SCR216

You got it Jim, As I remember it Skratch Garison and Bill Newell were judges and did the spotting and exit command from the ground. To this day I still give Stratch and Bill a lot of shit for putting us so far out from the DZ. Bill will be attending our runion at Taft on May 29th. Also, there shoud be 4 of us from the Z-Hills Taft team attending. Two of us, Stanley Troeller and I still jump together a few times a year. Regards, Dennis

Hello Steve, During the old timers reunion in Falicity last month, Walt's name was on the list of people that had passed away. I don't this this is true though. I think he is still living up in the hills somewhere in Blue Sky country. Walt, Spike, Spanky, Lyle, Art Armstrong and Rick Young were some of the best pilots I ever traveled with. Dennis SCR-216

In 1970 or 71 I was doing work for Bobby at Taft as a JM. At the end of the weekend Bobby was going to ride back to the beach with his girlfriend so I had to drive that old bus back over the Grapevine with one of the other JM's. On our way past Gorman we noticed a car sitting under the belly fo a tankeer with the roof pushed down to the door frames. I said, "that is the same color as Bob's girlfriend. We pulled over to wee if we could help, and yes it was Bobby and Miss Hot stuff. She was driving and for some reason made a right turn under the big rig. Bobb was sleeping in the riders seat and was below the dashboard level. His girlfriend ducked down just in time. Neither one of them got hurt, but Bobby had a lot of glass in what little hair he had on top. Bobby said, "no big deal folks, nothing to look at here". They loaded into the bus with us and we went on our way to Terry wards place on the beach. Without asking Bobby I can't go into any detail on what went on in the back of the bus during the drive to the beach, but I can say the bus was moving around like we had a strong tail wind. Yes, I am also glad Bob is still around. He did a lot for people and a lot for the sport. Regards, Dennis SCR-216

You are correct dudeman 17. I checked with two people about that event, and yes when Chuck got home he had some holes in the trunk of his car. I remember Chuck saying that he found hot just how fast a radio transmission could go because the Federal boys ran his tag and got to his house to talk with him real fast. After some talking everyone had a big laugh and went on their way. Now days I down think Chuck could have gotten away so easy. I miss Chuck. When Chuck and Jay were together they were like the Smothers brothers. Last year they had me going in two directions at once. After about 30 minutes they said enough is enough and they took the hook out of my mouth and let me in on the joke. My brother and I had the same type of relationship. Man I miss both of those guys. Dennis SCR-216

Z-Hills was the DZ where the first large scale national 10-Way meet was held in November 1969. Before that California was the place to go to get into the action. A team from Chicago came in 1st, just a few seconds faster than the team from California. A few of the jumpers on the California team were from the Arvin / Taft / Elsinore area.

Yea the orange handle switchblade/hook knife is the one I use for camping and fishing. I never liked it for jumping because sometimes I wear gloves and if you are spinning, it could be hard to see the little button you need to unlock it and then you need to push another button to get the blade out. For jumping I use a little survival kit I got from Alan Silver. It fits on the web right above my reserve ripcord handle. The knife has a lanyard that keeps it from falling away and at arms length so I can still get it if I go into a spin while trying to take care of business. There is also a reflection mirror and some first aid things and a fire starter kit.

You bet SB, Don is still jumping. Don is still fast out of the door and very fast into the formation. Each time he makes it to a reunion he brings along one of his antique cars he has been rebuilding and a box of pictures of our days back when. It is like going to a museum and looking up the history of our part of the sport. I told Don that when he goes we are going to stuff his ass and send him to the Smithsonian for everyone to gawk at because he was always a different bird. Dennis

Yes I for sure remember the story Mike. It makes me hapy to know that people still remember Paul after all these years. Paul taught me a lot about jumping and life in general. I have 100's of stories of when we jumped together all over the world. Paul with his right leg missing and me with my left leg half there. We were a great team for the flying circus back then. Hope to see you at Taft this May to air it out. Dennis SCR-216, CC-17, SOS-1201

Rod Pack, now there is a name frm the past. I saw him a few times at Arvin, but I never got to know him. It is my understanding that after his chuteless jump, Life mag said it all went too fast to get a good picture of it and they wanted him to redo the jump!!! I think he said something back to them like, "Joe's Moma" and didn't do it a second time. No Balls, no balls. In later years I heard that he was doing stunts and tricks like doing low BASE jumps out of palm trees at motorcycle meets. I am not sure if that last one is true or not, but it makes for great a great story.

