Bill Cole..Some skydiving history

Bill Cole...Canadian Skydiver

I met Bill Cole a couple of years ago at Skydive SWOOP when I was still on student status. He was 68 years old at the the time and he had not jumped for a good few years. He used to visit the DZ every couple of weeks and just sit around watching the canopies come down. He didn't talk very much and nobody really seemed to pay him much attention. Eventually I got chatting to him and he told me a couple of old skydiving stories that were certainly very interesting. I wasn't too sure that I believed them but he was a nice old guy and I used to enjoy talking with him. I remember him snickering when he told me that his CSPA membership had been revoked for life TWICE!!

I haven't seen him for a while now but I just found this article about his skydiving career and it really is quite the story. Seems CSPA couldn't do much to stifle his antics. Have a read..it's very interesting and check out the photo of the jump he did with the 25 ft risers. Here's the URL...
http://hometown.aol.com/pricesmoneypit/myhomepage/ extreme.html

If anyone knows Bill and has some stories, please share.

Cheers

I remember when his chuteless jump happened, and just how big it was. I was too young to jump then, but hung out with the skydivers at the local grass strip airport, spending most of the weekends holding tension for them. Our intrepid skydivers were jumping rags and spending much of their air time in unsuccessful attempts just to complete a baton pass. Bill's exhibition completely blew them away. For those that can't see just how big a deal this was then, think of skydiving with no videos, no real coaching on how to fly, etc. Highly experienced jumpers then might have 200 jumps. A D license really meant you were an expert. At many DZ's then, just getting a 3 way together was a successful dive. It was truly a period of learn by trying, and too often, die by trying. Jumping without a chute and trusting on that handoff was unbelievable.

Tom B

That jump was filmed by a friend of mine, Mike Swain. I have a copy of it. The jump was later duplicated by Billy Revis. Billy died in a plane crash in the late 70's.

If anyone wants more info on Cole's jump, check out Mike's ad on the CSA web page. = = Ron Schott, Founder/Administrator CHRISTIAN SKYDIVERS ASSOCIATION D 1120, POPS 1868, ACA L1869, CSA 1, FOB 316, DDW 872, CCA AN03-881

Hello y'all. I made my last jump on Aug 6th 2007, and my first on Aug 5th 1962. Its been a great ride, and I dont regret anything ecept I would like to have started about 10 years earlier.

The chuteless jumps I did were done for several reasons.

When Rod Pack did his Jan 1 1965, the Toronto Telegram newspaper headline was : The Greatest Stunt In History" and I though it would be great to do that kind of stunt and did so Aug 20 1969.. We didnt get much in the way of film of still photos on the first, so I decided to do it again...in 1972.
The jump itself really wasnt much of a big deal...just another jump like all the others, but it got CSPA kinda pissed off at me real quick. CSPA then became my promotional managers, and everytime they opened their mouth to discredit me, I got more air shows, more stunts,more sponsors, and more money.

Many CSPA types hate me because I made something from my jumping...and they have for the most part....never met me.

Strange world, eh?

Bill Cole D-41

Bill has finally gotten some recognition from cspa. At the agm in Montreal last weekend the membership voted to recognize Bill's high altitude record from 1973 and to include it in the cspa record book. Up until now they had refused to acknowledge it because of Bill's two lifetime suspensions.

Hi skypuppy, great information. Thank you Good to know!

Another story that may interest some people:

I was asked to do a TV commercial for Listerine, and they wanted to make it look like I had just jumped and landed behind this beautiful young girl.

She was standing there, wearing a rig, like she had just landed.

They didnt want to waste time on me actually jumping, so they hoisted me up with a crane, till my feet were 15 feet off the ground, and at the right time when the camera was rolling, they would drop me, SPLAT....and I would get to my feet while the girl made some remark about Listerine.

It was okay for the first few times, but eventually, take after take, we hi the 21st time I was hoisted, and dropped SPLAT.

I had a hard time staggering to my feet by this time, and was so very relieved when they said the filming was done.

21 times from 15 ft to SPLAT.

That wasn't the worst of it. I was so rattled and confused by this time, when the producer asked me "How much do we owe you"?
He took me completely by surprise, and I hadnt given it much thought.

I blurted out some figure ( about 1/10th of what it should have been). Once I had said it, I was committed, and couldn't retract it, so I got virually peanuts for all this foolishness.

The next day, I could hardly walk.

Win some....lose some.....this one I lost.

