In addition to other rants, Sheridan referenced the Clifford skydive death in this email he sent to Bruce on Oct 25 2016

I know Sheridan is dead. And I miss him. I miss that I didn't contact him more. The last contact I had with him was two months before his death. We had our ups and downs. But I think fondly of him when I look and see I have over 300 emails from him in my gmail. RIP Sheridan. Hopefully you didn't die alone.


Bruce will be pissed at this posting, since it was email between Pete and Bruce, but hey, I'm not much for playing by the "rules"... Sheridan uses the first name Marv, for Clifford, and says "suicide" but I think he was being theatric. I guess the guy 'went in" into the Pickering's front yard. When he says "tight delta" ...I think maybe Sheridan was part of a 3-way on that  night jump...the delta that Clifford was part of?


"Marv Clifford who actually headed the Boeing Skydiving club and the grim tale of his suicide, plunging into the Pickering's front yard in a tight delta across the highway from the Issaqua DZ."



Hey Investigative reporter,

So you don't think much of my writing. Well Pulitzer Prize author Walter Van Tilberg Clark and Pulitzer Prize Critic Leslie Fiedler wrote glowing reference for me. And you can find feature article from the Spokesman Review, Columbia Basin News which is now defunct, numerous sky diving article in the Auburn Globe in Auburn Washington, and very serious sky diving article in the Eastside Journal, one of Marv Clifford who actually headed the Boeing Skydiving club and the grim tale of his suicide, plunging into the Pickering's front yard in a tight delta across the highway from the Issaqua DZ. I worked summers for the Auburn Globe as an editor, doing everything a newspaper has to have done.

Swineshaw is a pathological liar. I never spoke with him about anything nor was he interested in speaking with me. I shared a basement room with Joon Lee and left early after only staying a night or two because of a tip on a job and a cheaper apartment. I asked Joon to inform Swinesail. I returned to see Joon Lee and pick up my deposit which Swineshaw refused to give me. And came running at me fists raised. Joon Lee stepped between us. That was lucky for Swineshaw for I was a bare fist champ. I learned my skills at Saint Vincent's school for boy. Until I learned to fight those mean Father Flannigan toughs, I was beaten brutally. The priests, prefects and teachers loved the fights and cheered loudly. I later fought at Dago and Camp Pennilton Marine Corps NCO smokers. I was not a tech writer knew nothing about 727. I was a tech editor. I worked in a room full of English teacher and reporters removing gobbledygook from engineers' documents. You may have noticed that Swineshaw is a semi-illiterate. I told the FBI that Swineshaw was a pathological liar. Now I have proof.

I was not invited to leave Vietnam. i was fired from Lear Siegler Aircraft Maintenance for phoning the Ambassador and speaking with his effeminate First or Second Secretary. I had the support of the other employees. We were upset because an ethnic Japanese American had been imprisoned because an ARVN on a motorcycle ran head long into his car and was killed. I was directly behind him on the road from Ben Hoa to Saigon and saw the whole thing. i went every day to plead with goddamn Vietnamese cops who wanted a pay off. A big big pay off. The Ambassador's First Secretary scoffed at me. "Oh for goodness sake. Soaked in urine. Who would believe such nonsense." I became understandable enraged. The manager, an LA cop, who'd been hired that day, fired me. The other employees were outraged because of the First Secretary's criticism of me the manager.

I did not jump in a business suit. If you look closely at the photo, there is no reserve or harness.

I jumped at Issaqua with a sack of flour to entertain my high school students. I took a knife and slit the sack leaving steam of flour in my wake. The kids said it was marvelous.

I was only interrogated once at the Salvation Army's Senior apartment. No finger prints were taken for I am a teacher and every teacher must put his finger prints on file.

I am most definitely not on Facebook. I blocked them long ago.

"For non payment of rent" That sonofabitch.

I did not work in Boeing's Manuals & Handbooks Group on the second floor. I was on the ground floor in an untitled room.

