Lost Drop Zones Project

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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.) Jerry & Sherry Schrimsher, then Bob Chaffin
Mansfield ("The Limey's" place)
Commerce (Forest McBride and ??) Maybe Bob Chaffin or Dennis Dorris
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) Jeff Hughes

I think the names are right that I added, will ask about this Blackwater one I keep thinking of.

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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!

J, your mention of the map in Lewisville just rang a bell for me. When I was in Air Force basic training back in 1965, a guy in my barracks named Gene Burch, also from Dallas, mentioned making a jump with a group that operated out of Lakeside Airport on Lake Lewisville. The airport's still there and we made several demos from it with Remax.

Back in the 1980s, I jumped at Claresholm, Warburg and CFB Edmonton.
Claresholm was the home of the World Champion 8-way team (Mike Zahar, Kelly Dunn, Rob Laidlaw, etc.)for a few years and host of the 198(3) Canada Cup of RW.

Milt Burton ran a DZ in Warburg for a few years. We used to take off and land on a grassy farm strip.

The Canadian Army Parachute Center used to be located in Greisbach (sp?) Barracks in the north end of Edmonton and we used to jump at Lancaster Park, a military airport a few miles north of the city.

Jamie Woodward (from Washington State) used to run a winter DZ in Palm Springs back in the 1990s.

The Sea Gull Skydivers used to do most of their drinking in Sydney, Nova Scotia ... and a bit of skydiving in the Margaree Valley of Cape Breton Island.
The last time I jumped in Margaree was 1983.

Back in the 1960s, the University of New Brunswick Skydiving Club was part of the Ivy League skydiving circuit.
They used to jump at a private airstrip that Professor Bradley carved out of the forest -east of town.
In the late 1980s, a drug-running Aero Commander (no connection with the UNB CLub) crashed there, ending the DZ.
The Fredericton club produced several world-class skydivers including Duff Boyd and the Bradely brothers.
Last thing I heard, Eric Bradely was chief pilot for the New Brunswick Provincial Air Service's spruce bud worm spraying program. Thank God they retired all those RCN-surplus Avengers!

Chilliwack, British Columbia, Canada closed a few years ago.

After many years of operation - and hosting the 1999 (or was it 2000?) World POPS meet, the DZ fell on hard times.

After crashing two Cessnas in one season, they folded. The more active members moved to Pitt Meadows, BC.

i forgot about skydive East in pittstown NJ. mea culpa. i have known doug angel for over 30years

Around '66 or '67 I made a jump at an airport at Springfield Ohio. I can't remember who ran the place but I think its time as a DZ was short lived.

I jumped at Williston as late as 2005.

Also in the late 1970s there was Bob Clark's DZ in Littleton, Colorado . . .

NickD

Cedar Valley, what a special place that was. Great DZ. (except for the dust devils.) Grew up 5 minutes from the DZ at S.L. #2 and made a few jumps there before they moved to Tooele.

Hi pat,
Got a good thread goin'!! Nobody mentioned SE Louisiana yet, so here goes. Today ya' got a DZ at Slidel, LA. Times gone go to Hammond Airport in the 60's. Started out with Louisiana Skydivers fron Baton Rouge, Delta Skydivers from N.O. and then Southland Skydivers from Hammond. Eventually "Southern Parchute Center" ran by Ben Seal Jr. then Leon Riche. Small town politics and it moved to Covington. The airport at Hammond would be a really great DZ but for Hammond Politics!! There was a couple of "cow pasture" DZ's around Baton Rouge that Louisiana Skydivers used but would have to take off from Ryan Airport or Downtown airport. One was called "Blacks" and I recall the "Perkins' Street Pea Patch!" I remember that Herb Golden was a big hit for the whuffs that would watch at the fence line, short light weight guy would consistently do "stand up landings" under a cheapo 7-TU! The Cajuns had one around Abbeville I believe and there were a few others. As I recall, it all started when someone put an add in the Baton Rouge Morning Advocate saying that anyone interested in starting a "Skydiving Club" please meet at the Natl. Guard Armoury on Tuesday night. That's another thread and the rest is history!

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i forgot about skydive East in pittstown NJ. mea culpa. i have known doug angel for over 30years

Got ya beat. He was my FJC instructor in 1965

HW

I must have missed any of the California jumpers making mention of Arvin, where the foundations of RW were built.

Pat Moore - looks like you've created a monster here!

Hoop

Amherst Sport Parachute Center on Millersport Highway between Buffalo, NY and Lockport in the very late '60's. We had a Tri-Pacer (30 minutes with 3 jumpers to 7,500'...bring a lunch), a 172 and a Cessna 195. Eventually folded and merged with Frontier Skydivers.

