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Bill Cole did a lot for skydiving in Canada - his photos graced the covers of Maclean's, Toronto Life and other magazines, his articles appeared in papers, and he set new high altitude records several times. He was the 2nd person to purposefully jump out of a plane without a parachute. But most skydivers in Canada today have never heard of him - why?
I for one believe Bill Cole was treated quite unfairly by CSPA (who suspended him for life twice!). When I dared to ask the Competition Committee why Bill's Cdn high altitude record was not recognized by CSPA I was surprised at the vehemence of some of the replies - first that I shouldn't be butting in to ask, then that Bill was not a member at the time of his records, then that he needed a sporting licence for it to have been valid and the RCFCA had issued their certificate for the record in error. All these I was able to refute. What I ended up with was an impression that Bill hadn't towed the line and CSPA with the desire to increase Sport Canada funding wanted to show a hard line. Since at the time he didn't need membership to make his living skydiving, Bill didn't fight after the 2nd suspension.
Bill always said he fought to have a different class of rules for so-called 'stuntmen' in CSPA. While he admits jumping without a chute was against the BSR's and may have warranted a suspension (1 or 2 years?), a lifetime suspension was out of order. Most of the other violations actually occurred during his 1st or 2nd suspension. Therefore, not being a member at the time they cannot be held against him!
I was told by Bill that he doesn't know the reason for his 2nd suspension. CSPA people have told me this is a lie Bill made up 30 years ago and that he is still telling it, that there were so many letters he had to know. But I have seen Bill's files - they are extensive and not all flattering. If he knew he would have kept the letters, if only to laugh at the board later about them. I have myself discussed this with my rep from the BoD and after reviewing the file, she still could not give me a satisfactory answer - she kept making suggestions, but when I said that doesn't sound right she agreed and came up with something else - she eventually said it would be disrespectful of previous BoD's to overturn their decision, and that more people she talked to told her not to allow Bill back in then agreed to. I maintain that most of the people she talked to were involved in the original dispute and were biased already. After Bill's suspension he joined USPA and he was later kicked out of that organization due to CSPA's lobbying.
Bill is not necessarily an easy guy to get along with, but I maintain that no one deserves a lifetime suspension for a first or second offence. The situation with Bill reminds me of the way CSPA fell out with another DZO out west resulting in the formation of CAPS. I believe that CSPA is lucky that Bill Cole didn't continue to sue them at the time as they were later sued by that person.
Bill has recently been told over 6 months after asking that the BoD has unanimously rejected his appeal - especially ironic since even his original suspension was not unanimous. I believe Bill continues to be treated unfairly by CSPA, but read these articles from Canpara and Skydiving Magazine yourself, and then you decide.....
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BILL COLE
STUNTMAN, FREEFALL PHOTOGRAPHER
AND CANADIAN SKYDIVER EXTRAORDINAIRE!
A MAN AHEAD OF HIS TIME.
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^ Some of the
mags Bill made
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Right -
This photo
and a story
about Cole
appeared in
the Toronto
Star after his
Canadian Night
Altitude Record
(with Rick Wall)
of 30,571' over
Pearson airport
on Aug 25,1976
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'The best dam display
I've ever seen!'
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Canadian Parachuting
I've always been interested in the history of parachuting, particularly in Canada. I find that many of the people who advance parachuting are people that had the gumption to do something others might consider 'crazy' or 'unsafe'. Looking back on it we may do things differently now, but that doesn't mean they weren't on the right track for their time. This is true of Bobby Leach, Vince Taylor, Charles Saunders, Frank Ellis, even Bill Cole. Some of these articles appeared in Canpara or Skydiving magazine over the last couple of years.
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Right
Bill
with
his
kids
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The team
& the ad
during which
Cole's team
set unofficial
Cdn altitude
records
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G Drainville
poses in
gear with
his picture,
shot by
Cole
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The
man
himself,
Bill
Cole, Sr.
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Cole's
team
over
Ontario
Place
mid 70's
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CANADIAN SKYDIVER BILL COLE –
MAN OR MONSTER?