"Many engaging conversations with Dan in the evenings, who often mused about creating The System to beat the System," That sonofabitch. I would like to have him take polygraph test. I suggested it to the FBI.

Sheridan pumped Sail for information on how the aft stairs on the 727 performed in flight" That lying sonofabitch.

I,of course, never spoke to Swineshaw about Smokejumping. I never spoke to him about anything. When I paid the rent he was  all upset about breaking up with a girlfriend because she was too self willed. I could see them that he was a mean spirited self center, ego maniac, much the same as Trump.

I was most certainly not evicted from Vinecrest in Windsor. I have never ever been evicted. Lately I have had to move when the rent was doubled, but that was my own decision. And no one worked with me. I kept to my self  at Vinecrest and that may have irked them. We had nothing in common and the woman next door was bipolar and behaved most erratically.

A lot of people that know me will read this and believe it. I want revenge. I want Swineshaw lock up. He is in essence a criminal. How long has the bastard been getting away with this crap?

Pete

Interesting that article says that Emrich was president of the Seattle Sport Parachute Center when he was interviewed about Clifford's death.
The byline for the article says Seattle, but  I assumed the death occurred in Issaquah.
I forget if Seattle Sport Parachute Center was an early name for Issaquah DZ, or another place that Emrich ran?


Sheridan's email to Bruce pinpoints the death happening across the highway from the Issaquah DZ.

I forget if I verified separately exactly where Clifford died in 1962 on the night jump.

Sheridan was a tough guy. It's hard to believe that after 94 years, it was Covid that took him down.

yes. Are you sure it was Covid? I don't know. didn't say anything in the obits.

he was having a lot of health problems. Doctor visits. Could have been exacerbated by Covid, but his time was coming. He still was physically active though, the last time I saw him.

EDIT: I think this is the history of the St. Vincent School for Boys that Sheridan is likely talking about
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Interesting missive by Sheridan. Sounds like quite a character.

As for going in 'in a delta'...

I doubt he was describing the three way formation. While the description might fit, if he went in 'in' the formation, it sounds like they all three went in. It could mean the land type, like 'river delta'? But most likely that refers to his body position. A 'delta' is an arms and legs swept back position to effect forward movement, referred to as a 'track' these days. Going in in a track might be consistent with a suicide, but it also might indicate a total lack of altitude awareness. Messing with a flare might contribute to that, as in looking at it would screw up your night vision, and it would also be a time distraction. Six grand isn't all that high to start a jump from.

I'm going to make a wild-assed guess, and suggest that Sheridan was saying Clifford "went in" in this area now known as "Pickering's Barn" (used for weddings..i guess old farm?)

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or some land belonging to Pickering in the area. EDIT: oh wait. Pickering is more closely related to Issaquah DZ than I realized. See below.

See, this is the level of detail that was amazing to see flow out of Sheridan's brain.

EDIT: more confirmation of the connection between Pickering and Issaquah (at the closing of the DZ)
"located on the historic Pickering farm"

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On July 8, 1987, three longtime workers at the Issaquah Skyport, a center for sky sports for nearly 30 years, make one last early morning sky dive. After years of controversy over the future of the airfield, located on the historic Pickering farm just north of Interstate-90, its lease has expired, a bond issue to buy the property and keep the parachute and gliding center operating has narrowly failed, and the Skyport is forced to make way for a shopping center development.

flyjack notes the 2003 Parachutist magazine article has cossey saying the students threw the reserve "over their heads" for practice, after scooping. This sounds like standing on the ground to me.

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the snapshot is from Flyjack.

So that's interesting..how was it used? Standing on ground? Throw over your head or throw on the ground?

Cossey doesn't say whether the lines were daisy chained when the canopy was "folded" into the container

Sheridan says the canopy was just "stuffed" in the container.

Cossey did compete in the Nationals and did well as I recall. Nobody disputed his skydiving skills. His skydive training business was a disaster however. He showed such a callous disregard for student safety that he was prosecuted for manslaughter. There were several deaths, some of which were attributed to poorly maintained gear.

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