My first jumps away from home were when Nick Tousey took a bunch of us students to a meet hosted by the Calgary Parachute Club in July, 1971. I recall that it was a grass strip that was southeast (?) of Calgary. My logbook for jumps #14 & #15 were at Barlow's Field. From a 180, CF-JVC. I heard that that plane crashed on a ferry flight to/from that DZ later on. Jumps were signed by CSPA D-67, Don Armit and D-26, Mike Hand. I still hear of Don every once in a while. I believe that Mike died of cancer many years ago.

The Canada Cup at Claresholm was in August of 1983.

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I must have missed any of the California jumpers making mention of Arvin, where the foundations of RW were built.

Pat Moore - looks like you've created a monster here!

Hoop

Yes, I should have mentioned Arvin, but that was way way way before my time.


Anyway, check this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J0861idKhP4

South Alabama:

Roy E Ray Airport (RER Jump Club and Skydive Mobile) (Hillery, Cutts/Hillery, Kim/Hillery, David/Hillery)

Idle Hour Airport. (Cutts)

St. Elmo Airport. (Cutts)

Flying Tripps Airport. (Cutts)

Bay Minette Airport. (Toad Bullin)

(Old) Jackson County MS airport. (J Mike Brown)

(New) Jackson County MS aiport. Gold Coast Skydivers. (Mike Igo)

Colorado:

Ellicott Airport. Front Range Skydivers.

Calhan Airport. Front Range Skydivers, Elaborate Skydivers.

BASE359

Maybe I can pm Martin to fill in some Kansas blanks, but I will start the lost Kasnas dz's with the place that i started at.
Mid American sky sports in Garnett Kansas, there are several more but I am not sure of the dates so I will leave those to who know.
Garnett went out in the early 90's.

Dennis Anderson had told me one time of a Pittsbug state (pittsburg ks) college club, he and Jim Sours took all the club money and purcahsed beer with it, that was of course in Pittsburg ks.

Martin, your turn.. you guys out West had more DZ's like Kingman, Eureka and ???
Joe

I jumped one time with the civilian club at the Canadian Forces base at Lahr, Germany, in the early '90s before the Canadian bases in Germany closed. The base was relatively quiet, with the jet fighters having left a decade or two before, and most of the helicopters off in some fragment of Yugoslavia.

So there I was in front of a huge reinforced concrete hardened-aircraft-shelter, siren and rotating beacon going off, as motors slowly slid open the massive hangar doors. Revealed inside were the club's offices and their little C-182. A well protected DZ!

ParaPonderosa, Bong AFB(closed) near Kenosha Wisconsin.
Aero Park (Wisconsin Sky Divers) Franklin, Wisconsin
Rainbow Airport, southeastern Wisconsin(Milwaukee Skydivers?)
Bill Hasenfuss's airport, Omro Wisconsin (Oskosh)

Greene County Sport parachute in Wellsville Ks. Jumped there in 84 or 85.
Already mentioned but Bragg had GBSPC in 84.
The 82nd and 18 corp also had clubs-not sure if they are still open.
Use to be a club in the Rolla Missouri area-think it's closed also.

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There was also a dz in Keystone FL during the 80's... not sure when it closed down.

I'm vague with the years because I'm not quite sure when these places stopped jumping.

There were two at one time. Keystone Air Sports stopped jumping in....98-99 (somewhere in there) and there was another DZ located near the FBO that was open from 96 (thereabouts) to around 98-99 also. Mike Mullins used to fly in there during the winter and do his $99 BTYP.

Fernandina had one that was briefly open from 98-2000(?)..Amelia Island Resort Skydiving (I think I'm close).

Palatka's Kay Larkin had two at one time, the old Palatka Paracenter and Skydive Palatka (still going strong).

Live Oak, FL had a DZ, but I don't know much about it.

St. Mary's GA had one that shut down in the early 90's, a new DZ has since opened on the same airport.

Waycross, GA had a DZ that closed about 99-00. I liked Jerry and miss him a great deal.

Flagler Beach, FL had Rocky's old place and then Fred (Brown?) opened a DZ there with Keith Larrett as the manager. It closed in 2000 or early 2001.

My apologies if I'm a bit vague, I remember the forest but not the trees. Hopefully this helps jog a few memories.

In the Huntsville , Alabama area, there was one in Lacey Springs in the late 80s, in Meridianville in the early 80s, in Harvest in the late 70s-early 80s, and in Fayetteville, Tennesse in the early 80s.
also at Albertville, Alabama in the early 80s