On March 28, 1959. Sgt. Jim Scott, pictured on the right in the accompanying photograph, was probably the first skydiving fatality in modern skydiving (post 1955).  The press release was falsified to make the jump sound like a static line paratrooper jump.  Scott was an experienced jumper with "B" license and approximately 50 jumps.  He was a charter member of the Special Warfare Center Sport Parachute Club.  He was on a group 45 second delay from a SA-16 Naval aircraft that was visiting Ft. Bragg.  He failed to pull his ripcord.  Theory at the time was that he suffered from oxygen hypoxia since he was stable all the way to the ground and the plane had been flying at 9,500 feet for close to an hour waiting for the cloud cover to clear before the group jumped..

Sgt. Quinn, who is also pictured, happened to be my jumpmaster the day I was towed underneath a Beaver L-20 for 15 minutes before being cut lose.  That occurred about one month earlier, also at Holland DZ, on February 22, 1959.  Scott was my biggest fan for pulling through that incident.

Regards,

Bill McCarthy D-83