I have often thought that I started jumping ten or twenty years too late – that parachuting from the early 1900’s to the late seventies held much more romance and adventure than during the eighties and nineties. This can be seen from demonstration jumps off bridges and towers in the early part of the twentieth century, to the daring freefall exploits of people like Leo Valentin, Clem Sohn, and even Tiny Broadwick at a time when most people believed you couldn’t breathe in freefall. Many of these barnstormers wore only one parachute and no altimeter, eyeballing their descents and opening very low to the ground. Some died. Yet without their pioneering of the sport parachuting as a recreation may have never gotten off the ground.
These early days required a sense of adventure, a quest for advancing knowledge and design, and nerves of steel – yet many skydivers who exhibit such attributes today are frowned upon. Such a man was Canadian skydiver Bill Cole. When I was a beginning jumper Cole’s name was invoked by many in Canada as some sort of bogeyman – a disgrace to the sport and a cause of concern for all right-minded sport parachutists (as if whuffos ever saw any parachutist as ‘right-minded’!) Cole was looked down upon because he claimed to have done a chuteless jump (2 in fact); because he made a living out of parachuting and stunts; and because it was alleged he took young unqualified jumpers and groomed them for his team when no one else would jump with him.
Although he had been in the sport for years, filming commercials and television projects, and set day and night Canadian high altitude records, Cole is the only person I’m aware of who has been kicked out of the Canadian Sport Parachute Association (CSPA) for life! – TWICE!
Bill is a qualified balloon and fixed wing pilot, although he will tell you on questioning that both licenses were received through ‘nefarious’ means. As I listened to some of his stories it occurred to me that this was a piece of parachuting history in a nutshell.
When I arrived at SWOOP Bill was waiting for me. On his left taillight was taped ‘NO FEAR?’ The right taillight read ‘FEAR GOD!’ Bill’s a large, personable man of 68. He hasn’t jumped in ten or eleven years now, but he expressed his wish to do a few for old times sake. He still has an old Paracloud in a sport backpack and a Navy Conical reserve in a front-mounted container at home. No one would claim he lacks self-confidence, but I was amazed at his willingness to talk about the failures as well as the successes…
The Beginning
Cole’s jumping career began at age 29 on Aug. 5, 1962 in Baldwin, Ontario. In October he did his first freefall on his 11th jump, followed by his first night jump on his 15th and first camera jump on his 19th. By 1963, with 38 jumps, Bill began a career of airshow performances and tv filmwork.
The Highs
1969 was a banner year for Bill. By now Cole had almost 400 jumps and successful film campaigns for Coke, O’Keefe Black Jack Ale, Labatt’s beer, cigarette and underwear commercials. Now Carling Red Cap approached him about an ad campaign on skydiver ‘Bill Cole’. The idea was for ‘Bill’ to be shown falling in an ejection seat, saving himself, and then drinking a few Red Caps. Since Bill was actually going to be filming, he had Larry Costello, a member of the Canadian team, stand in for him. The commercial was shot over 2 weekends in St. Thomas, Ontario and Ortner Field, Ohio. On the first day Bill shot close-ups of Larry – on the second day the fun began.
On May 23, 1969 Bill, Larry Costello and Murray Smith set an unofficial Canadian high altitude record chasing Harry Cole (strapped into the ejection seat) from a B26 bomber over St. Thomas at 21,500 AGL during filming for the Red Cap commercial. After Harry separated from the ejection seat, a parachute deployed to lower it to the ground. A couple of hours later they repeated the jump from 22,500 AGL with Bill in the hot seat, effectively setting another Cdn. Record. It was Bill’s 389th jump. The funny thing about the ad campaign was that Bill didn’t drink, and Carling later said they’d never have used him for the commercial if they’d known that.
