Scary stories from the old days?

[howardwhite 6]

$35 at Orange Sport Parachute Center in November, 1965.

Proof attached -- handwriting is that of Jill Carey, now Jill Pond, wife of Nate (D-69)

HW

[Jumpah 0]

Hey Twardo...how about another Kaptain K story? The story about him and the anal DZO was killer =)

[airtwardo 7]

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Hey Twardo...how about another Kaptain K story? The story about him and the anal DZO was killer =)

***

I gotta bunch of "K" adventures, but I'm rigging Pyro for a demo this weekend.


I'll put something down when I get back!



The "Mighty Kaptain K... in Action!

~ If you choke a Smurf, what color does it turn? ~

[steve1 5]

I'm rigging Pyro for a demo this weekend.
..........................................................................I've about run out of jump stories, but Airtwardo's discussion of Pyro got me thinking of another really scary story that had a really sad ending. It isn't really a jump story but it did involve some army jumpers. So, if you're really bored, here goes.

Back in 1970 I was getting toward the end of Special Forces training at Ft. Bragg. In the final phase of training you receive quite a bit of explosives training. One thing you did was rig up a ring main. This involved having a group of people each take a block of TNT and wire several blocks together with electrical caps. It's really pretty simple. We did the same thing in Infantry training. Any idiot knows that the last thing you should do is hook a power source onto these wires while you are wiring it up.

Well anyhow, in the class ahead of ours there was a group of future S.F. soldiers wiring up this ring main. I can't recall all the details, but there was like eight soldiers all down range rigging this up. Each was holding a block of TNT. Back up range, some idiot had forgot and left the wires hooked up to a battery with the switch open. So, when the circuit was completed all of these soldiers were blown to Kingdom Kum (whereever that's at).

So, be careful Airtwardo. Explosives are dangerous....Steve1

[airtwardo 7]

So, be careful Airtwardo. Explosives are dangerous....Steve1

***

Not when they are strapped to your body and you're jumping out of an airplane!

....What could POSSIBLY go wrong?!

~ If you choke a Smurf, what color does it turn? ~

[usedtajump 1]

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So, be careful Airtwardo. Explosives are dangerous....Steve1

***

Not when they are strapped to your body and you're jumping out of an airplane!

....What could POSSIBLY go wrong?!

Reminds me of the time I was using a hand held baton type smoke generator which didn't ignite when I pulled the ring on the step of a 182. Didn't want to be hasseled with it during the jump so I tossed it back in the aircraft and exited. Right after exit I thought "you dumbass, what if it ignites in the plane". Fortunately, the smoke was indeed a dud and nothing disastrous occured. After the demo, I saw the pilot and he had similar thoughts to mine that he let me know about in very strong and vulgar language.

The older I get the less I care who I piss off.

[airtwardo 7]

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So, be careful Airtwardo. Explosives are dangerous....Steve1

***

Not when they are strapped to your body and you're jumping out of an airplane!

....What could POSSIBLY go wrong?!

Reminds me of the time I was using a hand held baton type smoke generator which didn't ignite when I pulled the ring on the step of a 182. Didn't want to be hasseled with it during the jump so I tossed it back in the aircraft and exited. Right after exit I thought "you dumbass, what if it ignites in the plane". Fortunately, the smoke was indeed a dud and nothing disastrous occured. After the demo, I saw the pilot and he had similar thoughts to mine that he let me know about in very strong and vulgar language.

***

OUCH!


My stuff is 1/2 electrically fired...so I ground myself to the airframe. I have to pull a safety pin to even arm the two electrical switches.

Some other is friction matches, which are taped securely so as not to snag, and last but not least are the ones I have to hit with a hammer handle to fire the percussion cap to get the going.

Called 'job security'...not a whole lotta people waitin' in line to do it!

~ If you choke a Smurf, what color does it turn? ~

[mjosparky 4]

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So, be careful Airtwardo. Explosives are dangerous....Steve1

***

Not when they are strapped to your body and you're jumping out of an airplane!

....What could POSSIBLY go wrong?!

On a demo......nothing, not a thing!

Be safe and put on a good show.

My idea of a fair fight is clubbing baby seals

[airtwardo 7]

Be safe and put on a good show...

***

Make a Skydive ~ Get a Check!

~ If you choke a Smurf, what color does it turn? ~

[mjosparky 4]

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Be safe and put on a good show...

***

Make a Skydive ~ Get a Check!

Hummmm....Where have I heard that before?

