'Lobster Tail' Canopies

[danchapman 0]

Does anyone remember these from '62-64 time frame? I believe they were lo porosity 28' modified to a 7 tu configuration, with the canopy material between the cut outs being hi porosity. The hi po material, was bright red, the rest white, as I recall. I saw the Army Team jumping them in competition, when Accuracy was king, in '63 I believe. They may have had slightly longer suspension lines in the hi-po material. Who developed this design and who manufactured it? I thought maybe Loy Byrdon was responsible for their design. Was it only available to the Army Team? Are any still around? Have any of you jumped one? They were, of course, displaced by the ParaCommander, or 'PC' aka 'pretty chancy'.

[JerryBaumchen 1,360]

Hi dan,

You are close but no cigar.

A 'lobster tail' came from the gores between the 7-TU large cutouts being of a different color; looking somewhat like the tail of a lobster. Quite often the 'tail' was of a solid color, ala the Army Teams black canopies with a gold 'tail.'

Both 28 ft Lo-Po's & 32 ft Lo-Po's could be ordered with the 'tail.'

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I believe they were lo porosity 28' modified to a 7 tu configuration, with the canopy material between the cut outs being hi porosity.

These canopies did not have any hi-po material in them; they were 100% 1.6 oz material; or Lo-Po as we called it back 'then.'

Quote

I saw the Army Team jumping them in competition, when Accuracy was king, in '63 I believe.

I made my first jump in Feb '64 and ( IMO ) accuracy became 'king' after the introduction of the ParaCommander. Now, that does not mean that accuracy was not done prior to that time; as it surely was. However, for of us who were there, I think most of us would agree that the ParaCommander really changed how we did accuracy. With the advent of the ParaCommander it became a down-wind-run for the target method of doing it. The hook-turn to the disk went the way of the Dodo bird.

Just my thoughts , , ,

JerryBaumchen

PS) I wonder how many young guys would like to call-up their local gear dealer and order some 'tail?'

[danchapman 0]

Hello Jerry-
Tnx for the info. Do you know if the lines where the modification were slightly longer? I thought they were trying to push more air out of the cut-outs, and this supposedly helped. Before PC's the LoPos had an edge in accuracy, of course, but few could afford them. I jumped the cheapo until '67, and got an invite to the Nat'ls from the regional meet, in accuracy, but only as a 'downlister', where one of the top qualifiers couldn't go.
The Lobster Tails and the Army Team won the accuracy event at TriState in '62-63 time frame and that was the only time I remember seeing those canopies.
Tnx again for the info.

[JerryBaumchen 1,360]

Hi Dan,

When I started ( before the ParaCommander was on the market ) the Lo-Po was considered 'expensive' gear.

They did not have longer lines. They were really just cheapos made out of 1.6 Lo-Po material. Everything else was just like a cheapo.

JerryBaumchen