Hi, I started jumping at MSUSPC aka 'the Spartans' at Charlotte ,Mi when Clayton Troutner was Chief instructor there about 1974/5(if Van's Midgets or the JohnDeere Fruitstand Conspiracy come to mind that will give you the exact year). I did 13 jumps there on TU's and double LL's and I remember my instructor(who was in fact a petite instructrice) let me jump her ,yes, red white and blue Paracommander,complete with similarly coloured helmet I felt as if i were Capt.America. She had just bought a square which were the latest at that time and she (terrible I've forgotten her name, but I remember her talking in awe of the trust that we placed in her as jumpmistress!) wanted to sell me the PC!Earl was the pilot and the jumpship was some sort of small engined Cessna.I seem to remember Clayton jumping precision on a T-10 when the wind was too high for us students.
Follow-up was decades later I started jumping again and worked at a DZ in the UK and came across an almost new 'church window'PC that no-one could pack, bought it for 50 pounds and the Chief Instructor allowed me to jump it as I was almost the only one there who had ever jumped one before,it turned out to be a most enjoyable experience and to the best of my knowledge the rig is still at the club in the UK in Jumpable condition! A club near Berlin ,Germany hosts an annual historic parachutes gathering. I don't jump anymore, cut out the aircraft bit and fly canopies though,as in Paragliding.Love the air!
