Lost Drop Zones Project

I forget the one west of Mobile but they had a volkswagen shell up on a telephone pole to use for practice exits!

I did a couple of competitions at Warrior north of Birmingham.

Someone mentioned PelicanLand. The Pelicans and the Targeteers shared a DZ at Manassas in 1966.

Back to my original question. Does anyone have the time and inclination to put together a NELSAP type of website chronicling the "lost DZs"? I suspect that contributions would come in for a long time.

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NY: Seneca Falls; Hamlin; West Bloomfield.

And a lot more. Kirkwood, Greene, Fulco-Johnstown, Sha-Wan-Ga, Java/Arcade, Ava (where the LAGNAF people were), Malone, Stormville, Franklinville. And Lake Placid (at least for annual meets.)

HW

I'll weigh in with the old Las Vegas area DZs.
There was Overton in the 60s-70s but we got axed for riding the beacon. Then came the Craig road DZ which fell victim to the housing market.
Cal-Nev-Ari opened for a couple years for the folks who didnt like the Craig Rd. DZO.
We tried the Sandy Valley Arpt for a bit then came Pahrump , which was a great DZ until the three owners got to fighting among one another.
Jean was even a good DZ until it became a tandem mill and got really weird.

I started jumping in 1974 at a little DZ in Fulton, Missouri. I moved away after a year and a while later I heard it was closed. Anybody here ever heard of it or why it closed?

Well... around SoCal, DZs I know of that have went in:

1. Taft... the one down in the bowl / right across the canal from the prison. The Jones' were running the place when I first started jumping. Then Will took it over. Back in the early 2000s it shut down when there was some sort of an issue with the lease on the property.

2. Hemet... Shut down in the late 90s? I think?? Not sure what the story was there.

3. Apple Valley Skydive... was one of many drop zones that spun off from California City over the years. Was operated by Joe and Rose for a few years in the late 90s. They shut down DZ ops when their other business, AERO, started doing better and needing more time. Shortly after they closed up the DZ, Joe got horribly injured in a parachute test drop which eventually lead to his demise a few years later.

4. California City Skydive... Van had a hand in the place one way or the other for something like 30 years, but many others as well. Notably, Bob and Judy were running the place when I started jumping, later spun off a smaller operation at the other end of the field and in the end worked in cooperation with Van again. There were probably many many other DZOs and Managers there as there was a skydiving presence at the Cal City Airport for something like 30 to 40 years before the place shut down Thanksgiving 2007. I'm sure their are many great stories about folks and going-ons at Cal City over the years. In the end, Van and Alberta decided to close up shop when the City offered to buy them out for a large sum of money; reportedly, the city wants the hangars and land (something like 160 acres ?) for their plans for an industrial park. As far as I know, the whole place is still sitting idle.


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I think it would be great if someone put together a NELSAP type of website chronicling the lost drop zones. Possibly some internet savy person could put together & host the website and take inputs from skydivers around the US, Canada or even the whole world. I'd like to think the USPA would even be interested from the standpoint of lost DZs around the US.

I first found about the web site I looked up Salem Michigan in the North west Detroit Heading. It showed an aerial shot from 1973. It had to have taken on a Monday or Tuesday because ther were no cars in the lot between the North hangers and the railroad tracks. The Pea-Gravel target still shows up OK.I used to land Big Bill Webers Delta 11 standing up in it . BBW never got to land under it anytime, as he always had to cut it away.
A few previous Michigan DZ,s I jumped at Oxford Gregory Salem Saline La Salle Marine City Croswell Otisville Saginaw Frankenmouth Cagney Oscoda Argentine Napoleon Marshall Three rivers Austin lake Grant Memphis near Swartz Creek
Coincidently the web site was listed on the Fandango Fans listed on this forum just below this

Darbydale Ohio, close to Columbus. One Cessna 182 on a farmers field, they had to leave in 1972. Today it's a Fire Department and a few houses.

>>Well... around SoCal, DZs I know of that have went in:
Also Lakeside and Ramona in San Diego County, and Murrieta (Bear Creek Airport) in Riverside County which was the LZ that Elsinore used, on and off, during the floods years) . . .

There was also a part time DZ run by Frank Mott in Twenty Nine Palms for a little while.

NickD

Prairie Skymasters Parachute Club that ceased operations after the 2006 season after 31 years of operation. PSM operated at three different locations near Saskatoon Saskatchewan over the years.

I put the three locations on this Google Map that I created.

I started jumping with PSM in 1980. It was a great little operation, always progressive and fun. Unfortunately, the ever increasing burden of government regulations, taxes and bureaucracy has killed it.

Murray

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I think it would be great if someone put together a NELSAP type of website chronicling the lost drop zones. Possibly some internet savy person could put together & host the website and take inputs from skydivers around the US, Canada or even the whole world. I'd like to think the USPA would even be interested from the standpoint of lost DZs around the US.

I don't know what NELSAP is...I suppose I could google it...but it would be real easy to set up a blog and use that to document all the lost DZs.

A blog like this perhaps. I use wordpress for several other blogs...one work related and 2 personal. It is easy to add photos, video and also to add other authors/contributors. I don't really have a lot of spare time but if anybody else would be willing to spend some time helping out maybe we could get this off the ground.

Cheers,

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I don't know what NELSAP is...I suppose I could google it...

Or you could look at the first message in this thread.

HW

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Do you think there would be enough interest to warrant such a site?

I think it is a great idea and from the number of responses so far It is safe to say there are plenty of dz's that are no more....

I could add:
Hot Spur Paracenter in Littleton CO. I made my first jump there, i don't even think there is an airport there anymore.

