howardwhite

Pretty neat place for a demo. Where, when and who? (Anyone here?) HW

Thanks to all for keeping me honest. So far this year, I've gotten corrections from D-1 and D-38, among others. Every time I leap thoughtlessly to an assumption, i fall on my face. Mostly I get up again. I probably knew the Herd/Deland Fang at least slightly. HW

I could do that... but I'd rather not give young'uns any unsafe ideas. HW

Oops.. my bad. HW

"Lucky" Hammell...a life cut much too short. Pic 1: Bill and Lee Guilfoyle exit a Norseman over Lakewood Pic 2: Bill and his son Scott on the flight line at with Bill Mehr, who was about to get his Gold Wings from Bill in freefall Pic 3: a curbstone in Bill's memory at the VI World meet monument at the Orange Municipal Airport. I'm making an educated guess that Curt Curtis commissioned it. HW (The first two pictures are among many that Lee (D-50) has posted on flickr.)

In that case, in case you missed it, look at this thread: http://www.dropzone.com/cgi-bin/forum/gforum.cgi?post=2990269;sb=post_latest_reply;so=ASC;forum_view=forum_view_collapsed;;page=unread#unread HW

Don't get me started on this... HW

So, Doug, if you like triangular parachutes so much, how 'bout this proud beauty. It's in the peas; must be a good accuracy canopy. HW

Gee, I should have asked Lowell. I sat next to him at a meeting Friday and had the pictures on my laptop sitting in front of me; it didn't occur to me. HW

Dunno about the rest, but Dick Spates has for the past few years been chief instructor at Jumptown (Orange, MA). He does many of the AFF FJCs, and virtually all of the AFF "camps" -- start Thursday and (weather permitting) get to solo status before the end of the weekend. He's largely responsible for the fact that Jumptown produced 31 new A licensed jumpers this year. HW

Here's mine. I was a pretty retarded student early on (although my canopy control was good enough so that I was allowed to jump a PC on #18 -- a big deal in 1966.) My first freefall was #13, and it was pretty smooth progress after that. All but one of the jumps on this page were signed either by Al Smith, who disappeared from the skydiving world in the late sixties, or by Doug Angel, who went on to run Skydive East in New Jersey until a few years ago. Jump #9 was signed by Max Knor, who gained international fame in 1962 when, as a member of the Yugoslavian team at the '62 World Meet in Orange, he defected to the US. The "Telsan Tern" was PI's name for a modified C-9 (Telsan coming from IsTEL SANborn.) (I celebrated the 42nd anniversary of my first jump a few days late this year, with a Thanksgiving Day jump, and two more the Sunday after Thanksgiving -- landing on all within 50 yards or so from where I landed on #1.) HW

You and Beatnik have already responded to a post I made a while ago about the H.O. Bucker escape canopy. http://www.dropzone.com/cgi-bin/forum/gforum.cgi?post=2600274;search_string=bucker;#2600274 I guess that's the "South American inventor" you refer to. It is, of course, obscure, but did get a mention in Parachutist -- a letter from Bucker, if I remember rightly. HW

This series of photos ran in a Para-Gear ad many years ago. Anyone here willing to admit participation? Or anyone able to identify the participants? HW

I showed the picture to Larry Bagley today. He said he didn't remember the plane at SLC Airport #2 when he ran it, and it's not him in the white jumpsuit. HW

You would go exactly right. The plane is N414SA. It was one of several Herons operated by Swift Aire Lines, a commuter airline based in San Luis Obispo and operating internal California routes between 1969 and 1981, when it went belly-up. Riley took the grossly underpowered Heron (which was based on the Dove) and made it slightly less underpowered by installing IO-540s. N414 ended its days in Fiji. It crashed Dec. 27, 1986 near Naji, Fiji, apparently as the result of a malfunction in which the flaps extended unevenly. Eleven of 14 on board died. Which doesn't answer my original question of where and when it was jumped. But this post may help: http://www.dropzone.com/cgi-bin/forum/gforum.cgi?post=2942707;search_string=herron;#2942707 It confirms darkwing's memory about the spar. Attached is another Swift Heron picture. (Perhaps more than you wanted to know.) HW

Well, a Dove has two engines, as your pictures indicate, and a DC-4 has radial engines, so I would be inclined to rule out both of them. Note that I have edited my original post, fixing one picture and adding another. HW

Hmm, four engines. Must have been a real perfomer, right.

".. before auxiliary parachutes are deployed to ensure a safe landing." You must spend a lot on reserve repacks. HW

Here's a 1977 ad for an Eagle rig; doesn't say who made it. Interesting to see the emphasis on the Single Point Release system. HW

Nope. Massachusetts, mostly at DZs that no longer exist -- Mansfield and Taunton. Her father was a dentist who retired and went to school to become an A&P mechanic. She cut away from a malfunction at Mansfield once and landed in the next town south, Norton. Somehow the police got involved, and the Boston Herald called, and -- I predicted the headline before it was published -- the story was "Girl Skydiver Cheats Death." HW

Memories? You want memories? This picture, from Spotter, Mar-Apr '78, is captioned "Practice dive by the Walworth County Desperadoes 10-man team of East Troy, WI." Photo by Donna Vlasik. HW

Wow, late 1870s. Do you have a packing manual? HW

Vic Deveau, D-529, has left us. "The Silver Fox" died of cancer Nov. 20 in Connecticut. He was a long-time regular Nationals competitor in style and accuracy, and also a pioneer in RW. He was a Marine. And he loved a good party. One well-known long time fellow Nationals competitor shared with me two Vic memories: "His Tee shirt that we wore at Nationals long ago in Tahlequah, OK. 'Take my love and shove it up your heart.' "His conversation with a young 15 year old upstart that wasn’t learning about life very fast. Vic told him: 'We’re both adults, I just have more time in grade than you do.'” Vic put me out on jump #21 in Orange, MA in March, 1966, in one of his on-and-off stints as a Parachutes, Inc., instructor. (It was only a five-second delay, but I managed to pull on my back) When I told Jacques Istel this summer about Vic's illness, he recalled, "Ah, yes, I fired him five times." One firing came in the late sixties, when Vic's picture appeared on the inside rear cover of Life Magazine, in freefall over Orange and identified as a Parachutes Inc. instructor. He had a broken leg and was jumping wearing a very obvious cast. But Vic's longest affiliation was with Connecticut Parachutists Inc. (CPI); he was one of its earliest members and its president in 1972. Vic made his "retirement jump" at CPI in October, 2006. Pictures by pilotdave are at http://www.skydivingstills.com/keyword/vic#103752944 The funeral home guest book is at http://www.legacy.com/JournalInquirer/GB/GuestbookView.aspx?PersonId=98491803&PageNo=1 I've attached a couple of pictures I took of Vic in the late sixties, one of him in freefall over Orange, another of him about to board a Norseman with "the incredible packing machine," Pete Peterson. Ironic coincidence: the December '07 Parachutist, "This month in History" (p. 21) notes that in December, 1967, Vic and Bill Ottley, both lifetime USPA members, received their Gold Wings, and Vic received his Quadra Diamond award in 1998. I expect others here will share fond memories of him. HW

Here's a Flite Suit ad. HW

I'm impressed.