04/22/2026
An early morning on the drop zone.
Each spring, our spinning third rock from the sun tilts the northern hemisphere closer to the sun. Weather becomes unpredictable. On the southwestern Oklahoma prairie that means wind. From breezy to flag whipping, it’s always windy this time of year.
On Sunday evening, during ADT’s recent week-long April training event, team leadership was watching the weather apps closely. They saw a narrow window, beginning at sunrise, where wind levels might be within safe limits on Monday morning. For jump operations wind speed is the make-or-break factor. The decision was made and a 6:00 a.m. manifest call was set. The team commander was truthful, “Let’s be ready to jump…we might get lucky, we might get scrubbed!”
The 84-year-old hangar was wide awake at 5:00 a.m. with mess section hard at work preparing breakfast, parachutes and reserves being readied for issue, and Air Wing prepping the WWII veteran C-47 ‘Boogie Baby.’ With a tight window of opportunity everyone would have to be on their A-game. Manifest call, parachute issue, briefing, equipment donning, jump master inspections, and aircraft prep were conducted with focused discipline for the first lift to be wheels up as the sun cracked the horizon.
Fifty-nine parachutists were on the jump manifest. This meant 'Boogie Baby' would fly three lifts (flights) with each lift dropping twenty parachutists in two ten parachutists (sticks) drop passes. Lift two and three would be hot loads to save time, meaning the aircraft would land and taxi to the waiting parachutists that would load while the engines remain running. This would allow for a quick return to the runway and back into the wild blue. A total of six drop passes would be made.
While this feverish activity was happening at the hangar, the Drop Zone Safety Officer (DZSO) and his team were on the drop zone (DZ) placing markers and a large wind direction arrow placed on the ground. A vane-propeller anemometer was set up on a tripod to measure wind speed and direction. Spotters were sent out one hundred yards away from DZ center, on the four compass points, to help any jumper that might need assistance. The DZSO radioed the Master Jump Master (MJM), back at the hangar with the parachutists, to let him know that all is a “GO” on the DZ and that wind speed is within safe limits.
The first lift arrived over the DZ and dropped wind speed indicators to determine the best position for the aircraft drop passes. Once determined, ‘Boogie Baby’ lined up for the first pass. The DZSO radioed the MJM in the aircraft that winds were good on the DZ. The jump is a go. The first lift made two passes with a total of twenty jumpers on the DZ. Boogie Baby returned to the airfield, less than two miles away, to hot load twenty more jumpers. Winds on the DZ were starting to increase.
‘Boogie Baby’ arrived over the DZ for the second lift flying the exact same route as the first. Once again, two passes and twenty good chutes in the air. Winds were still safe but continuing to rise.
‘Boogie Baby’ hot-loaded two sticks of waiting jumpers for the third lift and quickly returned over the DZ. The DZSO watched the anemometer closely as it was now registering winds just under the safe limit. “The DZ is open!” radioed the DZSO. Two more passes and the last nineteen jumpers drifted down onto the DZ. By the time the last jumpers had packed their chutes and were walking off the DZ to the waiting trucks, the winds were out of limits. It was that close. A good call had been made to be ready to jump and a great effort by the team put fifty-nine out the door on an early April morning.
Find out more about ADT by visiting www.wwiiadt.org and consider becoming part of this dynamic organization! Slots for our July and October Parachute Schools are still available. Where else can you be immersed in WWII history, train in an authentic WWII facility, and jump from WWII veteran aircraft. The atmosphere of our training has been describe as 'stepping back 80 years into a WWII movie.' YOU CAN DO THIS!
