Jumpers

that  jumped at

 Labertouche

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David first jumped at Labertouche on the 15th December 1968.  He soon became the LSPC Test Jumper.   He did most of the research jumps on new equipment and there are some interesting photographs in the picture gallery.

He arrived from New Zealand and became a regular jumper at the Centre.    He organised the 1973 Australian Ten Man Speed Star Championships at the Centre and designed the beautiful trophies for that event.

He jumped at the Centre as a member of the 10-Man Speed Star Team "Valley Rats" in the 1st Australian Relative Work Championships.

He was a handyman and was always willing to help-out fixing something, driving the tractor or doing some agricultural work at Claude's nearby country estate.

David is living the life of a retired gentleman in Tasmania these days.

Visiting Jumper:  Maggie started jumping with East Coast Parachute Group.  She first jumped at Labertouche on the 22nd of September 1973.  She jumped regularly on relative work loads at the Centre through 1978/80

Attended the 1st World Championships of Relative Work at Warendorf, Germany in 1975.

Married Greg Graham and after they retired from jumping they were publicans in the North Victorian township of Yea.

Visiting UK Jumper:   Mike first jumped at Labertouche on August 15th 1970 from 10,000ft   Again in 1974.

Visiting Jumper:  Bob first jumped at Labertouche on January 1st 1974.

He was a member of the team "Wings of Lemon" in the 4th Australian Relative Work Championship 10-Man Star Event. (1975/76)

Roy's first jump was at Labertouche on the 25th of February 1968.  He came to the Centre as a pilot, he was manager of the Royal Victorian Aero Club and like most private pilots was looking for flying hours.     Before he left to run Meredith Parachute Club, he had more than 3,000 jumps.

He became a senior instructor and trained a large number of ab initio students.    In 19?? he went to Meredith Parachute Club as temporary chief Instructor and soon decided that he would stay there in that position.  He spent the remainder of his involvement skydiving with that club.

In the first picture on the left Roy is wearing a Hillman's Heroes T-shirt that was popular with jumpers who were trained by Tony. In the second photo he is standing in the basket of a hot-air balloon about to make a parachute descent from the balloon over Labertouche.

Roy was always keen to jump out of anything that flew and he descended from a number of different aircraft at the Centre, he jumped from all of the aircraft the Centre had to offer plus a Tiger Moth, a Glider and a DH-Chipmonk.

Steve's first jump was at Labertouche on the 28th March 1971.  Nationals 73/74 and was a member of the team "Thrukbawn" in the 4th Australian Relative Work Championships 10-Man Star Event (1975/76).

Stuart spent many of his childhood weekends on the dropzone. The Taylor family often spent the weekend accompanying Roy to Labertouche and picnicking while Roy flew Swampy.

Later when Roy began to jump, only Stuart accompanied Roy.

Stuart's first jump was at Labertouche on February 25th 1978 and he went on to become an experienced skydiver. 

A brilliant career with the Royal Victorian Police was cut short when he lost his life in a tragic freefall collision with a friend at Meredith dropzone on the 13th of July 1985.    His father Roy was the DZSO at the time.

Visiting Jumper:  Graham first jumped at Labertouche on June 30th 1974 from  6,800ft.

Visiting Sydney Jumper: Phil first jumped at Labertouche on May 28th 1972.   He was a member of the "Rebels" 10-Man Star Team in the 1st Australian Relative Work Championships (72/73) and was a member of the "Leroy Brown" 10-Man Star Team in the 2nd Australian Relative Work Championships at Labertouche 1973/74.   26/12/75

Phil was the organiser of the 14th Australian Parachute Championships at Rylstone, NSW.

Visiting New Guinea Jumper: Frank's first jump at Labertouche was on the 3rd of January 1970.

Visiting Jumper:   Noel first jumped at Labertouche on February 2nd 1969.

Visiting Jumper:  Geoff's first jump at Labertouche was a 30 second delay on the 23rd of January 1966.

Was Chief Instructor of Geelong Skydivers for some time.

Australian Champion Stylist using self taught, unusual techniques.

Represented Australia at the 11th World Parachute Championships in Thalequah, North Carolina, USA 1972.

Visiting Jumper:   Jenny first jumped at Labertouche on December 25th 1973.

Visiting Jumper:   Neville first jumped at Labertouche on November 28th 1981 from 9,500ft.

Dick's first jump was at Labertouche on the 7th July 1968.

Visiting Jumper:   Bruce first jumped at Labertouche on October 24th 1965.

Visiting Jumper:   Graeme first jumped at Labertouche on August 23rd 1981.

Visiting Jumper:  Russ first jumped at Labertouche in December 1973 as a member of "True Trash" in the 2nd Australian Relative Work Championships 10-Man Star Event.

