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Memories |
The
Blue Masters Parachute Team
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Wiesbaden – 1962: United States Air Forces Europe
(USAFE): Combat Control Team Members Col. Donald Strobough,
Sgt.’s Bob Lanier, Lawrence Harvey, Lou May and Johnny Hall make CCT history as
the first all USAF Parachute Demonstration Team. Sponsored and funded by USAFE, with Gen.
“Red” Foreman as a staunch supporter and advocate, the Team jumped throughout
Europe and the Mid East on countless demos for military gatherings.
The Team jumped self-modified
(7-TU cut) C-9 28’ flat circular air crew chutes acquired from the base
parachute shop, (chutes were salvaged after a ten year shelf life or one live
deployment), regular static line reserves and scrounged altimeters. Sport parachuting was in it’s infancy, and all but unknown anywhere in
Europe
except
France
. Dedicated
gear was next to impossible to obtain, and high performance parachutes were yet
to be invented. Despite this, the Team
was in very high demand, and enjoyed a very active Demo schedule in addition to
their “normal” CCT duties.
Because of this vigorous demo
schedule, the Team soon expanded to include Larry Lower, Lou Brabham, Richard Patton, Jim Donaldson, Marty North and Bob Barinowski to name but a few. During their hey day, 1962-1966, the Team
performed in excess of some 100 demos in Germany, France, Spain, Luxembourg,
Italy, Greece, Belgium, Netherlands, England, Scotland, Ethiopia, Libya and
Iran. Some of these demos were before
crowds in excess of half a million and included numerous heads of state. Most had never before seen a parachute drop,
let alone a free-fall show!! The list of
dignitaries included: Emperor Haile Salssie of
Ethiopia
, The Prince of
Luxembourg
,
Germany
’s Willie Brandt, The Queen of Holland, President
Franco of
Spain
and the Shah of Iran.
Jumping from a wide variety
of aircraft that included C-130’s C-54’s, C-47’s and various helicopters, the
Team normally performed their shows from altitudes between 5000’ and
12,000’. To enhance the performances, they
manufactured their own boot smoke brackets using the time tried method of trial
and error (a melted boot) to select the best configuration. Their free-fall work, although rudimentary by
today’s standards, was done with precision and often times would steal the show
from the co-participant military jet teams.
To today’s modern sport/demo
jumper, the equipment and techniques utilized would be classified as extremely
hazardous. Terms such as “death rig”
would be applied to the equipment and the idea of spotting barely modified round
with but 4-5 kts. of drive,
from a non GPS/SATNAV aircraft would be suicidal. It should be stressed here that this was the
normal course of events, and the team almost always landed directly on the
panels in front of the crowd, clearly demonstrating their extraordinary skills
in canopy control! Their release point
was figured using a Wind Drift Indicator (15’ of crepe paper with some metal
hanger pieces taped to the end), what ever winds aloft the weather folds could
provide and a healthy dose of WAF (wild ass guess).
One anecdote passed to me by
Lou Brabham, recalls an incident where the Team was
jumping from a helicopter in
Ethiopia
. Pilot to
jumpmaster communications were limited to say the least, and the pilot wanted
to let the JM know that this would be their last pass because he was getting
low on fuel. The message that Johnny
Hall received seed more urgent and was relayed as the chopper is out of
fuel!! Not wanting to have to ride the
bird down empty or miss a jump, he ordered an immediate exit…….about 10 clicks
from the DZ. The Team landed among
startled villagers, and while they were revered as instant celebrities, they
still faced the long walk back. Another
interesting incident occurred in
France
when the Team was grounded for bad weather. With time on their hands and the usual
mischievous state of mind, Johnny Hall and Larry Harvey commandeered a jeep and
decided to attempt to parasail. Armed with 400+ feet of heavy equipment strapping and one of their
chutes.
