|
Natalia Faine
|
Natalie
first jumped at Labertouche on the 9th of June 1973. She was issued
with APF A860 on the 1st of January 1974. Natalie jumped at the Centre for
a long time. She was a skydiver who like many others, got a taste of aviation
and went on to become a commercial pilot. She emigrated to
Canada and worked in commercial aviation.
Natalie represented
Australia at the 2nd World Championships in Relative Work at
Gatton/Laws, Queensland, Australia 1977 as a member of the "Secret
Team".
Natalie
recently returned to Australia for a visit. |
|
Douglas Falconer
|
Visiting
Pakenham Jumper:
Doug made his first jump at
Pakenham on the ??? as a member of Commando Skydivers, he was a foundation
member of Jindivik Sport Parachute Club and ParaSport. He first jumped at
Labertouche on the 8th of May 1966.
Doug
jumped at the Centre as a member of the 10-Man Speed Star Team "The Valley
Rats" in the 2nd Australian Relative Work Championships (73/74)
He
was a member of the team "True Trash" in the 4th Australian
Relative Work Championships 10-Man Star Event (1975/76).
When ParaSport made
Labertouche its dropzone Doug came as one of its instructors. |
|
Paul
Fallon |
Visiting
Jumper: Paul first jumped at Labertouche on
20th of December 1980
28/08/1982 |
|
Dennis Fallwell |
Visiting
American Jumper: Dennis first jumped at
Labertouche on April 24th 1976. |
|
B. Farquhar |
First jumped at Labertouche on the 27th of March 1970 |
|
Keith
Featherstone |
Visiting
Jumper: Keith
first jumped at Labertouche on the
2nd
of February 1972.
He
was a member of the World Record 21-Way Canopy Stack, made at the
opening of the Cairns International Airport in 1984. |
|
R. Fidler |
Visiting
Jumper: First jumped at
Labertouche on the 18/1/70
|
|
John Fielder |
Visiting
Jumper: John
first jumped at Labertouche on the
20th
of December 1971 |
|
Steve Filak
|
|
|
Then and later |
|
|
|
Foundation
instructor. Steve was one of the original
instructors at Labertouche. He was glider pilot in his native
Hungary before he immigrated to Australia and was instrumental in the early development
of sport parachuting in this country.
He
jumped with the Victorian Parachute School, Southern Cross Skydivers,
Labertouche Skydivers and Eagle Skydivers.
Steve and Claude made their first display jumps together on January 22nd
1961 at Labertouche from a Piper Tri-Pacer. They made 10 second
delays from an exit height of 2,200ft.
Steve was a foundation member of the Golden Eagles Display Team and
competed in the 2nd Australian Relative Work Championships as a member of
"La Cosa Nostra" 10-Way Speed Star Team.
He
was Claude's right hand man at the Centre and was part owner of "Swampy".
Steve
married Maggie in 19?? and settled down in Endeavour Hills to father
two sons, Andrew and Robert. Andrew is a Licenced Aircraft
Maintenance Engineer (Electronics) and Robert is an apprentice Chef. |
|
Allan Finlay |
Visiting New Zealand jumper:
Alan's first jump was
at Labertouche on New Year's Day 1973
|
|
Joe
Finta
U
|
Joe
came to Australia from his native Hungary in 1957. He had made
64 jumps in Hungary and as civilian parachuting was just commencing when
he arrived, he was a great source of knowledge.
As the only
requirement to be an instructor was 50 jumps and only a handful of
civilian jumpers had that many jumps; he was of great use to the fledgling
sport.
He
jumped with the Victorian Parachute School and later with 2 Commando
Skydivers and then with Southern Cross Skydivers.
After
helping with the development of sport parachuting in Australia, he moved
to Papua and after working as a heavy equipment mechanic and jumping with
Port Moresby Skydivers for some time, he married a
Papuan.
On the 2nd of October 1970, he brought his wife to Australia and lived on site at the
Labertouche dropzone for some time while working as a parachute packer there.
Joe's first jump at Labertouche was on October 4th 1970.
