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Aviation History
1960
1960 - 1453.PDF
FLIGHT, 26 August 1960 295 that any novelist would hesitate to use them in a story for fear ofappearing unrealistic. Yet truth is stranger than fiction, and we had witnessed asituation in which the individual championship depended entirely upon the final jump; and there was great doubt as to whether thegale-force winds would abate sufficiently to permit this final descent. Suspense was further heightened by the fact that theleading contender (Dick Fortenberry of the USA) had dislocated his elbow and would be unable to make any last effort that mightconfirm his chance of the title. All day the gale blew, and members of the various teamsprayed for it to decrease or increase, according to their own scores or sympathies. If the final jump was abandoned—and the pro-gramme had to end on the Sunday—Fortenberry would be the first American to win the individual championships; but if thewind subsided sufficiently for dropping to continue on the Sunday morning it was just possible that he could be passed by Kaplan ofCzechoslovakia or Anikiev of the USSR. The final jump would be a precision landing drop, and either ofthe challengers would need to land closer than 1.5m in order to surpass Fortenberry's points total. He had gained a commandinglead by landing on the exact centre of the target cross—the first time that this had been achieved in a world championship—andbut for his accident would almost certainly have been able to retain the lead. The questions on everyone's lips were: Wouldthe wind drop? Could Anikiev or Kaplan produce the inspired effort needed at this stage? Was it just possible that Fortenberrymight be able to jump if his dislocation (which had been reduced by a doctor) responded satisfactorily to a day's rest? It seemedalmost inconceivable that the East European countries would permit the contests to end without making a final attempt toretain their customary mastery of the sport, and there were whispered suggestions that drops might be made even if the windexceeded the permissible maximum speeds. The emergence of the Americans as leading contenders forhonours would have surprised no one who saw them perform so brilliantly at the Adriatic Cup, in Yugoslavia last year. Theirall-military team were highly trained and well equipped, with good steerable parachutes. In the team jumping contest (Event 2), theywere possibly a little 'unlucky to finish fourth, behind the Russians, Czechs and Bulgarians; but in the individual contests they demon-strated that they are the equals of any European experts. The Soviet team—despite winning the team trophy for Event 2—were no longer the dominant performers, and top honours went equally to Czechoslovakia, Bulgaria and America. The previousworld champion, Piotre Ostrovski (USSR) performed well, but never looked like repeating his success of 1958 and finally finishedeighth. The standard of all competitors had improved incredibly since the last championships, and was reflected equally in the sky-diving and precision landing events. * * * Before coming to the crucial Saturday we must revert toThursday, August 11. For sheer excitement, and as a test of physical and mental control, there was nothing finer than Event 3(the sky-diving "style" jump) which was the first individual event to be contested. Speculation was rife as to whether the sequenceof five 360° turns and a "loop" could be performed in less than 15sec without losing points for directional deviations, and themerits of various techniques were being widely discussed. The signal nominating the particular sequence would be either a cross Ostrovski, USSR, the previous champion, shows how easy it is Dick Fortenberry, USA, and his Conquistador i T •?"•'" or a right- or left-handed "T," and competitors were to be seen practising these signals with hand gestures and frantically mumbling such incantations as "Left, right, right, left, right, loop!" Many misread the signal or overshot the heading for their turns, and a surprisingly large number spun off the top of their "loop" (back somersault) and lost all points. It was essential that all turns should start and end in alignment with the signal on the ground, and the "loop" had to be completed on this heading. Twenty seconds were allowed for the sequence and bonus points could be earned for completing it in less time than this. Styles varied, from the French technique of outspread straight arms and legs to the American "frog" position, in which the limbs are well bent and the back is not hollowed. Jim Arrender, of the USA, surprised many experts by completing his two sequences in Msec and 14.5sec respectively, and won this event with a total of 449.5 points, i.e., a possible maximum of 400 plus 49.5 for speed of execution. He gains speed in his turns by arching his body sideways in the direction of turn and drawing the knee on this side forward. This has the effect of shortening his body "levers" on one side, and results in a fast flick turn. The arm and shoulder on the side opposite the turn are shrugged earthwards and, although this technique is less graceful in appearance than that used by many other teams, it is unquestionably the most efficacious for a man of Arrender's physique. Second was Galabov of Bulgaria with 446.5 points, and third was Jehlicka of Czechoslovakia with 446. The British scores were very encouraging on this occasion, and it was heartening to find that numerous East European representatives were lower down the scale than ourselves. Our points were as follows : — 1st jump 2nd jump Score Position Tony Charlton ... 151 203 354 27th Mike Reilly ... 168 167 335 29thDenis Lee ... 0 153 153 40th Atf Card ... 24 41 65 41st Denis Lee was very unfortunate in losing all points for his first attempt. He had completed a good sequence within the time limit and prepared to pull the ripcord at the 26th second of free fall (the limits for the "delay" being 23-30sec). His hand jerked the ring but there was no movement in the attached cable, and he was forced to reach again and yank with both hands. His white-clad form streaked earthwards, and the watchers on the ground were mentally imploring him to open the reserve parachute, when his efforts were successful and the main canopy blossomed at approxi- mately 1,000ft. This is, of course, below the minimum safety altitude set for sportsmen, and he was disqualified for that jump. An examination of his pack showed that one of the small metal cones had twisted and the ripcord pin had wedged at an angle. We were cheered by beating our friendly rivals, the Canadians, on this exercise. They gained 39th, 34th, 42nd and 43rd places, and, as they had finished several places ahead of us in the team-jumps, we felt that honour was satisfied. Piotre Ostrovski could only gain 15th place in sky-diving with a score of 424.5 points, whilst Dick Fortenberry (already regarded as the best American "all-rounder," and a possible individual champion) achieved sixth position, with 441 points. After a break of one day, caused by bad weather, Event 1 (individual precision landing) was started. The jumping height was still 6,600ft, with the usual delayed openings of 23sec to 30sec, and excitement was intense, because this event would not only produce a "spot-landing champion," but would greatly influence the result of the Individual World Championship, which
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