In June of ’69 Cole and his group did 14 jumps at Whitefish Falls on Manitoulin Island filming for the CBC production, ‘Adventures in Rainbow Country’. On the last one Bill was to carry a mannequin out the door and was supposed to hold on to it through landing. Because he was carrying the mannequin he was unable to wear a front-mounted reserve and jumped without one. On opening the risers caught the mannequin and Bill’s arm, fracturing his wrist and causing him to lose his grip. She went for a long lonely freefall from 2000’, finally ending up decapitated in the cold dark waters of Georgian Bay.
The Chuteless Jump
August ’69 marked the beginning of Bill’s troubles with CSPA. He arranged with a promoter to do a jump without a parachute, flying over to another jumper and snapping a reserve on to his harness. Murray Smith was to film the jump and Larry Costello would hold the reserve for Bill. Over Aug. 18 and 19 Bill and Larry made 4 practice jumps over Parkman, Ohio. Because of the weight differential, Bill made these practice jumps without a reserve chute.
Because the jump would be illegal in the US, on Aug. 20th Bill and Larry took off from Ohio in a Beech 18 and flew across Lake Huron to Centralia, near Grand Bend, Ontario. They exited at 13,200’, with Murray Smith filming. Unfortunately, while on the practice jumps Bill had worn a parachute which constricted his jumpsuit, for this one he wore the harness under his jumpsuit with just the risers exiting slits on his chest and running down his arms to the D-rings he would snap onto the reserve. Because there was no harness over his suit he began to have problems floating – he managed to get down to Larry and deploy the reserve, opening at 3000’, but Murray had sunk away and they had virtually no usable film after the exit. It was Bill’s 436th jump.
Life Goes On
As soon as word got out that Bill had done his chuteless jump he was condemned from all sides. CSPA immediately suspended him for life. However, according to the MOT in 1969 you didn’t need CSPA membership to jump, and Bill slowed down not a whit. On Sept. 20th he exited with oxygen from a Lockheed 18 Lear Star over Base Borden at 31,000’, setting a new Canadian high altitude record with Murray Smith.
Bill’s airshow displays were now taking on aspects of a real barn-storming act. At Huronia Airport in 1970 Bill did 9 jumps for a Molson’s beer commercial. The script called for 2 Tiger Moths to fly directly beneath Bill as he descended under canopy, and the director wanted to do it in one shot. This called for tight timing as the planes lined up behind jump run and came in less than a minute later. Bill did the first jump from 1200’, then raised the exit altitude to 1400’ for the others. On one jump he had to turn away from the target to avoid a Tiger Moth.
On demonstration jumps Bill was often wearing batwings he’d started jumping down in Florida. He was often opening at 1000’, or even lower. At the ’72 Barrie Winter Carnival, Bill jumped from 5000’ and 3500’ on the first day, opening at 1000’. On the last day, exiting from 2000’ in a snowstorm, Bill opened at 500’.
One of his favorite routines was from a Stampe biplane, piloted by his friend, Doug Murray. As the Stampe waited at the end of the runway, Bill would sneak out in a car and climb into the front seat, scrunching down out of sight as the plane took off. When it was their turn to come on stage the airshow announcer would pretend they were a civilian aircraft that had wandered in to the airshow space. Doug would pretend to lose control, perform some aerobatics and finally make 3 climbing inside loops. At the top of the 3rd loop, usually around 1500-1800’, Bill would drop out, opening between 500-1000’. Since he no longer belonged to CSPA he was not concerned with following their rules.
Chuteless – Again!
It was in 1972 that Bill did his 2nd chuteless jump. Wanting to make sure he got good footage he contacted Mike Swain, a cameraman from Florida, to come up and film the jumps. In July of ’72 Bill did 7 practice jumps in Grafton, Ohio, once again without a reserve. These were the days when about one in twenty jumps would result in a malfunction! On July 20th, over Wellington, Ohio, Mike filmed Bill receiving a reserve in freefall, and managed to put together a short film without showing anyone’s face but Cole’s (this jump was still strictly illegal!) Cole opened by about 2000’, and this time he had everything he wanted.