He jumped as a member of the same team in the 4th Australian Relative Work Championships 10-Man Star Event (1975/76).

Visiting Jumper:   Jock first jumped at Labertouche from 6,800ft with Colin Holt and John Bennett on the 19th of December 1970.

Mike came to Labertouche from New Zealand, he first jumped at the Centre on October 15th 1978.   He was a regular jumper at the Centre for a number of years and engaged in quality skydives.

Paradynamics manufactured a custom ram-air canopy for Mike with a Thunderbird motif sewn into the underside of it.   This one-off canopy made it easy to recognise Mike under canopy.

The pic on the left was taken at a Yarra-side Jumper's party in 2008.

Visiting Jumper:   First jumped at Labertouche on March 19th 1967

Visiting Jumper:   Andrus first jumped at Labertouche on March 11th 1973 from  8,500ft.   He jumped in the 1973/74 Nationals and the 1975/76 Nationals as member of "True Trash" 10-Way Team.

Visiting Jumper:  Mike was a member of Commando Skydivers and first jumped at Labertouche on the 27th of December 1970.

He was an Instructor at The Parachute School when it was located at Puckapunyal, Victoria.   

He was Team Manager for the Australian Team that attended the Chinese Friendship Meet in Anyang, China in 1982.

Michael was Chairman of the APF Board for three years from 1979.

He joined the Australian aviation authority as a Sport Aviation Inspector and since leaving its employ has become an expert witness for litigation involved with parachuting.

Made his first jump in Port Moresby, New Guinea with Keith and Cathy Burrow on the ??/??/??.    He made his first Labertouche jump on the ??.   

Established Bird of Paradise Skydivers in Port Moresby and then migrated to the Brisbane area to jump with Ramblers.

Moving to Melbourne, his Piper Navajo VH-EYF was a regular jumpship.    In 197? he flew a team to Jakarta to take part in the Asian Championships.    The trip was an adventure worth relating, we hope that we get around to telling it on this site one day.

Jumped at the Centre as a member of the 10-Man Speed Star Team "Ramblers Raiders", as camera for "The Valley Rats" and in the 4-Way Team "Gaye's Gobblers" in the 2nd Australian Relative Work Championships 1974

Was a member of the Gold Medal winning team "Ramblers Raiders" in the 4th Australian Relative Work Championship 10-Man Star Event. (1975/76)

Led a partnership into purchasing a DC-3 to be used as a jumpship at Corowa.   He founded Wahgunyah Skydivers and was responsible for a major leap forward in large aircraft availability to skydiving.

Visiting Jumper:   Margo first jumped at Labertouche on the 9th of January 1983 from 6,000ft.

Visiting Jumper:   Alan first jumped at Labertouche on August 23rd 1981 from 8,500ft.

Visiting Jumper:   First jumped at Labertouche during the 2nd Australian Relative Work Championships on December 31st 1973.

Visiting Jumper:   First jumped at Labertouche on January 8th 1972 from 4,500ft

Visiting jumper:  Colin first jumped at Labertouche on November 27th 1971.

He jumped as a member of the 10-Man Speed Star Team "Star Pact" in the 2nd Australian Relative Work Championships (73/74) at the Centre.   He next jumped at the Centre on the 15/12/1974.

He was employed by the civil aviation authority and became an Inspector of Sport Aviation.

He is probably remembered by most for his Melbourne Cricket Ground display jump.   He spent a long time in the sport.

Visiting Jumper:   First jumped at Labertouche on April 25th 1971 from 12,000ft.

Visiting Jumper:  Laurie made his first jump with the School of Land Air Warfare at Williamtown, NSW on the 11th of September 1957.   Laurie saw active service in Korea and Malaya and finished his six year hike in the army in 1958.

49 army jumps, all with just one canopy, were not enough for Laurie, he took up instructing with the NSW School of Parachuting (Bob Milligan's outfit) in 1959.

He was a competitor in the Australasian Championships, the first parachuting competition held in Australia, between New Zealanders and Australians.

He and Andy Keech formed the "Australian Parabatic Team" and they made the first baton pass in Australia on the 25th of April, 1961 at Deniliquin, NSW.  He was the Australian Team Leader for the World Championships at Leipzig in 1966. 

Laurie was Team Leader of the Australian Parachute Team at the 8th World Championships in Leipzig, Germany.   The team practiced at Chalon, France and the stories of Laurie's escapades there would make interesting reading.

Laurie's first jump at Labertouche was on the 26th of December 1966.   A true pioneer of our sport.

Visiting Indonesian Team Member: Trysnoyuwono and nine other Indonesians attended the 14th Australian Parachute Championships at Labertouche in 1975/76.   