Bill Cole D-41

Another time, about 1972, I was at the Sportsmen Show in Toronto, and they had an arena packed with about 15000 people who wanted to watch someone wrestle a 450 pound Bengal Tiger. He had all his teeth and claws, and I thought this might be interesting.

After all, how often does someone get a chance to wrestle a tiger?

I volunteered, and wisely put a jumpsuit on.

The lady before me who took on this cat, had her clothes ( particularly her panyhose torned to shreds)

I wasnt wearing any pantyhose, so I thought this would be okay.

The big cat was lying on the mat, and I walked around it, wondering how to get it started. I reached down and pulled his tail hard.

He vaulted up, and had both his front paws on my shoulders.

We went into a WWF mode, and the next thing I knew he was lying with me, biting my hand.

My eyes were about 6 inches from his front fang that was slowly going through my hand, and I saw he had broken the skin.

I thought if he tasted blood, he might like more, so I pulled my hand out, and tore the skin even more. we rolled around, and finally they declared the match a draw.

I think I won, ( but the cat aint here to testify).

One big pussy...........cat.

Bill Cole D-41

Bill Cole Very nice stories Thanks for sharing that.

Ive had so much fun over the past 45 years....many interesting things have taken place.

You are welcome.

Well, feel free to share those stories Always nice to read it!

Well, let me tell you about the one jump I wish I had never made.

No broken bones, although I have had over 130 of those.

This was on August 6th 1966, before I became CSPA's bad boy

I was asked by a couple of jumper friends to go with them and make a jump into a nudist camp. I agreed, but I had my 8 yr old son with me at the time. We drove to an old airfield, and he agreed to stay there, alone, with no one around and nothing to do but wait.

We took off, were soon over the Ponderosa Nature park, and made the jump.


On landing, I wrenched my knee, and while sitting in the long grass, I noticed about twenty amazon women running towards me, screaming, and laughing, with boobs flying everywhere.

I got to my feet, and they escorted me back to the main part of the camp.

I still had my rig on, and carrying the canopy.

I was met by about 50 to 75 people, who gathered around, all as naked as the day they were born.

Two very beautiful young ladies agreed to have their photo taken with me, so I sat on a chair, with my chute piled on the ground.

The women sat on my legs, one on the right knee...one on the left knee, and some photos were taken.

We went for a quick dip in the pool, and then I remembered my son was waiting for me.

We finally left ( about 3 1/2 hours after we arrived) and made it back to the airport, much to the relief of my son....and me.

I felt like I let him down, by making him wait while I visited this amazon park and gawked at the wide array of flesh.

I have always felt bad about leaving him there, and that is the reason I wish I hadn't made the jump...I let my son down, and Ive never really forgiven myself for it.

About two months later, I was asked to give a talk on skydiving at a local flying club.

I talked for about 1/2 hour, and then showed them slides which I had carefulle selected into a Carousel slide projector.

They were very quiet, very attentive, and when the second last slide came up, I told them the subject was a shot of a large parachuting trophy that could be won in competitions. There was a nice Para Commander in the background heading for the target.

Then I said:

" and some people win the consolation prize" and popped in the last slide which was myself sitting in the chair, with two beautiful young naked women on each knee.

The room erupted with shouts of " we are in the wrong sport"....and...."Where can we sign up for a skydiving course?"

I think they really liked the presentation, but having left my son there for so long by himself, with no one to play with or talk to, and nothing to do, was a disgraceful act on my part, and I wish I had not made that jump for that reason.

I must say though....it sure was a sight to see those amazons rushing to greet me when I landed. I thought I was in some remote South American jungle. WOW


Bill Cole D-41


Gee, it was 36 years ago today I made the record jump from 36,916 ft. Wow, how time flys

I bet you will never forget that. Did you tell your son later, when he was an adult, about it?

No, I never told him. I was not a good father that particular day, and I feel I let him down.

He doesnt talk to me at all now, so thats how he wants it.

It was one of those things in my life I regret.

So sorry to hear that, Bill It's a pity children don't understand that everybody makes mistakes and as long as those are not made out of ill intentions they don't stem forth from being a bad person but rather ignorance due to naivety.

Nobody demanded a certificate for being a parent yet... I hope you both will patch things up one time.

I don't know if anyone here is on Facebook, but if you are, and you care to look up Rob Price, and suggest you are a " friend", you can tap into a lot of pictures that were taken during my 45 year career.

I suppose you will have to explain your connection with skydiving or something.

However, you might enjoy some of thos photos.

Regards,

Bill Cole::