Swain's film 'Bill Cole's Chuteless Jump' won a Cine Golden Eagle Award in 1973 and a 1st place award at the 30th International Sports Film Competition in Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy in 1974.
Official High Altitude Record
Since Bill was still suspended by CSPA, this jump didn’t affect his status, and at the ’73 CSPA AGM Bill petitioned for and was granted a reprieve in order to be able to jump with his son. On April 7, 1973, now a member in good standing of CSPA, Bill set a new official Canadian high altitude record of 36,916’ from a C210 Turbo over Baldwin. After landing he was picked up by John Smythe, then director of CSPA and issued an official FAI certificate.
The Lows
Shortly after this Bill was paid 1500$ for an interview on CBC. During the interview he was asked to comment on whether it could be feasible to jump from the side of the Grand Canyon. Bill answered that it could be done. When CSPA heard his comments they were misconstrued and he was once again suspended for life.
In 1975 CBC hired Bill to jump with an Imax camera for a film to be shown at the Cinesphere at Ontario Place. The camera weighed about 160lbs, and was to be housed in a sphere with a stabilizing ring and 4 handles, 2 upper and 2 lower. A round reserve was attached to the top which Bill was to deploy before opening his own chute. On the first jump with a simulated weight the sphere was not very stable. When Bill finally pulled the ripcord the pilot chute was just sitting above the housing in a burble and he had to tip the sphere to finally get it to inflate. He finally opened his own chute below 1000’.
Bill claims that he wanted to do another jump with the weights but the director had them insert the real camera, at that time worth in excess of 100,000$. Because of the size of the sphere, Bill couldn’t see around it to the skydivers performing for the camera, but he could see the smoke they were wearing and knew they were in position. When it came time to move from the lower grips to the higher handles and deploy the round, Bill lost his grip. He thought about chasing the thing, but was already too low. The 100,000$ camera, one of two in Canada, bounced. The Ontario government eventually sued Bill and the director for the money, and Bill declared bankruptcy.
In 1978 Bill had been jumping at the Canadian International Air Show (CIAS) for 7 years and was looking for a new gimmick to incorporate into the show. He hit on the idea of jumping a Paracommander with extra long risers. The problem was the risers were so long that the parachute started turning way before his body. Since he didn’t realize the parachute was turning, Bill pulled harder on the toggle, only to see when he looked up that the risers and lines had twisted together and he couldn’t release the steering line. He ended up landing hard on the roof of the Better Living Building at the Exhibition grounds and being helped down by the Toronto Fire Dept. This was the jump that lost Bill the CIAS contract.
Although Bill continued to jump into the early 80’s probably the one jump best remembered was a night high altitude record (from 30,571’) with Rick Wall over Pearson International Airport on Aug 25, 1976, which was well documented in the papers at the time. It was jump 728.
In the End
Although Bill’s career has been long and controversial, one thing can’t be argued. It brought parachuting in Canada into the limelight much more than it would have been without him. Bill’s Descenders Parateam jumped at the Canadian International Air Show in Toronto from 1971 to 1978 (he also jumped there in ’65) and his commercials aired on television and in print throughout Canada. Cole made mistakes, and none would be quicker to admit it than he, but parachuting would have been a less colorful place without Bill Cole.
The author would like to thank Claude ‘Froggy’ Lalonde for his assistance with this article, and Bill Cole for his memories, files and logbooks. He would also like to thank Mike Swain for the video ‘Bill Cole’s Chuteless Jump’ and his book, ‘The Endless Fall’, available at www.endlessfall.net
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Mike Swain's 1972 documentary'Bill Cole's
Chuteless jump' won a Cine golden Eagle award
in 1973 anda 1st place award at the 30th International
Sports Film Competition in Cortina d'Ampezzo,Italy in 1974.
Buy it at www.endlessfall.net.
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Cole
prepares
for
speed
test
with
direction
al pitot
tube
and
airspeed
indicator
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Cole
prepares
Imax
Camera
for
final
jump
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Cole re-enacts
1st plane
jump by Cdn
in Canada -
Frank Ellis -
1919
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