My idea of a fair fight is clubbing baby seals

[waltappel 1]

When I jumped at Finger Lakes Skydivers in New York, some of the old-timers used to talk about this one guy who had been quite legendary in New York as a jumper. I heard several stories of some seriously crazy shit he did, but the best was the one that did him in.

Apparently he used to do some demos and one of his favorite tricks was to release a lit stick of dynamite in freefall. The way I heard it the last time he did it was over a crowd at Watkins Glen Raceway and he didn't release it soon enough.

D'oh!!!!!!


Walt

[howardwhite 6]

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... some of the old-timers used to talk about this one guy who had been quite legendary in New York as a jumper. ...

..one of his favorite tricks was to release a lit stick of dynamite in freefall. ...the last time he did it was over a crowd at Watkins Glen Raceway and he didn't release it soon enough.

Walt

Old-timer here
That would be Willard Joseph Smith.

The "stick of dynamite" was in fact an M-80 firecracker (no longer legally sold in the U.S.). His thing was to attach it to a string, light it, and drop it, tethered, below him. What apparently happened is that he didn't get it quite right this time and after he lit it, it dropped between his (chest-mounted) reserve and his body, where it went off.

To make things worse, it was a bandit jump, and at night.

Bill Smith was indeed a serious wacko, but lots of fun to be around.

HW

[moonglo 0]

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When I jumped at Finger Lakes Skydivers in New York, some of the old-timers used to talk about this one guy who had been quite legendary in New York as a jumper. I heard several stories of some seriously crazy shit he did, but the best was the one that did him in.

Apparently he used to do some demos and one of his favorite tricks was to release a lit stick of dynamite in freefall. The way I heard it the last time he did it was over a crowd at Watkins Glen Raceway and he didn't release it soon enough.

from http://www.glenphotos.com/summerjam/sj1.html

"Just after I sat down from my trip from the stage I noticed one plane flying in circles overhead. Then I saw a parachute open and pink smoke swirling in the sky. I didn't know it at the time but this skydiver, Willard Smith, better known as "Smitty"** to his friends, 35 of Syracuse,N.Y., with the pink flare would die before landing.
His friend quoits: "He had an "artillery simulator, which he had tucked into the pack opening band of his chest reserve. It is a dangerous explosive, packed with TNT. It went off prematurely, it was speculate, by accident, and it blew a hole in his chest". He is buried at Dewitt, N.Y., near Syracuse. He was a well known jumper in his time and to this day he's still talked about at sky diver's reunions and, reportly, "is still the legend he was when he was alive".**

**From a college and skydiving friend of Smitty's."


I spent many summers camping at Watkins Glen with my family, but never heard this one before today

[waltappel 1]

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Old-timer here
That would be Willard Joseph Smith.

The "stick of dynamite" was in fact an M-80 firecracker (no longer legally sold in the U.S.). His thing was to attach it to a string, light it, and drop it, tethered, below him. What apparently happened is that he didn't get it quite right this time and after he lit it, it dropped between his (chest-mounted) reserve and his body, where it went off.

To make things worse, it was a bandit jump, and at night.

Bill Smith was indeed a serious wacko, but lots of fun to be around.

HW

Please post some stories--I used to love hearing about the crazy shit he did!!!!

Walt

[steve1 5]

[replys "He had an "artillery simulator, which he had tucked into the pack opening band of his chest reserve.
reply]

....................................................................
I've heard a lot of grenade simulator's go off. Jesus, they are loud. I can imagine what one would do to your chest.

I think the last grenade simulator that I heard go off was in the middle of the night in the last few weeks of S.F. training. We had been humping through the boonies most of the night with heavy rucksacks. We sat down for a short break. Man, I was exhausted. Within seconds I was unconscious, and off in LaLa Land dreaming. When all of a sudden there was this tremendous-huge-Kawoom!

I about crapped my drawers...it was that close, and that loud. Then one of our instructor tells us we are now under attack, and we had to move. Just fun and games in the military. No wonder I can't hear well these days....Steve1

[airtwardo 7]

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[replys "He had an "artillery simulator, which he had tucked into the pack opening band of his chest reserve.
reply]

....................................................................
I've heard a lot of grenade simulator's go off. Jesus, they are loud. I can imagine what one would do to your chest.

I think the last grenade simulator that I heard go off was in the middle of the night in the last few weeks of S.F. training. We had been humping through the boonies most of the night with heavy rucksacks. We sat down for a short break. Man, I was exhausted. Within seconds I was unconscious, and off in LaLa Land dreaming. When all of a sudden there was this tremendous-huge-Kawoom!

