by Craig Muhonen » Mon Nov 11, 2019 10:24 pm
Hello Bill Cummings, I met Bill Bennet in Nov. of 1968 when, as a Marine in Vietnam, I went To Sydney on 7 days of R&R, or I&I. He came out when I landed, with many of his friends and took our bags, introduced himself, and showed us the best time of our young lives. For two days, Bill and his family fed me all the beer and steak I could handle, and we skied our brains out on a river North of Sydney. He showed me his tow gliders and bitchen ski boat, and showed me how really high he could go up. Really high. The people of Australia showed me so much respect that week I'll never forget it.
When I got out In 1970 I returned home to Torrance beach and stood on the sand hill and watched my high school friend Dave Cronk and others fly their home made 'hang gliders' . Wow, so much fun on windy 'on shore' days. I moved to Telluride In 1971 and helped with the new ski area and
In 1973 when we started a hang gliding "fly in" at the 800 hill west of Telluride , Bill and Dave Cronk and others came and had a really great time. Dave flew a Quicksilver "C" model all the way to town and returned to the LZ for a bulls eye. (I think that Dave was world champion in 1975) That same year, the 'gold hill' take off site (at 12,500') above the ski area, became a very popular spot for hang gliders from all over, and the Telluride Air Force was born. I was only a H 1/2 ground skimmer, so I became a driver, and got to experience some pretty high mountain tops with them, and sometimes break the gliders down and drive home. Sometimes the drive down was very scary. What a time that was.
Sometimes you gotta' push the stick forward while you're lookn' at the ground
Home
Re: Hello US Hawks!!
