Sit back and relax as we take you to a different time; a different place. Jim Wisely's vintage Super 8mm skydive movies, filmed at Roscoe Barnhill's field/ECU Drop Zone outside of Greenville (NC) and the Mt. Olive Airport (NC), give us all a look back at the seat-of-the-pants aspect of North Carolina skydiving during the mid 1970s. My guess is that this same basic level of skydiving was present at many drop zones scattered across the USA (exceptions were the big-time DZs where we were told that the Skygods lived).
Originally shot between 1974 and 1977, these movies may appear to be extremely crude and disorganized by today's standards. But back in those days, both the technology of amateur freefall movie filming and the emerging interest in helmet-mounted Super 8 movie cameras presented their own sets of challenges. I have been told that Jim's kitchen table was his makeshift workshop, and that it was regularly covered with small projects such as the construction and regular modification of his Bell motorcycle helmet with the Super 8 movie camera mount and WWII Newton Ring Sight.
The participants in these original Super 8 movies, now converted to a digital format, should feel fortunate that this footage even survived the test of time. With Jim's consent and blessing, this nostalgic look into the past can now be shared with countless others through today's cutting-edge platform of the internet. But back then, when Jim would bring over his latest batch of processed footage; I can still recall that we would create a makeshift projection screen by taping a bed sheet to a painted concrete block wall in Gary North's ECU dorm suite, just to help smooth out the surface. We would watch these movies over and over and over; while supplying our own background music by playing the album-of-choice on the stereo system's turntable.
Notable moments include Gary North's 200th skydive (4:08), the first 5-way round formation (Gary Holbrook, Gary Marison, Gary North, Jamie Guin, and Jim Wisely) over the Mt Olive NC Airport (13:23), Gary Marison's explosive opening of his Paraplane (18:14), Bill Robie's flawless standup landing of his short-lined PC canopy (18:49), a kick-ass standup landing by Gary Holbrook with a borrowed Piglet II canopy (19:47, thanks Harold), a sunset 4-way round formation (20:15), Jim Wisely's landing after forgetting to wear his clothes (23:57), and Jay Cunningham's Cessna 182 buzz job over the drop zone at Roscoe Barnhill's field/ECU Drop Zone (24:56).
Participants (both in air and on the ground): Gary North, Jamie Guin, Lonnie Willer, Tom Barvir, Gary Marison, Mike Bolt, Glen Sanderson, Danny Scolin, Mike Folk, Bill Robie, Kim Koehn, Harold Egelston, Henry Egelston, Gary Holbrook, Mike Taylor, Liz Hamby, and Jim Wisely (on both sides of the movie camera).
Parachute canopies featured: Paraplane, Stratostar, Paradactyl, Piglet II, Mark V Para Commander, Russian Para Commander, US Papillion, Thunderbow, Delta II, 28' modified 7-TU, 35' modified T-10, orange/white US Fire Service smoke-jumpers' FSF1 canopy.
Airplanes featured: Cessna 180, Cessna 182, and Cessna 207. Music by Pink Floyd.
Originally shot between 1974 and 1977, these movies may appear to be extremely crude and disorganized by today's standards. But back in those days, both the technology of amateur freefall movie filming and the emerging interest in helmet-mounted Super 8 movie cameras presented their own sets of challenges. I have been told that Jim's kitchen table was his makeshift workshop, and that it was regularly covered with small projects such as the construction and regular modification of his Bell motorcycle helmet with the Super 8 movie camera mount and WWII Newton Ring Sight.
The participants in these original Super 8 movies, now converted to a digital format, should feel fortunate that this footage even survived the test of time. With Jim's consent and blessing, this nostalgic look into the past can now be shared with countless others through today's cutting-edge platform of the internet. But back then, when Jim would bring over his latest batch of processed footage; I can still recall that we would create a makeshift projection screen by taping a bed sheet to a painted concrete block wall in Gary North's ECU dorm suite, just to help smooth out the surface. We would watch these movies over and over and over; while supplying our own background music by playing the album-of-choice on the stereo system's turntable.
Notable moments include Gary North's 200th skydive (4:08), the first 5-way round formation (Gary Holbrook, Gary Marison, Gary North, Jamie Guin, and Jim Wisely) over the Mt Olive NC Airport (13:23), Gary Marison's explosive opening of his Paraplane (18:14), Bill Robie's flawless standup landing of his short-lined PC canopy (18:49), a kick-ass standup landing by Gary Holbrook with a borrowed Piglet II canopy (19:47, thanks Harold), a sunset 4-way round formation (20:15), Jim Wisely's landing after forgetting to wear his clothes (23:57), and Jay Cunningham's Cessna 182 buzz job over the drop zone at Roscoe Barnhill's field/ECU Drop Zone (24:56).
Participants (both in air and on the ground): Gary North, Jamie Guin, Lonnie Willer, Tom Barvir, Gary Marison, Mike Bolt, Glen Sanderson, Danny Scolin, Mike Folk, Bill Robie, Kim Koehn, Harold Egelston, Henry Egelston, Gary Holbrook, Mike Taylor, Liz Hamby, and Jim Wisely (on both sides of the movie camera).
Parachute canopies featured: Paraplane, Stratostar, Paradactyl, Piglet II, Mark V Para Commander, Russian Para Commander, US Papillion, Thunderbow, Delta II, 28' modified 7-TU, 35' modified T-10, orange/white US Fire Service smoke-jumpers' FSF1 canopy.
Airplanes featured: Cessna 180, Cessna 182, and Cessna 207. Music by Pink Floyd.
Jim Wisely's Super 8mm Skydive Movies
1974 - 77
1974 - 77