Old Timers-SoCal

[Ol Shy & Bashful]

Was reminded of jumping days in SoCal and wondered if anyone here was
involved in the early days of skydiving there....Elsinore, San Marcos,
Santee, Oceanside, Daggett, Lenwood, Orange County (ON the airport at
SNA). That was during the late 50's early 60's.
Ol S&B

[Ol Shy & Bashful]

On Jan 7, 9:34*pm, John Smith > wrote:
> In article
> >,
> *"Ol Shy & Bashful" > wrote:
>
> > Was reminded of jumping days in SoCal and wondered if anyone here was
> > involved in the early days of skydiving there....Elsinore, San Marcos,
> > Santee, Oceanside, Daggett, Lenwood, Orange County (ON the airport at
> > SNA). That was during the late 50's early 60's.
> > Ol S&B
>
> I wasn't there then, but I am interested in what equipment you were
> jumping? Military free-fall rigs? 28 or 32 foot round? 7-T-U or four
> line release steering?

Mostly the 28 candy stripes. If we were lucky we had the 26' conical
reserve but most had the 24' bruisers. Only saw a few T-10 32's for
the bigger guys. I think my 1st canopy had Derry Slots then went to
the 5T and 7TU. I did a lot of my own canopy mods at home, including
making my own sleeves. Looking back I wonder how I ever survived it!
When the Commander came along it was the hot setup but most of our
guys were low rank military and we couldn't afford any of that gear so
we ended up using military surplus wherever we could find it. Keep in
mind, the 1st baton pass had just been made in the USA and skydiving
was brand new here. Great days and lots of fun. Lots of injuries too
as we learned what in hell we were doing.