You are correct, Steve Moran is where I got the saying from. The real cartoon has more to it then what I just put down. I still have that cartoon on my wall next to all the other jumping stuff I like to look at. Steve was my brothers' first flight instructor at the Van Neys airport. Back then Lyle talked me into writing a few articles for his magazine. You might remember Steve putting FUBAR on the helmet of the guy doing the spotting. Well, Lyle and Art Armstrong tagged me with that jumping name and it took me years to get if off my resume.

Thanks Tim and Bill, I got in a few jumps with Tall Paul Gorman back when I was a teenager. At that time I was in love with his first wife, Mary and had a hard time trying to talk to her. Hell, as a teenager I was in love with every girl I looked at. I think Mary moved to Baja with Ron Richards years ago. lou was a friend of my brother Paul. Don Henderson and Deke Dillon should be showing up at the Grumpy Old Farts get together at Taft this May. I'll hit Don up for his 8mm film from the old black and white film days. I'll bet the Keystome Cops will be jumping in them. Or at least it will look like them. When I first started jumping my brother talked Henderson into jumping with me to see if he could sort out some of the strange things I was doing in the air. It must have worked because I'm still at it. 5 right, 10 left, 5 rignt, no, stop, oh shit, go around, and this time do what the hell I tell ya to do... Dennis SCR-216, CC-17

There were more people in the Arvin Good Guys than was on the first 10 man star team. Of the 10 in the first star 7 are still around and kicking hard. First 10 man star; - Paul Gorman: Passed away last year. Great flyer in the air, and great to be around on the ground. - Bill Stage: Passed away last year. Always ready to go anywhere to make a jump with friends and his friends from back then still remain friends today. - Terry Ward: Passed away in the early 80's. He always looked like he knew something we didn't, and would not tell us what the hell it was. He just looked and you and gave a big smile and laugh. - Jim Dann: Still riding his bike and coming to reunions. - Bill Newell: Still running the SCR program for all of us in the sport and reminding us of where we came from and how we got here. - Clark Fisher: Living the good life in the islands, and making it to reunions. - Brian Williams: Still outclassing us all. Great historian and story teller. - Jerry Bird: A FL man now. Jerry could tell you when and how you came into the all formations he was on. Great mind for the sport. - John Rinard: Still around the Railroad industry or traveling. - Gary Young: Now Gary ticks me off, while the rest of us now look much older, Gary still looks the same as he did back in the 60's. His dad was one of our pilots at Taft for years, and a very good one.

Thanks Bill, But it still makes me get a cold shiver up my spine. Maybe I just need to go out and air it out. One thing I will not do is jump without a line knife. I've got enough jumps into the back country to know how valuable that little thing can be. Today I carry a modified one with me when I go camping or fishing.

As I remember it, the story of the family that found the money is also interesting. I think the Father of the boy that found the money put his face on the national news to tell their story. A few days after the interview on TV the feds picked the father up because he was wanted in the Midwest for some sort of federal charges. Go figure… D.B. you sure have kicked up some shit over the years. How is your vacation going?

Don’t get me wrong Bill, but when I hear parachute suspension lines called shroud lines it gives me a case of high pucker factor because for centuries shroud lines have been used to tie cloth around the dead before they are put into the ground or into the sea. But now after saying that, I do remember a few malfunctions when my suspension lines almost turned into shroud lines. Oh well, as Roseanne Roseanneadanna always said on SNL, “Never mind”.

During the first Bush Presidency, Chuck Sweeney (D-2112, SCR-79, BASE-244, NITE BASE-51) did a nite base jump off of a building in LA. Problem was, Bush #1 was staying at the same building. When Chuck landed, Fereral Marshals pointed their guns at Chuck as he drove off. I'm not sure if they got a shot off. They tracked him down to his house and it took some time before everything was straighten out. I'll be seeing Chucks' brother Jay at the Taft reunion this May. I'll get his rundown on this event and post it here. That is, if Homeland Security lets us talk about it.

