1970's in English

1975-1976

General

Bobby Gray and Mike “Bearpole” Barber jumped together and made the first planning canopy contact. They made it in summer 1975.

CRW got lot of publicity. Some jumpers made demo CRW jumps in US Nationals in 1976 (I like to know who did it?).

There was also long story in Parachutist (Nov 76) made by Dan Poynter.

The first written rules in Parachutist told about break off altitudes:

1. With four participants or less: 200 feet AGL

2. With five participants or more: 300 feet AGL

Records

The biggest formation was 4-way (I hope to get more info, where and when?).

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1977

General

Scotty Carbone and Steve Haley made the first naked plane formation in summer.

Also in summer, Esa “Kunkku” Mikkonen and Jukka Heikkinen made the first canopy contact in Finland. They jumped in Malmi, Helsinki. Jump was made April 8. Later in summer some other Finns made CRW jumps.

“The Ken Preble Memorial CRW Award” was introduced in the East Coast, USA. More than 300 awards was given before 1980.

"Know-Sense Team" introduced new awards - CCR (Canopy Crest Recipient) for jumpers who had been in 8-way formation and in CCS (Canopy Crest Soloist) for jumpers who was docking eight or later.

Events

The first known 8-way (or bigger) attempts was in the September. Jumpers in California try 8-stack and as big as 11-stack. The best of that weekend was 6-stack. “Know-Sense Team” was organizing those attempts in Antioch, CA.

Records

US team "Know-Sense Team" from Antioch, CA introduced new technique of docking from below. That made possible to increase size of the formation. Quite soon the first 8-stack was done. In Livermore, CA those jumpers kept record weekend. The fourth attempt, in October 23, was successful and the first 8-stack was complete.

Jumpers in docking order were

Steve Haley,

Dave Correia,

Jon Grant,

Jim Schubert,

Keith Carter,

Richard Kjar,

Neil Baker and

Norton Thomas.

The main organizer was Tom Courbat. He saw that record from hospital. He was injured in landing accident in the second attempts. He tried to dock in low altitude (less than 200 meter) and his canopy funnels. So they landed together.

The next jump after record was also 8-stack. In that stack there was also the first female jumper who take part of 8-way. She was Lynda Ballard.

Jumpers in docking order were

Steve Haley,

Lynda Ballard

Mike Hurley,

Jim Schubert,

Dave Correia,

Jon Grant,

Keith Carter and

Norton Thomas.

In 1977 there were only three 8-stack in total. Two 8-stacks made in Livermore, CA and one in Zephyrhills, FL.

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1978

General

Jumpers from Pope Valley made the first diamond formation in April. Marty Martin was piloting and Chuck Drake and Sparky (Kent) Gregory was a wing and the locker was Tom Warner. The honour of that belongs to Roger Hull who organized about 40 attempts. Unfortunately he missed the first one. Diamond was done using free flying technique.

Suzanne Sherer becomes the first female jumper who docks in eighth. She got her CCS in Xenia, OH. In the same formation there were four female jumpers. It was 10-stack attempt. The day after that same group made 7-stack trying 10-stack.

In summer US jumpers B.J. Worth and Mike Eakins made 2-stack and landed it in opening ceremonies of the World Championships in Yugoslavia. That was the first time when IPC saw CRW.

Some of the CRW jumpers made also planned formations. Plane formations start to grow. In Pope Valley, CA jumper made the first 8-plane, in November. All of them use white Unit mains. Jumpers exited from DC-3 about 3 750 meter. They had one problem, jumpers had problem to stay in plane formations, and they start to rise up. But they solve it, just to take grip the above jumper’s legs.

The European Canopy Club was founded in Belgium. E.C.C. patch was possible to get if you was at the least 5-way canopy formation.

Records

CRW start to spread out and soon there were other 8-stacks. The first none "Know-Sense Team" 8-stack was done in July in Thun Field, WA. They also made the new record - three 9-stacks in row. All of them was done in July. The last one included 10 person for 10 seconds. The rules required one minute holding time.

Before the first 9-stack there was 11 complete 8-stack’s. Most of them have more than eight jumpers in the air.

The first all female 4-stack was made in Xenia, OH in August.

Jumpers were
Karen Dean,
Nancy Kurlin,
Patt Valley and
Suzane Shearer.

Jumpers from Belgium made the first 8-stack outside USA. They made it in France, Maubeuge in November. The last that dock was Frank “Jesus” Rens. It takes 9 min 10 sec to get it complete. It was the first attempt in total and also the first CRW jump ever for jumper number two!

 

Jumpers in docking order were
Leo Moortgat,
Wim De Grauwe,
Michel De Kerpel,
Serge Lebon,
Jean Pierre Van Eyken,
Claude Noel,
Johan Van Stappen and
Frank Rens.

The US army jumpers were also CRW active. They tied the record and made 9-stack in Ft. Rucker, AL. That happened November. They used UH-1H Huey helicopter.

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1979

General

Randy Kerr and Bor Korbus made stack formation using canopies whit flies backward. They need five attempts in September 2. The place was Littleton, CO.

The first CRW fatal accident happened in summer in the USA.

Records

The first official 10-stack was made in Xenia, OH. That happened in June. Quite soon they beat it and made 11-stack. That happened in USPA Boogie, Richmond, IN. In really they made 12-stack but it was complete only 35 second. Jumpers from Xenia made that in July. In the next day there were two record teams in same DC-3. In the first exit, "Cheap Trick" group from Richmond, IN. They made legal 10-stack. The next one was jumpers from Xenia. They made legal 12-stack and hold it 1 min 41 sec before it was broken in 5- and 7-stack. Andy Spurlock's double wrapping technique apparently injured (broke?) his ankle on this jump.

In Canada, Canadian jumpers made 8-stack. They made it in Sincoe, Ontario, in August.

In this time jumpers separated stack and plane formations. In Limerick, PA "The Other People" team made two 9-planes. Those jumps were made in September. Before that they had made five 8-planes in home DZ, Stormville, NY. The first 10-plane was done in Zephyrhills, FL in November. It flies only 56 second.

Competitions

Competitions started also soon. The first major CRW competition was in Zephyrhills, FL. There was Pumpkin meet and rotation and 8-speed stack competitions. Date of the competition was October 27 to November 4. There were eight rotation teams and two 8-speed teams. All teams were from US.

In same competition we saw two unofficial world records. Rotation team "The Plane Old Folks" made 8 points in 5 minutes working time and "Cheap Trick Revival" made 8-stack in 2 min 58 sec.

 

 

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Please enjoy reading about the history of canopy formations on the site, and do let me know if you know of some piece of CRW history that is missing from those pages.

CRW history collector,
Pasi Pirttikoski

 

 

parahist (at) gmail.com