howardwhite

It's Lori Love, and there's already a thread at: http://www.dropzone.com/cgi-bin/forum/gforum.cgi?post=2922144;sb=post_latest_reply;so=ASC;forum_view=forum_view_collapsed;;page=unread#unread HW

Aside from having fun collecting and posting this stuff, I have an ulterior motive. I am a member of the National Skydiving Museum's committee on what the museum should look like -- building and contents -- and am trying to help the Museum trustees figure out what interests people, maybe interests them enough to consider coughing up some cash to help build it. I'm also the PD dude for the museum, as if I needed yet another non-paying job that requires me to travel to and attend meetings. At its recent meeting, the Trustees symbolically burned the mortgage on the land the building will occupy next to USPA HQ and are now actively engaged in making it happen. If anyone wants more info, pm me. The next Museum Trustees meeting will be in Raeford in December in conjunction with the Golden Knights reunion. HW

Well, time to end the suspense...it is a Volplane The patch is not leather, it's just heavy and reinforced cloth, and it's not so much to prevent burns as it is to reinforce the flares against the strain of opening forces. The attached pix will help explain -- briefly, the heavy cord goes through all the flare grommets, which are reefed by the latch. Tension on the cord from the reefed canopy pulls the piston (filled with silicon oil) until it unlatches. A brief quote from the owner's manual may be instructive . "The time spent in the reefed stage is affected by jumper weight, velocity at deployment, and temperature of the oil in the reefing device. Thus, a lightweight jumper doing a clear and pull, with a Volplane which had been left in an unheated area in the winter would normally expect a long time in the reefed stage." Aside from warming one's rig, you could "prime" the piston by pushing it down a bit closer to the unlatch position (and there are also mechanical adjustments you could make.) But "priming" the system, either for cold weather or a short delay, was a bit of a risk, since if you packed for a terminal opening and then did a short delay, you could look up at a reefed canopy for a while. But if you primed for a hop and pop and then went to terminal, you could get slammed. Fun. The pictures: V3 shows the reefing device in position. V4 and V5 are diagrams of the canopy. V6 is the canopy in the air. The VR pictures show the reefing device from various angles and both latched and unlatched. I put maybe 50 jumps on various iterations of the reefing system before replacing it with a slider. (I only chopped it once.) HW

Jumptown, Orange, MA

I'm guessing all the local jumpers will be 15 minutes away at the Pepperell CASA boogie, unless the weather continues to suck as it does now. HW

So, to prolong the suspense until I can take a couple of pictures later ... What function does this perform on a Notre Dame foil, or whatever it is? HW

So your answer is....? HW

Does this help at all? HW

That's probably because you never were a factory engineer for a major equipment manufacturer in the '70s. HW

O.K., this is somewhat unfair because it shows the canopy on the ground in late stages of packing. But it has at least one characteristic element which gives it away to anyone who's seen one close up or is a canopy geek (Beatnik is disqualified from participating.) Please describe the identifying characteristic and what it's for. This is from the owner's manual. Further breadcrumbs will follow as necessary. HW

Well, the picture is in the Parachutist picture archives at USPA, which is where I scanned it. It had no date on it, so I did not know when/whether it had run. HW

You and kallend are right. Picture "Markings" is the closeup. The other picture is an O-25 at Boston Airport (now Boston-Logan). Hoop -- Well, the airplane behind your Morgan looks a lot like a Tiger Moth. AggieDave: Vincent it is. I racked my brain for the name. It was, if I recall correctly, a 1949 model. I took the picture at the now defunct Sturgate DZ near Lincoln, England. The third picture is from the Sturgate aero club web site, and I think it's the same plane with a different paint job. HW

Nope. This is a Tiger Moth. I jumped out of it in England a bunch of years ago. The bike is also a collector's item but I don't remember what it is. Do I need to run a separate "What is this motorcycle?" thread? HW

Hmm, opening canopy pretty close to the tail. Since I have the advantage of being able to look at the picture in high-resolution detail, I can read the lettering on the plane, so I know exactly what it is. And I have some other pictures of a similar plane at what is now Boston-Logan Airport. HW

Yup. N-number clearly visible (at least in my original) in this picture. HW

My brother and his wife are both attorneys; she's a partner in a high-powered DC law firm and he used to represent Mobil Oil when one of its tankers got into trouble. We'll just have duelling family fights. Does this mean I have to stop runnng contests here until this blows over? Just when I was starting to get into the good stuff? HW

Well (putting on my patent judge's robe), pending my further review of the relevant Lemoigne claims, nothing. The RL-5 does not appear to have a pulled-down apex, which would seem to be a critical design element of the PC. Feel free to appeal. HW

OK, contest over. No clear winner, though JerryBaumchen is just about right except for the PC reference. It's a Seifhennersdorf RL-3/5, taking its name from the (East) German town, near the Czech border, where it and lots of other parachutes were and still are made. The RL-3/5 was used by the (East) German individual accuracy winner of the 1966 World Meet, held in Leipzig. As that was then in an Iron Curtain country, the US did not participate. The DDR (East Germany) printed stamps (see picture) for the event. (Note the AN-2 ) The Sky Diver caption says the canopy had three Derry-type steering slots and five stabilizers on each side, plus five windows in the front and three in the rear. Parachute manufacture in Seifhennersdorf continues today; SPEKON is a member of PIA and has exhibited at PIA symposiums since 2003. The other pictures of its canopies came from http://www.spekon.com/. To SkydiveJack. I don't think the strange canopy you refer to looks much like a Sailwing. It's an RL6 "fläschenfallschirm," literally, I guess, a "surface parachute." It's hard to tell from the one picture, but it seems to have far more slots and appendages than the Sailwing, which was a clean design (attached picture is Lee Guilfoyle,D-50, jumping it at the '65 Nationals in Orange.) To JerryBaumchen: Can a color-blind person accurately judge the value of an RCH? HW

The question of whether PC-class canopies "flare" has been discussed on dz.com endlessly. See, e.g.,http://www.dropzone.com/cgi-bin/forum/gforum.cgi?post=2036704;search_string=PC%20flare;#2036704 or:http://www.dropzone.com/cgi-bin/forum/gforum.cgi?post=839757;search_string=pc%20flare;#839757 The notion that you will seriously destroy your body if you attempt to stand one up is widely circulated among jumpers who have never seen one in the air. HW

Nope. UT-15 is a Russian copy of the PC, considered by some to be superior to the original. Pioneer sold "Russian PCs" for a while. I have a UT-15 packing manual (in Russian) if anyone wants a copy. HW

Nah, sorry. Here's an xBo. My Crossbow story is about the local jumper back in the sixties who borrowed what he thought was the hot new Crossbow canopy only to learn on opening that it was instead a Thunderbow -- the canopy with the arrow so you knew what direction it was flying. HW

Well, maybe it will help if I add pictures of two other canopies from the same source. I especially like #3 and hope Beatnik will soon get one and show us pictures of him jumping it. (Prizes to be awarded later) HW

Tired of looking at pictures of old airplanes? Try looking at old canopies, instead. I will be impressed if someone gets this. HW

Or maybe Bobby Valenzuela... If you do a search here, you'll see him in reasonably recent threads about "all 50 states." HW

OK, I'm warning you. There's lots more where that came from. You may have missed my coded note in the OP about "one of the individuals." HW