I about crapped my drawers...it was that close, and that loud. Then one of our instructor tells us we are now under attack, and we had to move. Just fun and games in the military. No wonder I can't hear well these days....Steve1

***

We use to use them all the time...until they became so hard to get!

At a demo we'd have the 1st guy out the door pop off an artillery simulator...loud whistle before the Ka-Boom.

Always got the crowd LOOKING UP!

A team mate the procured the stuff use to like to play Sub-Hunter with me...

He's be dropping grenade simulators from high above me trying to get them to go off at my altitude!

~ If you choke a Smurf, what color does it turn? ~

[efs4ever 3]

Quote

When I jumped at Finger Lakes Skydivers in New York, some of the old-timers used to talk about this one guy who had been quite legendary in New York as a jumper. I heard several stories of some seriously crazy shit he did, but the best was the one that did him in.

Apparently he used to do some demos and one of his favorite tricks was to release a lit stick of dynamite in freefall. The way I heard it the last time he did it was over a crowd at Watkins Glen Raceway and he didn't release it soon enough.

D'oh!!!!!!


Walt

I recall a friend telling me that story years ago. I think it was a flash bang grenade, and it got stuck between his belly mount and his body. Ow. My friend was a whuffo, but he was at the concert and saw it.

Russell M. Webb D 7014
Attorney at Law
713 385 5676
https://www.tdcparole.com

[mjosparky 4]

Did they have flash-bang (stun) granades in 1972?

My idea of a fair fight is clubbing baby seals

[howardwhite 6]

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**From a college and skydiving friend of Smitty's."

Here is the full account, from Doug Garr, the college and skydiving friend mentioned:
http://ducts.org/12_05/html/memoirs/garr.html
It's a great story, not just about this incident but about skydiving generally in those days and places and about "The Pucker Factor."
Dan Poynter and I spent a night in Doug and Smitty's dorm at URochester. It made "Animal House" look tame.
I bow to Doug's recollection that it was an artilllery simulator; I had remembered M-80 (or maybe M-18). And I was wrong in saying it was a night jump.
I still see Doug Garr from time to time; he lives in NYC and, among other things, wrote a book about IBM based on his years doing speechwriting there.
HW

[waltappel 1]

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Quote

**From a college and skydiving friend of Smitty's."

Here is the full account, from Doug Garr, the college and skydiving friend mentioned:
http://ducts.org/12_05/html/memoirs/garr.html
It's a great story, not just about this incident but about skydiving generally in those days and places and about "The Pucker Factor."
Dan Poynter and I spent a night in Doug and Smitty's dorm at URochester. It made "Animal House" look tame.
I bow to Doug's recollection that it was an artilllery simulator; I had remembered M-80 (or maybe M-18). And I was wrong in saying it was a night jump.
I still see Doug Garr from time to time; he lives in NYC and, among other things, wrote a book about IBM based on his years doing speechwriting there.
HW

That was awesome--thankyou for posting it!!!!

Walt

[Guest 1010]

That's a great story(!), like I always thought of those times.

Please tell Doug "Thanks" for it next time you see him (and if he has any more ...)
edit: the article is apparently an excerpt from the book "Between Heaven and Earth" by Doug Garr, but I didn't find it at Amazon.

You can have it good, fast, or cheap: pick two.

[howardwhite 6]

Talked and exchanged email with Doug today. He is looking for a small publisher for his memoir book, as his agent says big-time publishers wouldn't be interested.

I expect some follow-up pieces will come from him

HW

[steve1 5]

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Talked and exchanged email with Doug today. He is looking for a small publisher for his memoir book, as his agent says big-time publishers wouldn't be interested.

I expect some follow-up pieces will come from him

HW

Thanks for sharing, Howard! What a great story! Doug Garr is a wonderful writer. I'd like to read more of his stuff....Steve1

[rainman 0]

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What a great story! Doug Garr is a wonderful writer. I'd like to read more of his stuff....

I *so* second that, even though I was still liquid when most of it happened!

Ramon

Rainman

[howardwhite 6]

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Thanks for sharing, Howard! What a great story! Doug Garr is a wonderful writer. I'd like to read more of his stuff....Steve1

Your wish is granted; second installment here:
http://www.ducts.org/06_06/html/memoirs/garr.html
It covers, among other things, Doug's first jump at Greene, NY (there was a brief thread here a bit ago about that DZ), along with a series of reflections on the danger of skydiving.

HW