Harvey
, driving the jeep at increasing speed actually
managed to bet Johnny airborne!! Unfortunately,
Harvey
ran out of taxiway and had to execute and immediate
turn, which terminated Johnny’s flight as he plummeted smartly to the
ground. Knocked
unconscious Hall. When the flight
surgeon arrived on scene, Johnny had been out from some period of time. His first words upon coming to were “I’m not
unconscious…I’m just resting”. He knew
he would be grounded for up to six months for being unconscious, and the Flight
surgeon upon hearing these brave words remarked “anyone who is crazy enough to
want to jump that bad should stay on status”. (Or words to
that effect).
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The Blue Masters continued to perform demonstrations throughout the sixties, impressing
dignitaries and crowds alike until they experienced their first and only
fatality. Remembering that they were on
the cutting edge of experimental free-fall parachuting, these “if it ain’t been done, let’s try it” airmen, were constantly
attempting new stunts to upgrade their performance and push the envelope, it
was during one such attempt that tragedy struck. A1C Edward Kimble was fatally injured during
a tandem type jump. The
self-manufactured harness put extraordinary compression strain on him during
opening shock and he died of internal injuries. We have only the barest of facts surrounding this jump and accident, and
hope that the readership will help fill in the blanks on the future
articles. In any case the resulting
investigation and negative publicity provided the impetus to cease jump
operations.
Vietnam
was heating up, and many of the original Team members
were headed in that direction.
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The
Blue Masters
Come Home
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As former Blue Masters Team
members found their way back home to assignments in the
US
, several made their way to Langley A.F.B., VA. to serve under Lt. Col. Chuck Corey. It is unclear at this writing what the
attraction was to this assignment, or how so many managed to wangle a way
there, but the fact remains that the infamous Langley Motorcycle Gang was destined
to become the new home of the Blue Masters. The Langley Team had an enthusiastic group of sport parachutists that
were willing to commit their personal sport parachute equipment and time to e a
non-sponsored Parachute Demonstration Team Of course there were benefits to them….they had aircraft support in the
form of TAC HQ’s UH-1. As long as they
could put on a great Base Open house Demo, they had aircraft support in the
form of TAC HQ’s UH-1. As long as they
could put on a great Base Open house Demo, they could get the helo for
countless “practice” jumps.
Using the then state of the art support rigs of Para
commanders and papillions, they were able to develop a
show complete with professional narration that would rival the be then famous
Golden Knights Team members during this period included original Blue Maters
members, Bob Lanier and Lou May as new Team mates of Col. Corey, John Smith,
Don East, Jim Donaldson, Rex Wales, Tom Botts and Gus Phillipou. Later Derek, Mouse Lisk, Mike Callahan, Spook Fuiten, Gus Rhinchart, Dave
Pearson, Steve Phillips, Bill Frankenberger. Sky King and Tan Pinney would all jump with the Team. Drawing
from such diverse group of parachuting talent it is no wonder that the Team was
in demand no only from
Langley
, but at a growing list of AF Bases throughout the
US
that included, Hanscom Field, Pease AFB,
University
of
Albuquerque
and
Randolph
.
It was at a demo at Randolf AFB for their alumni Days, in June 1972, laid the
groundwork for the eventual demise of the name BLUE MASTERS. It was great day for CCT. Performing before a crowd in excess of 50,000
people, most of whom were AF pilots who trained at Randolf,
the team executed a series of thrill and precise shows to the adoration of the
crowd. On one of the passes, intended as
a four man formation
Bob Lanier broke away early
to track to the opening point, leaving the three man formation behind. Untroubled by this turn of events, Rex Wales
the smooth narrator quickly dubbed this the “missing man formation” much to the delight of the crowed which
included the entire VIVA organizing
committee (VIVA was the group
responsible for the POW/MIA bracelets) This
had two immediate effects. The crowd
lowed us and the Thunderbirds despised us for the upstaging them. As we all know, they, by decree from AF, HA
and God, must be the headliners of any show or they take their rental cars back
to their off base executive hotel and whine to higher authority. Which is exactly what they
did.
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