Parawing Bomlet -Kaman Rotchute -Barish Flexirotor -Nielsen-Burnell Flexible Rotor -Goodyear Inflatable Rotor And several others. Regards, Dennis

Hello Jerry, You are right about that Jerry. 60's style Fire Drills can be fun also. I don't like to hold on during the exit. I like to work for it a little before the formation starts to form. Regards, Dennis Henley

Started May 1965 at Arvin, and then on to Oceanside, Elsinore, Taft..... 5 S/L's. Last 3 were DRCP's. 2- CP, 2- 5 sec, 3- 10 sec, 1- 20 sec, 2- 30 sec Then went to several 30-sec RW 2 & 3 ways And then 60 sec RW from then on. Still making fun jumps with the new kids on the DZ and with my old friends from the 60's. Last jump at Taft on 5-29-2010 Check out the smile on the guy in the red and blue jump suite. I may fly like an old model-T, but my timing is still right on. Some of the people on the jump are in their 60's, 70's and one is in his 80's. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mDNC_yVYOXs

Tommy Boyd, Don Molitor and Lyle Cameron Sr. @ Taft in 1965 Lyle's yellow Bat Wings are above the Bar at the Perris Valley Bomb Shelter.