Millville Junior Chamber of Commerce Sponsored Air Show
Parachute Demo: July 9, 1972
August 28, 2005
Many people in Cumberland County think of
the Golden Knights Parachute Team when they think of parachute jumping at
the Millville Air Show. Actually, jumpers from my parachute school in
Woodbine, NJ were the first to jump at a Millville air show after World War
II. 
In the above picture, Michael Supple and
Terry Zeller, two of my instructors, can be seen shortly after their daring
smoke jump into the Air Show. A smoke canister can be seen on Michael's
right foot. At the right is Bob Cresse, of Rio Grande, who was the pilot. I
was the announcer for the jump in addition to making a 1970s fashion
statement with my bell-bottomed trousers and fancy shirt.
Bob Cresse was one of the most talented
pilots with whom I had ever flown. He flew the line patrol aircraft for
Atlantic City Electric and had over 12,000 hours at the time he flew at the
air show. Bob also become an instructor and jumpmaster and went on to make
well over 1500 jumps. Unfortunately, he has gone to the big drop zone in the
sky after losing a battle with cancer.
Michael Supple is living in Ithaca, NY
where he is a special education teacher at the local high school during the
school year. He works as a kayak instructor who specializes in teaching the
Eskimo Roll.
Terry Zeller was an instructor with the U.
S. Coast Guard in Cape May at the time of this jump. Terry made his first
jump with me and liked parachuting so much that he became a jumpmaster and
an instructor. He now lives with his
family near Millville and works as a manager for a local sand mining
company. Terry is also a hard-hat deep sea diver who worked for a time
diving with sharks in the huge tanks at the N. J. State Aquarium in Camden, NJ.
Although I was promised that we would be
asked back for the next Millville air show, we were up-staged in
following years by the U. S. Army Golden Knights. It doesn't sting quite so
much when one gets up-staged by the very best in the world. Having often
jumped on weekends at the same DZ at Ft. Bragg, NC when I was in the 82nd
Airborne Division, I knew a number of Knights who jumped at subsequent
Millville shows.
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