He
and his wife moved north for the warmer weather and after having three
children, Herman, Katy and Joseph, they split and Joe went overseas and lived in Hong
Kong for some time.
He
returned to Australia with a new bride and spent the rest of his
life living in Tennant Creek.
In
198? he was diagnosed with cancer and died soon after. |
|
R. Fish |
Visiting
Jumper: First jumped at
Labertouche on December 14th from 7,000ft.
|
|
Brian
Fitzpatrick |
Visiting
Geelong
Jumper: Instructor course 4/11/73
|
|
Steve
Fitzsimmonds |
Visiting
Jumper: Steve first
jumped at Labertouche on December 21st 1975 from 7,000ft.
|
|
Mick Fleming |
Visiting
Jumper: Mick first jumped at Labertouche as an
advanced student in
December 1975 from 5,100ft. He qualified for Certificate
"A" in May 1977. |
|
Paul Flipo
|
|
|
Above
- Cairns |
|
|
|
Paul's first jump was at
Labertouche on the 14th of October 1972. He lived in
outback Queensland and asked an experienced jumper where was the best
place to learn to parachute. He was told that Labertouche in
Victoria was the place and so he traveled to Victoria to do his training.
He made his first free fall on New Year's Day 1973.
Paul became a celebrated
canopy formation competitor and represented Australia at the:
2nd
World Cup of CRW, La Pallisse, France 1982
3rd
World Cup of CRW, Toogoolawah, Queensland 1984
1st
World Championships of CRW, Toogoolawah 1986
2nd
World Championships of CRW, Vichy, France 1988
3rd
World Championships of CRW, Chiangmai, Thailand 1990
One of the jumpers on the World Record 21-Man Canopy Stack at the
opening of Cairns International Airport in 1984.
Has completed aircraft pilot training and still lives outside St George
in Queensland.
|
|
David Flood
|
|
|
Then
and later |
|
|
|
Visiting
Jumper: Digger first jumped at Labertouche
on December 31st 1975 from 8,000ft.
He
was a member of
"Four Man Team" in the ?? Australian
Parachute Championships 4-Way Relative Work Event.
A
dedicated relative worker, Digger was a member of a number of winning
teams in the Australian Parachute Championships and represented Australia
at the:
4th
World Championships in RW, Zephyrhills, USA 1981
6th
World Championships in RW, Mali Losinj, Yugoslavia 1985
7th
World Championships in RW, Foz du Iguacu, Brazil 1987
|
|
Steven Foden |
Visiting
Jumper: Steve first jumped at Labertouche
on March 8th 1981. |
|
Vivien Foley |
Visiting
Jumper: Viv first jumped at Labertouche on March
13th 1977 from 7,000ft. |
|
J. Foran |
Visiting military jumper: Made his first jump at the Centre
on the19th of March 1967 and acted as Dropzone Safety
Officer for the weekend to allow Claude and Bill to attend to business
elsewhere. |
|
Tony Foresto |
Visiting
Jumper: Tony practiced for and
jumped in the 13th
Australian Parachute Championships (73/74) at the Centre,
and competed in the
4-Way Event of the
2nd Australian Relative Work Championships
(73/74) |
|
Ray Foster
U
|
Ray
was enticed to Australia by glowing reports of the skydiving environment
from his old mates, Aussie Powers and Colin Holt.
He
arrived in Australia in 1973 and took to the Australian lifestyle with a
vengeance. He was a private pilot and bought an aircraft in
partnership with John Middleton to pursue his aerobatic interest.
Ray
was a regular jumper at the Centre for many years and enjoyed the display
jumping scene and the high life style that went with it.
He
was a member of the Australian Skydiving Team "Secret Team" at the 2nd World
Championships in Relative Work at Gatton, Queensland.
He
persuaded his parents to immigrate Australia and was living the good life. Tragically,
he lost his life making his first base jump off the Troll Wall in Norway
when he lost his footing on launch. |
|
Hal Fostervold
|
|
|
At
the Gatehouse |
|
Visiting
American Jumper:
Hal came to Labertouche on
R&R from Vietnam with George Goetzke and Gus Gutshall.
