Thu, Jul 21, 2022, THROW BACK THURSDAY - BILL HARMON JUMPING INTO TECH HISTORY plus Class News
THROW BACK THURSDAY - BILL HARMON JUMPING INTO TECH HISTORY plus Class News
In what history tells us was a brilliant sky with temperatures in the mid-70s, three airplanes carrying nine members of the Arkansas Tech Parachute Club circled over their target.
It was Oct. 3, 1963, and thousands of Arkansans gathered in Heber Springs to hear President John F. Kennedy speak at the dedication of Greers Ferry Dam.
That newly formed lake was the target.
Billy Kiehl of Russellville was one of the jumpers who splashed down in Greers Ferry Lake on the momentous occasion. An active jumper with the club from 1962 until 1967, it was Kiehl’s efforts as a photographer that helped the club attract national attention.
The origin of the club, however, predated Kiehl slightly.
In the spring of 1960, Arkansas Polytechnic College senior cadet Bill Harmon of Little Rock approached ROTC Commander Maj. Frederick Keifer. Harmon, interested in joining an airborne division, asked Maj. Keifer about learning to parachute. Other cadets also expressed an interest.
On April 9, 1960, Harmon and fellow cadets Kirk Smith and Pete Collins flipped coins. Harmon’s “heads” won him the right to the first jump.
After that first jump from the trio of cadets, the club quickly grew.
“Major Keifer was the catalyst for all this,” Harmon said. “Imagine the risk he took, having a bunch of students jumping out of an airplane at Arkansas Tech.”
The club’s reputation spread, as well, courtesy of Kiehl.
“Prior to Billy Kiehl, any publicity the club received was an accident,” Harmon said.
Kiehl enrolled at Tech in the fall of 1960 and worked as a photographer on campus. He took a few photos of the club’s activities at the time, “but I didn’t really have much interest in it. I liked airplanes, but didn’t really have much interest in the parachuting. It was such a new sport.”
After that first year at Tech, Kiehl left school to work at a commercial photo studio in Little Rock.
“I returned the next year and became fascinated with it. I began jumping, and I began taking pictures.”
Photographs he shot of the club’s jumps, with many photos taken while in the air himself, were published in magazines and newspapers across the country. Shooting photos, at speeds of 120 miles an hour, took time to master.
During this time, there were about 25-30 active members of the club. The members were a close-knit group, and Kiehl said he continues to stay in touch with “about a half dozen members.”
Recalling those early days, Kiehl said “we were probably the closest thing to a fraternity or sorority on campus … because we did almost everything together.”
Those non-competitive jumps were fun because the club members were typically jumping in front of large crowds, Kiehl said. He recalled one exhibition that was especially fun.
The club was jumping at an air show, hosted at Adams Field in Little Rock. The club’s spot in the event’s schedule immediately followed the U.S. Air Force’s Thunderbirds. The Tech jumpers flew in from Pine Bluff and circled while the Thunderbirds completed their show.
“Then as we were trying to come in to make our jump, they (the Thunderbirds’ jets) really had, you could say, torn up the air, so it was really turbulent.”
The club’s jumpers had to be out of the plane and on the ground no later than four minutes after the Thunderbirds landed, leaving little time for the air to calm.
“So we went over, did our jump, bounced all over the place, and landed there at Adams Field. That was a fun jump because of all the bouncing. I mean, I like roller coasters, so it didn’t really bother me.”
In fact, Kiehl said he had no anxious moments during his jumping days, including his very first jump.
“There is no sensation of falling,” he said. “It’s like you are floating on a cushion of air.”
And in terms of safety, “it was a very safe club, a very safety-minded club. Everything was always checked and double checked.”
Tech closed its air field in 1964, which essentially ended on-campus jumps. There were still occasional exhibition jumps on campus to recruit members. Otherwise, most jumps were made in Dardanelle, Blackwell and Clarksville.
When the club moved off campus, the group was renamed the Russellville Collegiate Skydivers. Kiehl said the club remained active until late 1967.
1956 CLASS NEWS
Just a funny story, but shows you what can happen if you are raised in Little Rock. So Gwen Shepherd invited me to have lunch with you at your "still new" to me place in the large dining room. We sat down and in a minute two ladies joined us. Gwen knew one of them. Turned out they were sisters. One had stayed in Little Rock forever; the other had lived in Houston for years, just moved here due to husband passing away. As we all talked. The "Houston lady" said she didn't go to Central, she went to Mt. St. Mary's and told us where she grew up. Gwen said she knew a pretty blonde that lived in that neighborhood that she was friends with named Carol Ann Belmont. WELL, GUESS WHO WE WERE SITTING WITH
-- YOU GUESSED IT, CAROL ANN BELMONT!!! LOL
1955 CLASS NEWS
You are helping to stimulate my memory. Believe me, I need all the help I can get! Yes, I remember Stifft Station very well. I remember catching the down town bus with my 25 cents weeks allowance in my pocket. A nickel for bus fare, ten cents for Saturday movie, a nickel for popcorn and my last nickel for return bus fare. This was long before high school. I went to Forest Park Junior High where I started playing the French Horn.
Now see, I would not have remembered all of that without your newsletter about Stift’s Station!
Keep those news letters coming!
Frank Dodson
Frank would LOVE to hear from some of his friends. He's not that active right now, so he's online a lot of the time.
Give him a shout. fedodson@bellsouth.net
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Funny for the Day - Recent newspaper ad:
WEDDING DRESS FOR SALE
Worn once by mistake.
Call Stephanie.
ML
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