Defending national para-ski champion Nick Kingery stomps the disc during last year's meet at Sun Valley, ID.  Kingery needed two dead centers to earn a razor-thin victory (1 point out of over 4000) against European professionals and more than 50 other American competitors.  The third annual U.S. National Para-Ski Championships is scheduled April 3-5, 1979, again at Sun Valley.  Photo by "Brother" Jack Sorenson.

The weekend of January 15th was chosen, with six jumps scheduled, three for Saturday and three for Sunday.

This month's jam-packed issue features a psychedelic cover designed by Carolyn Gruber, USPA's Office Manager.

A "Gold Wings Star" shot by Carl Boenish over Elsinore, Calif. In the picture are Gold Wingers Jerry Rouillard, Joe Faulk, Mike Corah, Bill Edwards, Jay Gifford, Mike Milts and "Skratch" Garrison.

Have you ever had a dream come true?  I have!  Read on and I'll tell you how we came about getting our first eight-man star.

Canada's first 5-man star shot by Ron Dionne (Canada D-58) over the Abbotsford, B.C. DZ.  Clockwise from far left:  Bill Hardman, Kurt Jensen, Gerry Harper, Doug Corrigan, John McGoldrick. Kay Hardman to the far right.

'69 Nationals Official Photographer, Chip Maury, catches this unusual silhouette of Paul Henley at sunrise.

Lt. Frederick Lundahl, USAF, Assistant Director of Information at the Institute of Technology, Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio and USPA B-6893, submitted this photograph of Leslie Irvin performing a freefall parachute jump.  The inscription on the old photograph said that it was a picture of "Mr. Lesley Irvin engaging in one of his parachuting experiments."  The photo was taken in early 1919, in Dayton, Ohio and could well be a photo of Mr. Irvin's first freefall jump.

Jay Emery, D-203, is credited with this colorful shot of his own PC and Jim Eisenmenger's checkered PC out of Dallas, Texas.

Dave Price receives his USPA Gold Wings from Al Longenberger in a cold December sky over Pennsylvania in this photo by Don Kellner.

Mention the “Golden Knights” of the U. S. Army Para­chute Team to the average reader of PARACHUTIST and the odds are that he will think of the formidable compet­itors he has jumped against or heard about in parachute meets across the country.

The U.S. Parachute Association sponsored the 50-year anniversary parachute exhibition on April 27, 1969 at McCook Field (now Kettering Park), Dayton, Ohio.

High over the plains of Colorado, an Air Force Academy Cadet exits a Cessna 206, the official aircraft for the 1969 U.S. National Parachuting Championships.  Photo by John J. Garrity, Jr.

M. Anderson Jenkins composed this delicate silhouette of Terry Prouty cruising silently in the sun above California's Perris Valley DZ.

As you all know there is a glaring need for a nation-wide system of qualified parachute instructors. I will not beat the bushes about the fact of life that most accidents are rooted in poor or inadequate training. The USPA Safety and Train­ing Committee has been working on the development of a Jumpmaster/Instructor system for several years, and is at this time proposing such a system be incorporated into the oper­ation of the USPA.

The Golden Anniversary of freefall parachuting will be April 28 of this year, a hallmark in aviation’s short and often turbulent history. Fifty years ago one man became the harbinger of today’s advanced and sophisticated “skydiving” techniques, one jump changed the role of the parachute and those who were to use them. That momentous day was April 28, 1919 and the man was Leslie L. Irvin, truly one of aviation’s great figures.

Leslie L. Irvin goes over the side of a DeHavilland bomber for the first successful free fall parachute jump in this drawing by J. Scott Hamilton.  (See story of page 7.)

Ralph Minnarich shot this sunset silhouette with a 16 mm gun camera (over Elsinore, California) and blew it up through an internegative process. The jumper is Jeep Gehrighty.

Doug Goff of the USMA shot this striking composition of silhouettes during the NCPL Meet at Zephyrhills, Florida.

Steve Duell leads out a load of Wisconsin's "Sky Knights" SPC in this unique chase-plane shot by Heinz Kultmeier of the Milwaukee Sentinel.