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 "La Cosa Nostra" in the 2nd Australian Relative Work Championships (73/74)

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 Skydivers.  She first jumped at Labertouche on the 22nd of September 1973.  She jumped regularly on relative work loads at the Centre through 1978/80

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

Maggie married Greg Graham and after they retired from jumping they were publicans in the Northern Victorian township of Yea.

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

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 in the Royal Victorian Police was cut short when he lost his life in a tragic freefall collision with a friend at Meredith dropzone.    His father Roy was the DZSO at the time.

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

Geoff represented Australia at the 11th World Parachute Championships in Thalequah, North Carolina, USA.

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

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 by Bernie Shaw at Russell Lee's wake.   If anyone has a photo of Mike from back in the 70's, we would appreciate a copy.

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 ??? in China in 19??

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.

Bruce 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.

He 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

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)

Bruce 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.

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.

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 ?? World Championships in Leutkirch, 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.

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 three year old daughter.   

Last news we had of Doc was that he had taken up music, we would appreciate any news of his present whereabouts.

Fred died tragically on a night relative work jump at the Rylstone Nationals.

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

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)

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. 

Julie, became a leading formation skydiver and jumped on (Team's names).

During a layoff with a leg? fracture, she took a Judges' Training Course, went on with judging and became an  FAI International Judge.  Although she went back into competition she continued to judge and at the 1993 Formation Skydiving Championships hosted in Arizona, USA, was top of the judges' assessment skills analysis.   In other words "The best formation skydiving judge in the world".

A member of the Australian 16-Way Formation Skydiving Team that won Gold at Costa Brava, Spain in 1998.    She and her husband Grant were also part of the 283-Way World Record large formation at Ubon, Thailand in 1999.

Her son, Lochlan had an early involvement in aviation at Ubon, as a very small baby, he travelled in a C-130 around Thailand without ever a whimper out of him.  Julie was back in the air within a few weeks of his birth.

Ross is the son of Gen. George Warfe of jungle warfare fame.

Graham later became Chief Instructor of the Victorian Parachute Club.

Phil Whatmore

1970 & 1972

Visiting Jumper: Phil made his first jump at Labertouche on ??/??/?? and moved to Queensland with ?? jumps.  He returned with the Ramblers team to train for the 6th Australian Parachute Championships.   He was a member of the 1970 and 1972 Australian Parachute Teams at the World Championships in Bled, Yugoslavia and Tahlequah, Oklahoma, USA.

He also jumped at the Centre in the 13th Australian Parachute Championships (73/74) and was a member of Ramblers Raiders in the 10 Man Speed Star Event at the 2nd Australian Relative Work Championships that was hosted at the same time.

In 19?? Phil collided with power lines under canopy and was severely burnt on the back and legs.   Although this stopped him from jumping regularly, he still attends meets and social skydiving occasions.

He took up painting and produced some good work.  He is also an evangelist and spreads the word of god.

Phil, if you see this, send us recent photo

Visiting Jumper:  Dave, from the Parachute Regiment's Red Devils was a member of the "Peregrines", a British Army team that came to Labertouche to practice for the Australian Nationals in 1966.   He ran 4th in Accuracy.

Ray's first jump was made at Labertouche on September 19th, 1965 the second day of student training at the Centre.  He earned his APF "A" Certificate in December of the same year.

Visiting Queensland Jumper:  Rod first jumped at Labertouche on Christmas Day 1970.    He jumped at the Centre in the 13th Australian Parachute Championships (73/74) and was a member of the 10 Man Speed Star Team, Ramblers Raiders, in the 2nd Australian Relative Work Championships at that meet.

A dedicated jumper, Sue spent most weekends skydiving, she was very much part of the Labertouche environment.

Ray Williams

Then and now

Ray was a member of Commando Skydivers when he was drafted into National Service military training.    Coming out of Nasho he was an instructor at Commando Skydivers until in the early 1970s he took a job at Southern Cross Parachutes and became a Rigger at Labertouche.

Ray always jumped the latest technology, he took delivery of the first triangular Delta II imported into Australia and broke his leg on the first jump he did on it.   This canopy earned him the title "Fastest Capewell in the East" as he averaged one cutaway in every five jumps on it.

He is also one of the few people to survive a double malfunction.  His Paraplane malfunctioned over Pakenham and he was only able to release one riser when he attempted to cut away.   The reserve tangled with the main and left him rotating wildly under one third of the Paraplane.  He hit the ground and bounced.   The DZSO ran out to the point of impact and was amazed to find that Ray was alive.   An ambulance took him to hospital and although he had multiple broken bones he survived and was back jumping again in 4 months 

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Rodney's first jump was made at Labertouche on the 18th of August 1968.   As a student, Rodney was so enthused that he purchased a complete B4 rig immediately after his first jump.

Because he was affluent and was driving a brand new Monaro sports car, nobody expected that he would stay around.  He quickly proved that assessment to be wrong.   He progressed to relative work very quickly and became an expert in that field.

Rodney was a member of the "The Valley Rats" in the 2nd Australian Relative Work Championships at Labertouche 1973/74.

Heavy into the social side of skydiving, he teemed up with Trudy Landon, a New Zealander who had a similar life style.

He became Victorian Area Safety Officer, took up a new career as a private investigator and was very successful.   

He and Trudy moved to New Zealand where he became an orchardist.    He bought a yacht and took up sailing.

He and Trudy have split and these days he can be found either in New Zealand or Brisbane, depending on the time of year.

Visiting Jumper:  Serge's was a member of the Victorian Parachute Club, his first jump at Labertouche was a 30 second delay on the 24th October 1965.

Serge placed 2nd in the 1966 Labertouche Moomba Meet and 3rd in the 1968 Labertouche Cup Accuracy Event.

A regular competitor at Labertouche, Serge was Media Liaison for a number of meets.

The APF kangaroo and ice cream parachute logo was drawn by Serge.   He also did the overlay artwork for the Labertouche poster.

Also trained at the Centre before 1973/74 Nationals.

Danny represented Australia as a member of the 4-Way Team at the 1st World Championships of Relative Work in Warendorf, West Germany 1975.

She was for more than a year the best stylist in Australia and had a natural talent.   Suzi outclassed everybody, men and women, just  using her feel for what was needed.

The photo at left was taken in France during practice for the 7th World Parachuting Championships at Leutkirch, West Germany in 1964.

Suzi later married Brian Brown, another member of the 1964 Australian Team.

His company made a number of television commercials with a parachuting theme.  One of them was a shoe commercial made at the Centre in which Billy Kenny starred.

In Adelaide to jump into the Grand Prix Motor Races, he accepted an invitation to jump with an Adelaide display group into a night football match.  Tragically, his canopy folded under as he turned on final approach and spiralled into the grandstand combing; fatally injuring Peter.

Jock once ran his truck off the road at the ?? River bridge on his way to the Longwarry pub.   A 4x4 bridge timber came through the cab window passed by Jock's left ear and out through the back of the cab.

At the Tahlequah World Championships, Jock strolled the stage of a pop concert naked and Claude was called before the Assistant Meet Director, Lennie Potts, to explain the behaviour of the Australian supporter.   Claude suggested that Lennie should ask the British Team, as it may have been one of theirs.