European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - August 11, 1990, Darmstadt, Hesse Smoke jumpers huddle inside a dc-3as they prepare to Parachute into the Forest. Left a fire at the Cowman Complex in Idaho last july. Smoke jumpers Parachute into the Forest during a firefighter training session. Elite corps fights wildfires by Nicholas k. Geranios associated press fifty years ago two adventurous men in the employ of the . Forest service jumped out of an air plane Over Martin Creek in Idaho s Nez Perce National Forest and put out a fire. Rufus Robinson and Earl Cooley on july 12,1940, became America s first smoke jumpers. What began with two determined men and a revolutionary Way to fight wildfires catch pm while you still can today has grown to an elite corps of about 400 men and women who have logged nearly 200,000 jumps Over the last half Century. Six years before that first jump the idea of parachutists attacking fires was proposed to the Montana regional forester Evan Kelley. In a letter to his Superior in Washington Kelley asked that if the service wanted to get into such foolishness to please do it in somebody else s Region. The Best info i can get from experienced fliers Kelley wrote is that All Parachute jumpers Are More or less crazy just a Little bit unbalanced or they would t be engaged in such a hazardous others did t think it was harebrained at All. That same year 1940, maj. William Gary Lee visited Montana watched Cooley and Robinson train and adapted their techniques to organize the first paratroop training Center at fort Benning a. Lee who later attained the rank of major general commanded the 101st airborne div in world War ii. Cooley jumped 46 times from 1940 to 1951. Today he is a Semi retired real estate agent in Missoula mont., which is still a major smoke jumper base. Robinson died in Idaho in 1987. Veteran Pilot Mark Anderson once trained smoke jumpers and helped Battle Forest fires in Idaho. In a recent interview Cooley remembered that for him smoke jumping almost ended the Day it began. Determined to jump that Day despite the conditions he and Robinson bailed out in very Strong winds. Cooley s Parachute did not open properly until he was just 600 feet from the ground and then the Strong winds carried him right through the branches of a huge Spruce tree. I hit this tree about 100 feet up at such Speed that i went through the branches and broke them off but my Chute Clung to the Side of the tree he later wrote in his Book to motor and Trail. I was still swinging my heart pounding i was alive. I Felt for the 100-foot rope in my right pants pocket. I tied my rope to the Chute risers but decided that the Chute was t Hung up Well enough to Trust it.-1 climbed Down the limbs to the today s smoke jumpers still carry a rope in their right pants pocket and use it often. The inter Agency fire Center in Boise Idaho which coordinates firefighting efforts throughout the United states resembles a space age War room. On one Wall is a huge map of the United states a Battle map As it were where the Center s round the clock staff keeps track of every firefight raging in America and where every firefighting Crew and piece of equipment Down to the last air plane helicopter and pumper Fruck is deployed. Arrayed before the map Are tiers of. Radar screens that Blip and computer terminals that blink and printers that spit out minute by minute weather reports and other data. The director of the Center is Jack Wilson a one time firefighter himself who does t try to conceal his Pride. We Monitor every single lightning stroke he said pointing to a screen dotted with a thousand Points of Light. The ones that Are flashing arc the most recent bolts. Look close. The shapes Are different. This one is a positive Bolt one that comes Down from the sky to the ground. That one is negative which travels from the ground does that make any difference in starting fires no. Just Ohio reporter joins mig29 Jet set byte Gaffney Cox news services he russian Jet seemed to Crouch at the end of the runway at Dayton Ohio International Airport As soviet test Pilot Valery Zenitsky strapped into the front ejection seat pushed the throttles to full Power while holding the brakes. Then the Mig-29 sprang and a thousand feet Down the runway the soviet Union s top of the line warplane lifted off and rocketed skyward climbing into a half Loop with both engines on full afterburner. We popped into the Clouds continuing to Arch backward until we emerged upside Down in a White fairyland Between two Cloud decks. From then on i was in Toi the wildest few