All three jumped into
the Gatehouse and competed in the 1969 Labertouche Cup.
They were the first group to have all jumpers on the load make it into the
Gatehouse lawn.
He now lives in North
Carolina not far from Johnnie Higgins of North American Aerodynamics,
another old friend of Claude's.
If you see this Hal, how
about a recent photo. |
|
Chris Fowler |
Visiting
Northern Territory Jumper: Chris
first
jumped at the Centre
in the 13th Australian Parachute Championships (73/74) and
took part in the 4-Way Event in the
2nd Australian Relative Work Championships
(1974)
|
|
Wayne
Fowler |
Visiting Jumper: Along with Phil Allen, Chook jumped at
Labertouche on a Centre Jumpmaster course run by Colin Holt in September
1981.
He jumped at Meredith 1979 to 1981
before moving to Queensland and was a member of the World Record 21-Way
Canopy Stack at the opening of the Cairns International Airport in 1984.
Wayne has a brother named Chris who is
also a jumper but has not jumped at Labertouche and it is not hard to
confuse him with the Chris Fowler who has. |
|
Hugh Fraser |
Visiting
Jumper: Hugh first jumped at
Labertouche on the 22/09/73
|
|
Jacinta Fraser
|
Jacinta's
first jump was made at Labertouche on ??. Her smiling face was part of the Labertouche jump scene for a long
time.
If you read this Jacinta, drop us a line and let
us know what you are doing now. Maybe a recent photo to
post on the site. |
|
John Fraser
|
A member of Southern Cross
Skydivers, John first jumped at Labertouche on the 28th of May 1966.
He was Australian Style
Champion 1968.
John was a member of the
Australian Parachute Team that took part in the 9th World Parachuting
Championships at Graz, Austria, in 1968.
He
married Carol and set to building a plumbing business. He and Carol
still keep in touch with the old Southern Cross Skydivers jumpers.
|
|
P. Frazer |
Visiting
jumper: First jumped at Labertouche on
January 2nd 1976 from 8,500ft. |
|
Yvie Fregon
|
Visiting Pakenham
jumper: Yvie first
jumped at Labertouche as a visitor from ParaSport on the 4th of October 1970.
She
was a member of the
Australian Team at the 11th World Parachuting Championships in Tahlequah, Oklahoma, USA 1972.
Yvie was a Librarian
before leaving to live in Queensland. She still turns up at reunion
type parties.
|
|
E. Frieden |
Visiting
jumper: First jumped at Labertouche on March
14th 1982 from 8,500ft. |
|
Rick Frith |
Visiting
jumper: Rick first jumped at
Labertouche on December
31st
1969. |
|
John Frizwell
|
Visiting
jumper: Frizzy first jumped at Labertouche on
December 22nd 1975 from 8,000ft.
He
was a member of the Gold
Medal winning team "Ramblers Raiders" in the 4th Australian
Relative Work Championship 10-Man Star Event. (1975/76)
John conducts a training
operation in Queensland and spent some years as an Inspector of Sport
Aviation with the federal aviation authority.
He has served as an APF
Board Member and many other official APF positions.
In the photo at top
left, John was wearing his yellow ensemble jumping onto the lawn of the
hotel at which an APF Conference was held in Victoria. The
photo bottom left was taken at the Toogoolawah 25th Anniversary Bash in
June 2004.
|
|
Clive Frost
|
Visiting
Pakenham jumper: Clive first
jumped at Labertouche on the
25th of October 1965.
Ex 7th Royal Australian
Regiment, Clive spent a lot of weekends at the Labertouche Centre courting the local
farmer's daughters. He joined in the Saturday night social
scene with enthusiasm.
Clive was a Chef and
later started his own business. He is now retired and lives in South
Australia.
The photograph at left was
taken at an "Old Skydivers" dinner at John Lennon's house in Bayswater. |
|
Tony
Fuerte |
Visiting Philippi no jumper: First
jumped at the Centre on the 5th of March 1983 with compatriot named
Rudy (no record of surname). |
