Front view of PATHFINDER Harness Rear view of PATHFINDER assembly with the RFD-GQ PROTECTOR - manuals containing packing Reserve parachute assembly fitted. instructions supplied with each PATHFINDER Nil porosity 1.6 oz. canopy. fabric canopy with forward speed of PROTECTOR 17ft Steerable Reserve. 10-12 miles per hour, a descent rate of Conical shaped nil porosity steerable 15ft per second and a rate of turn of canopy. Rate of descent 17|ft per approximately 4 seconds per 360°. The second with 220 lbs., forward speed stall action of the canopy - an essential of 6-7 miles per hour and rate of turn part of the performance of any 360° in 7 - 8 seconds. Canopy in 1oz. competition or advanced display canopy ripstop nil porosity fabric with the - is extremely stable and recovery after blank gores of nylon net for additional the stall is immediate with minimum safety during deployment. 'surge' and instability. ON 1HE DISC MAIN RFD-GQ RFD-GQ Limited, Godalming, Surrey, England. Tel: Godalming 4122 Telex: 85233 2 THE JOURNAL OF THE BRITISH PARACHUTE ASSOCIATION (A company limited by guarantee! PARACHUTIST THE BRITISH PARACHUTE ASSOCIATION LTD, ARTILLERY MANSIONS, Vol. 11 No. 6 75 VICTORIA STREET, LONDON, SW1H OHW DECEP’ SER 1974 Phone 01-799 3760 BPA COUNCIL L N. E. St. John Chairman G. C. P. Shea-Simonds Vice-Chairman M. Batchelor Treasurer J. T. Crocker Chairman Safety and Training Committee (Stotnrial Other Members: R. S. Acraman The delightful cover of this issue by Terry Fulham is a W. G. Boot tribute to the most important group within our sport— the A. J. N. Cole ..ludent. Without the student clubs would collapse, for the J Forster majority of their income is derived from the initial course W. J. Meacock fee. The satisfied student is also the best means of recruit­ M. O'Brien ing more beginners into the club; the enthusiasm of a R. C. O’Brien student in his early days is seldom surpassed. Vet all too J. L Thomas often the student is taken for granted. So cast your mind D. Waterman back to the days when you were on the rope, encourage your students and your club will flourish. Co-opted Members: On a sadder note, 1974 sees the end of an era. The days Sir Godfrey Nicholson, Bart. of parachuting from the DH 89A Rapide are virtually over. Wg. Cdr. G. F. Turnbull, OBE, AFC, RAF (Ret’d) The Army Parachute Association have put G-AGSH on the I. Wright market and the C. of A. of the oldest of them still airworthy, P. Prior G-AGJG, expired on November 15th. It’s not often that sport parachutists succumb to nostalgia, but I'm sure that BPA JOURNAL memories of jumping thiselegant old aeroplane will linger Charles Shea-Simonds Editor with us for a long time. A tribute to the Rapide will appear 60 Easterly Crescent, Leeds LS8 2SG in a future issue. Once again I would like to use this column as a means of BPA STAFF saying ‘thank you’ on your behalf to Keith Fisher, Harry Sqn. Ldr. W. Paul, BEM, RAF (Ret'd) Secretary General Read and all the cheerful hands at G. H. Fisher and Sons Mrs. Dorothy Paul Assistant Secretary (our printers). Without their enthusiastic efficiency my job as Editor would be considerably more difficult. Editor's Note — 1974 was none too clever weather-wise — let’s hope for The views of contributors to “Sport Parachutist" are not necessarily those of the Editor, or of the British Parachute Association, and no liability is accepted for same. better in 1975. In the meantime have a good Christmas and I hope to see you all at the AGM. v__ . 3 AT THE DROP INN CHRISTMAS AT THE DROP ZONE The Earth, it came up to meet us, One by one we all hit the ground, T'was Christmas Day at the Drop Zone, To look up in the sky for our pilot, The jumpers were all gathered round, He was gone. He was long homeward bound. Looking, dismayed, at the aircraft, We walked all the way to the clubhouse, For the pilot lay, pissed, on the ground. Where the food and the drink were kept hot, “Alas and alack”, cried the students, For Santa’s related to Pusey, "Oh dear", cried the Jumpasters three, Ye Gods, What a terrible spot! “Now who can we get here to fly us?” “TOPSY" They wailed as they all looked at me. There is only one man who can save us, To fly, just to drop one stick, There is only one man who can help us, That’s right, we must send for St. Nick. Just then came the sound of some hoofbeats, He’d arrived at the very last hour, He came with a twenty man jumpship, That had a whole eight reindeer power. He landed then taxied up to