minutes of my life. We looped we snap rolled to soared heavenward until the fighter lost Speed and Hung motionless in mid air. We carved hard turns along Low Banks of scudding Clouds Over wet Green farm Fields North of the Airport. The flight Carne an hour after the closing of the United states air and Trade show in Dayton where the soviet Union s Mikoyan aircraft design Bureau wrapped up a month Long Goodwill tour in the United states. It had been delayed by bad weather that mired the show grounds and muddied the crowds. Conditions were so bad the . Air Force thunderbird cancelled their flying act. But after the show ended and the crowds dwindled the Sun broke through. We jumped into our flying clothes and clambered up an Orange ladder to the cockpit. Soviet ground Crews strapped me in and got the plane ready to Fly. It was another Small step for glasnost. This was the first flight in a Mig-29 by an american newspaper reporter. We expected that sometime it would happen but we did not expect that it would come so Early Zenitsky said through an interpreter. Probably this could be explained by the very Good Welcome and hospitality we experienced some old fashioned american capitalism did t Hurt either. After several refusals Mikoyan officials finally agreed to allow the flight on the condition that my employer the Dayton daily news would pay for the fuel. The Price was $4,500. Only a handful of westerners and one other american journalist have flown in the Mig-29. David North managing editor of aviation week and space technology Magazine Page 14 the stars and stripes and an experienced fighter Pilot flew a Mig-29 with Zenitsky in the soviet Union in january. At the Dayton air show Edward Mechenbier a general electric co. Marketing representative and an Ohio National guard Pilot with the 178th tac fighter up in Springfield flew the Mig-29 on saturday. Mechenbier was the first american to land the High performance Jet. Zenitsky put me in charge of something less Complex holding on tight. I am a Pilot but i m used to 100-Mph Cessna not supersonic jets. Still Zenitsky wanted me to experience the easy handling of the Mig-29 after All the Mikoyan Bureau has sold it to 10 foreign countries and is still looking for customers. So he let me taxi the plane to the runway. Then he took Over. Once we had done a few Maneu vers he invited me to take the stick and Roll the air plane so that the horizon ahead of us spun around like the wheel of Fortune. Witnesses on the ground confirmed that my piloting was noticeably Sloppy. Zenitsky guided the plane through a series of Maneu vers including the famous Mig-29 Tail slide. Pointing the plane straight up he pulled the Power Back to Idle and let the plane lose Speed until it Hung motionless in the Clouds. As it began to slide earthward Tail first he pitched the nose Down 75 degrees and pushed the throttles to full military Power and recovered for another series of Maneu vers. I had experienced Tail slides in the Little propeller driven Pitts biplanes flown by the Holiday inn air show team but this was the first time in a plane shuddered As the Landing saturday. Gear extended into the airstream and Zenitsky received clearance to land. Tim Fly approach he said to me. I quickly scanned the instruments All of them metric and labelled in russian. I looked at the ground Rushing past 1,000 feet below and said Valery the Mikoyan Goodwill tour had the dual purpose of promoting Good relations Between the two superpowers and stumping for business in America. We Are investigating the possibilities of Selling aircraft said Anatoly Belovet Deputy chief designer for the Bureau. Obviously the Mig-29 demonstrations were meant to Irr press americans with soviet technology while demonstrating openness by allowing americans to see and even Fly one of the soviet Union s newest fighters. As the air plane gently touched Down this none pert was duly impressed. Hut i worried that the Mig-29 itself has been such a attention grabber that the technology show might overshadow the real significance that soviet /.11 planes were flying in peace and that soviet c news were working extra hours sometimes in the ran to help an american Fly in it. But when the canopy came up Zenitsky gave me a Broad smile and pumped my Arm in a handshake and i knew that somewhere in the Clouds we had become t ends. I Felt that if the occasion Ever arose again we go flying with each other in an instant. As Long As somebody paid for the Gas. An american reporter had the wildest few minutes of his life flying a soviet Mig-29 fighter. The stars and stripes Page 15