Just got my issue today. You did a great job with your story covering the reunion. What a blast it was seeing people from years ago. One person I didn't get to talk to during the reunion was Roy Johnson. The last time I met Roy was at Taft before the nationals in 68 or 69. I went up as the wind dummy. I did my spotting and made my exit. When Roy looked out to check on my spot so he could adjust his spot on his style jump, I was still there upside down under the step waving at him. I think that stunt put his timing off for his practice style jump and he was not too happy with me. Go figure... Regards, Dennis

I started to pick up Jim Hall's book at the Falicity reunion but got side-tracked and then everything went dark. I will try to track one down. I am running out of jump stories and need a jump story refill... Looking forward to the Old Farts reunion at Taft this May. We will be trying to put together a few large formations. Well, large for my abilities anyway. Regards, Dennis

Yes, Lyle Cameron had it up at Taft for a short time. Late one night Lyle, Don Bucktel and I took it from Taft down to So. Cal. Going over Hollywood Blvd we were only a few hundred feet above the buildings. Don got out on the step (without a rig on) and because it only went about 45 mph Don was pulling us out of the sky. We got Don back in and we went down to land at the Palamar to refuel. We didn't have a radio so the guy that fueled us up had to give us a green light from the tower. As soon as Lyle got us up he headed for the tower. I looked out of the door just in time to see that green light fly into the air as we went over the tower. On a high wind day you could get that thing to stand in place over the runway. What a grea jumping platform it was. Regards, Dennis SCR-216

Hello Howard, It was good talking with you during the reunion at the Center of the earth last month. I worked for Bobby as a JM at Taft for a few summers in the early 70's. I don't remember him ever being 26 though. He was always a great person to be around. I still jump with the camer man wings he put on my suit. I was at the national in AZ when I heard that Bobby had just put out Johnny Carson on a AFF type jump. Bobby did a lot to get the sport into the public eye. Regards, Dennis SCR-216

That was a great jump platform. I remember jumping out of it for a film Carl was working on. We would jump it and view Carl's film of our jumps two times the next week. One night at the Garth and Jay's Gypsy Moths bar and then two day later at Frank Carpenters' Hermosa Beach Rumbleseat bar. Like the the old Stenson that Lyle had, it was slow to climb, but great fun to jump out of.

Arvin will always be a special place to me. Both my brother and I made our first jumps at Arvin. I got my first training talk in a 49 Ford while driving over the GrapeVine from LA to Arvin in 1965. When we parked the car the 195 was ready to go so I got on my rig and went up for my first SL jump. The first student out of the door had his reserve open on exit and he landed with both chutes open. Thanks God for proper PLF training back then. My JM then turned, looked at me and said, OK Kid it's your turn, and please only use one fricken chute. Brian Williams, Bill Newell, Terry Ward, Paul Gorman, Clark Fisher, Jerry Bird and the other Good Guys were around at that time, so I wanted to do it right the first time out. When Arvin closed I moved on to Taft, Elsinore, Perris, Oceanside and other DZ's. To this Date I still try to keep in touch with the Arvin Good Guys. This May we will be holding another Grumpy Old Farts get together at Taft. Some of the Arvin Good Guys will be there. It looks like we will be able to put together a 12 or 15 way with jumpers that have been in the sport from 40 to 47 years. Man, I love this sport. SCR-216, SOS-1201, CC-17

Hello Roger, As I remember it, in 1969 we called the SCR meets SCR Stumbles. I still have a Stumbles patch I got form Inga. Regards, Dennis Henley SCR-216

Thanks for the posting Pat. As I sat there, hearing all of the names of people that have passed, people I grew up with in the sport, it made me a little light headed. At the same time I looked around and saw a lot of smiles in the room. It is great to smile and remember what we had back then, and what we have now in our sport. Because of all those that went before us and those that are helping the sport advance, skydiving has a very bright future. It was great to see you and Jan along with everyone that attended last weekend. I look forward to juming with you at the next Taft reunion.

It was sad to hear this yesterday. I first met Bill at Arvin when I was 18. Bill was one cool guy. Because of his fire red hair you could pick him out from a long distance. I am glad I got to see Bill and talk with him for a short time last year during a reunion held at Taft. I am sure I'll be seeing him down the line, along with Terry Ward, Paul Gorman, Chuck Sweeney, Gary Douris and my brother Paul. I look forward to some RW with friends up where you don't need to repack after every jump. RIP BIll, Dennis Henley SCR-216