Sport: Catch a Falling Snowflake

For parachutists, fun is forming patterns in the sky

A dozing World War II fighter training base at Zephyrhills, Fla., came alive last week with a roar of airplane engines and a rainbow of shimmering parachutes. Some 600 sky divers convened on the field for eight days of serious contests in the air and not-so-serious games on the ground. Among the jumpers was TIME Correspondent Don Sider, who sent this report:

We are in a sort of reverie as the ancient DC-3 climbs to 12,500 ft. Like all jump planes, it has no seats. We...

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