Trysnoyuwono is now a newspaper tycoon living in Bandung, a famous University City of Indonesia.  

He was still jumping in 1993 when an Australian Team was attending the Merdeka Cup in Jakarta.   He jumped into the centre of the City as part of the mass display jump to open the event.   He was greeted on landing by his wife and three year old daughter.   

Doc first jumped at the Centre from 7,000ft on September  2nd 1972.    

He was a member of the silver medal winning 10 Man Speed Star Team "Valley Rats" in the 1st Australian Relative Work Championships at the Centre in January 1973

Doc also jumped at the Centre in the 13th Australian Parachute Championships (73/74) and  was a member of the bronze medal winning team "Ramblers" at that meet.  He stayed on as a regular jumper for a while afterwards.  

He represented Australia at the 12th World Parachuting Championships, Szolnok, Hungary 1974 and the 13th World Parachuting Championships, Guidonia, Italy 1976.

Doc has been in touch with us recently and is living in Western Australia and is in contact with the "Elder" jump veterans there.

Visiting Jumper:  Fred first jumped at Labertouche on October 24th 1965.   He also jumped at the Centre in the 13th Australian Style and Accuracy Championships (73/74) and took part in the 4-Way Event in the 2nd Australian Relative Work Championships (1974)   

Fred died tragically on a night relative work jump at the Rylstone Nationals on the 29th of December 1974

Visiting Pakenham Jumper:   John first jumped at Labertouche on the 27th of December 1970.  He jumped from the Scottish Twin Pioneer at 12,000ft on April 25th 1971.

He jumped as a member of the 10-Man Speed Star Team "Star Pact" in the 2nd Australian Relative Work Championships (73/74) at the Centre.

"Star Pact" represented Australia at the ?th World Cup of Relative Work at Pretoria in South Africa and the European Championships in Relative Work at La-Ferte Gaucher, France where they won the Silver Medals.

Visiting jumper:  Steve first jumped at Labertouche on October 17th 1971 from 7,000ft.                        12/3/72  8,500ft

Visiting Jumper:   Mike first jumped at Labertouche on November 4th 1969 in the Victorian Championships.

Visiting Jumper:  mark first jumped at Labertouche on August 23rd 1980 from 7,000ft.

Visiting Jumper:  A member of Commando Skydivers, Ray's first jump at Labertouche was the 24th October 1965 from 6,800ft.

Andy first jumped at Labertouche on March 8th 1970.  He was one of the group of Hungarian pilots and parachutists that arrived in Australia 1956?

He also jumped at the Centre in the 13th Australian Parachute Championships (73/74) and in January 1975.

Visiting Jumper:  Tony's first jump at Labertouche was a 30 second delay on the 8th of January 1966

Visiting jumper:   Bob's first jump was at Labertouche on May 24th 1975.

John's first jump was at Labertouche on the 3rd of March 1973 and he was issued with APF Parachutist Certificate A830 on the 1st of November 1973.    Participated in the Nationals 1973/74

Peter's first jump was at Labertouche on the 8th of March 1970 and was issued with APF "A" Certificate No. 579 on the 1st of April 1971.

Visiting Jumper:  John first jumped at Labertouche on December 22nd 1975 from 8,500ft.

Visiting jumper:   Wayne first jumped at Labertouche on January 4th 1976.

Visiting Jumper:   Ian first jumped at Labertouche on March 7th 1982 from 8,500ft.

Visiting Jumper:   Mike first jumped at Labertouche on February 27th 1972.

Visiting Jumper:   Ted first jumped at Labertouche on November 21st 1970 from 12,000ft.

Visiting UK Jumper:  Sherdy, a Canadian in the British Parachute Regiment's Red Devils was a member of the "Peregrines", a British Army team that came to Labertouche to practice for the 1966/67 Australian Nationals.   Sherdy won the Nationals Accuracy Event.

Visiting Jumper:   Peter first jumped at Labertouche on May 17th 1980.

Visiting Jumper:   Ron first jumped at Labertouche on May 22nd 1971 from  8,000ft

Ron jumped as a member of the 10-Man Speed Star Team "Leroy Brown" in the 2nd Relative Work Championships (73/74)

He w as a member of the team "Aces High" in the 4th Australian Relative Work Championship 10-Man Speed Star Event. (1975/76)

Visiting Jumper:  Ken was an Australian pilot in the "Battle for Britain".  He stayed on in London after the war and became a successful publisher.    In the 60s he took to skydiving and for some years spent the English winters skydiving in California at Elsinore.

With more than 4,000 jumps (a huge total in those days), Ken travelled the world jumping for the love of it.   He first appeared at the Centre in January of 1968.

Returning to Australia in 19??, he took shares in a West Australian airline and fulfilled a dream by doing some bush flying. 

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