In Oregon:
Beagle Sky Ranch; one of my favorite DZ's in Medford. I think they still make jumps there once in awhile but not really a DZ anymore.

Cave Junction; formerly a Smokejumper base and a DZ for a short time.

Cline Falls Skydivers in Redmond: Moved to Madras, there was a small DZ operating out of the Bend airport before that.

Scravel Hill in Albany: The former OSU club DZ

Harrisburg; the former U of O club ran by Jimmy Wright, his son started wright brothers later in Creswell I think that is gone now too.

Donald/Aurora? don't know much about that, before my time.

Roseburg; there was a DZ there for awhile, don't know much about that.

Hermiston; Never jumped there.

And of course the infamous Pacific Parachute club in Sheridan ran by Teddy Mayfield.

Washington:

Richland Skysports; Closed about a year ago, one of my favorites.

Yakima/ Zilla? leonard may still be doing something, I don't know.

West plains moved to Ritzville, Kapowsin moved to Shelton.

And of course Issaqua which closed years ago. There are probably others in WA but those are the ones I know of. The University of Idaho had a small club at the Moscow/Pullman airport that I jumped at but I don't think there is anything going on there now.

If anyone does put a site together I would be happy to contribute.

Before jumping at a farmer's field outside of Coldwater, Ontario (which shut down a few years ago), the Huronia Skydivers jumped at Midland Airport, onto the ice of Penetang Bay in the winter, then moved to Port McNicoll for a while before ending up jumping at a small airfield outside of Honey Harbor.

I believe they may have been one of the few parachute clubs that actually operated out of a strip club. One of the owners was operator of the Port McNicoll Inn, a local peeler bar, and they had equipment and training rooms in the back of the club.

Lots of good stories from those times.

Rob

Let's see, in the Dallas / Ft. Worth area alone the following DZs have come and gone since the late 50s:

(Old) Grand Prairie Airport (Bobby Crump's place)
Pilot Point ??????
Cedar Hill (Crump and Forest McBride)
Alvarado (same as above AFAIK)
Seagoville (Dallas Parachute Assn.)
Mansfield ("The Limey's" place)
Commerce (Forest McBride and ??)
Aero Country
Hartlee Field (Skydivers of Texas, Jerry Rouillard)
Lavon North (Jerry Rouillard's 2nd place)
Ennis (Slavo Mulik's place)
Forney (Doc Linden's place)
Rhome Airport (DZ later moved moved to Decatur)
Decatur Airport (Skydive The Metroplex)
Aerodrome (John Mitchell's place and the seed for Skydive Dallas).
Skydive Texas Ranch (Tom Bishop's place)
Gainesville (Forest Mcbride)
Eagle Flight (Granbury)

Those are all I know of off the top of my head. Please add to the DFW list if you can think of any others.

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Hartlee Field (Skydivers of Texas, Jerry Rouillard)
Lavon North (Jerry Rouillard's 2nd place)

Then (not Texas) there was Roanoke Rapids, NC, Jerry Rouillard.

HW

in New Jersey we had :
Tri State Skydivers at Adams Airpark,Flemington (property is now owned,as i understand it , by Johnny Higgins,of the Chute Shop/North American Aerodynamics);
Manville,
Horizon Parachute Club Applegarth,
Asbury Park Skydivers,
Frenchtown,
RipcordParaCenter in Lumberton(1962-1986) ,
Lakewood P.I.,
Bridgeton(P.A.I.,circa 1980)

You can add Eagle Flight at Cherry Field in Granbury. It was sold a couple of times after Wayne sold it. The last owner closed up shop and moved the DZ to Hillsboro (Skydive I-35). Granbury developed the DZ right off the airport. The pea pit is gone, the landing area is gone, its all hangers now.

How could you have left out Skydive East, Doug Angel's place in Pittstown?

HW

Yep, that man really gets around.

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You can add Eagle Flight at Cherry Field in Granbury. It was sold a couple of times after Wayne sold it. The last owner closed up shop and moved the DZ to Hillsboro (Skydive I-35). Granbury developed the DZ right off the airport. The pea pit is gone, the landing area is gone, its all hangers now.

Done, how long ago?

EF limped along for a little bit with the "new" construction until about a year ago. Actually, it might have been 2 years ago. Really though, it just wasn't the same after Wayne sold it and everyone went their separate ways (for various reasons).

I have exceptionally fond memories at that DZ. Fun people, fun times and I haven't found a DZ that had that same vibe.

Wish I could take my son (just started jumping) to one of the old DZs.

In Ill
Benton, the old Pekin DZ, Sparta, Irving, Isley, Kanaakee, Chicago Hammond, Goreville, Ewing

Of the places I have jumped, The Green Beret Sport Parachute Club (where I learned to skydive in 1994), Adrenaline Adventures Skydiving Wallace, NC (1994), Phoenix at Z-Hills (1995), Para Gators in Umatilla (95-96) are all gone.

In Utah there was a Dz at the Heber city airport that I jumped at back in the '80s. There was also Cedar Valley and Bagley ran a DZ at the 2nd municipal airport in Salt lake.

Cedar valley moved to Tooele but no more jumping at the other two.

I didnt see Seagoville out of Kaufman TX, the Dallas Parachute Association where I grew up at on the weekends.

Parents jumped at another place prior to Seagoville, think it was called blackwater or something? Would have been early 60's... Good thread....I found a hand drawn map to a place up in lewisville i think, Was dated in the 60's too, Ill see if I can find it.

Great stuff! Now can someone get me the logo's to the DZ's too. That would be great!