us, His beard blowing white in the wind, "How’s that for some pretty fast flying”, He looked right at Sue and he grinned. “Now climb aboard quickly my lovelies, I've got time for only one lift, For my reindeer are well up on hours, So quickly, I really must shift”. We taxied on out to the runway, The hoofbeats they started to pound, The sleigh picked up speed so quickly, That soon we looked down at the ground. We circled and circled to gain height, Then Santa looked round with a grin, “This is it”, he shouted out loudly, “I’m going to start the run in”. “5 left, 5 right”, went the JM. And then he shouted out “Whoa", The next thing we knew we were falling, The jumpmaster never said go. We moved as we fell oh! so quickly, And linked for a twenty man star, Then Acker the Arab he waved off, So we turned and we tracked pretty far. We all dumped and opened quite safely, The canopies spun in the air, As we jockeyed and fought for position, A member of the Royal Marines Team on an intended And then, all too soon, we were there. water jump that wasn’t! HUS'-AT LEAST ...YEAH, BUT WE ■ WELLWEVE 0WRTEAKMAKE3 USE THEEE FLOWERS CAN TH A T BEEN TO’. cmmrsm tens: -AND'WE W ITH A SEAT EXIT SOME// ...0 U&TEAM F IL E ’. " OftNiMAKE 932&BS!! 4 Biff had just entered the star 8,000 feet over Strathallan. He shouted in exhilaration and away went his false teeth! As the spot was some 800 yards upwind of the pit it seemed a waste of time to look for them. The following weekend another club member came up to B iff.. with his missing teeth! He had found them 10 yards from the pit! □ □ □ “Reflection” by Eddie McBride □ □ □ Instructor to parachutist visiting Tilstock for the first time and trying to impress him with the history of the place: “ Do you know that King Charles II raised 10,000 pikemen here?" Jumper: “Really? Did it stop the jumping?" □ □ □ On the 15th July 1972 Mike Taylor exited an Islander over Halfpenny Green at 10,000 feet and bounced off the formating Rapide, severely fracturing his femur — an accident unique in sport parachuting history. Having been told at the time his parachuting days were over, he has now completely recovered and is back jumping again. It’s good to see you back in the sky Mike! □ □ □ Jumper to Doctor to whom he has gone for a medical: “What’s with this grabbing me by knackers and getting me to cough?” Members of the Endrust Team with Arthur Haycox, Doctor: “Perks of the job!!” Managing Director of Endrust, having jumped into his □ □ □ cocktail party. SO HAVE WE ...SO HAVE WE . .-WELL ALL THINGS CONSIDERED ^NDVJEfcE GOING ASAIN THEBE'S CfcJlY ONE VM&Y AND I STILl, SAY WE'-KE TP SETTLE Tfflai! 3HEBEST TEAM! 5 J MORE PARACHUTING QUOTATIONS Bad Temper “And a certain man drew a bow, and smote him between the joints of the harness”. First Book of Kings, Old Testament. Low Pulling “The harness jingles now; No change though you lie under The land you used to plough”. ‘A Shropshire Lad’ Housman. The First Jump “Leap thou, attire and all, Through proof of harness to my heart, and there Ride on the pants triumphing”. ‘Anthony and Cleopatra’ Shakespeare. Ram-Air Canopies ? “ It is shaped, Sir, like itself, and it is as broad as it hath The ‘True Trash’ 10 Man Team at the Australian Nationals breadth; it is just so high as itself, and the elements includes English jumpers: the O’Regan Brothers, Chris once out of it, it transmigrates” . Burrell (Rent-a-corpse), Tony Engbarth, Doc Campion, ‘Anthony and Cleopatra’ Shakespeare. Gooney Gurney and Ron Branscombe Competitions □ □ □ “Thou seest the world, how it goes; Our enemies have beat us to the pit”. A quote from Gideon Aran, American Journal of Sociology:- ‘Julius Caesar’ Shakespeare. The unusual social aspects of parachuting provide a “There still remains to mortify a wit rich potential for sociological study. Within a few The many headed monster of the pit”. moments, the highly integrated collectivity that has domi­ ‘On “ Paradise Lost’” Pope. nated its individual members (pre-jump phase) changes drastically into a tenuous, anomic social situation that “Cossack Commanders Cannonading com e.. gives rise to a very egocentric individuality followed by a ‘Siege of Belgrade’ANON. return to the former state (post-jump phase). This bipolar­ ity of parachuting provides a rare opportunity to study a Finale nearly ideal-typical manifestation of extreme opposite “Blow wind, come wrack, at least we’ll die with social forms contained within an organizational setting.