Albert Falco

[j yaeger]

things sure do evolve!!!!!
they were the leading Global Underwater Explorers!!!!
hence D I R divers and other acronyms
do it better,and safer ,and don't die...
at least while diving
god bless and lay to rest those that had the balls to push the edge for all of us!!
have fun
yaeg

 

[Sam Miller III]

Sad news indeed... but we are blessed with the knowledge we've gained from early pioneers like Falco and The Captain. I only hope some of the current crop of youngsters learn more about these incredible people. On the day of J?YC's 100th birthday there was so little time given to celebrating that event and spreading knowledge of The Captain. I'll have to watch The Silent World again when I get home.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
At the time of JYCs death in 1997 I was interviewed by the Orange County Register,a large California newspaper who published a full one half page article on our fifty year relationship. Several weeks prior to the 100 anniversary of his death recontacted the newspaper and was informed that the anniversary of a death was not news worthy. I suspect in the big picture of newspaper publishing the anniversary of a death is not a news worthy item-

it is imperative in the future his memory and many deeds be keep alive by divers with postings such as these.

Alberts passing is very personal and sad for me. I first met Albert Falco in 1964 when I was an invited official observer of JYCs DDS the "Denise" when they were operating out of San Diego. After the Denise Dive Albert (Bebert ) inscribed a copy fo the Silent world to me -- I cannot read French nor his inscription but it appears to be as follows; "A Mr. Samuel Miller, in son venis de la 145 Voigin suscoupe San Diego, a.???.iolent? A Falco. Can any one translate or fill in the missing words?

I am some what surprised that there has been no mention of Albert's 1977 book "FALCO, Chief diver of the Calypso" by Albert Falco & Philippe Diole, iccc 77-376, Barrons Educational Series, hard cover & soft cover, 296 pages- A very informative book about his early life and his life of adventure up to 1977. I had contact with him on several other occasions but the opportunity never arose to have him inscribe this book.

Mrs Miller and I send our most sincere condolences to Albert's widow, daughter and grand children, his passing is a great loss for the world.
SDM

 

[Akimbo]

Yeah, just how does a diver trim for 370' dive without a BC of some kind. Also how did the gasmix work from the surface to the bottom? They weren't slinging any bottles! And a red hat and a scarf at 370fsw!

Notice they were also bare-handed and wearing a single layer wetsuit -- less material less buoyancy change. The Med is warmer than many non-tropical seas and these guys developed their "sense of normal" long before wetsuits existed. They would not have chosen this avocation/profession if they had a low cold tolerance.

European hyperbaric physiologists, and French in particular, have long been much more aggressive using high PPO2 than in the US. I imagine they were running 16% Oxygen which would give them about 2 ATA at 380'. It could have been as low as 14%... notice they didn't fart around too long at the surface breathing down their expensive mix and limited gas supply or allowing their blood gas levels to drop enough to pass out.

A surface supplied dive would start with air down to 40-60' even in those days. Even then you would still be on air passing 200' at high descent rates and long hose lengths. US operators would sometimes purge the hoses until their voice changed after a gas switch, but Helium was too expensive in Europe.

They were bad asses. I suspect they pulled themselves down the line at the start of the dive.

That would be prudent since the decompression clock stared when they left the surface and saving gas was vital. The video/film showed the descent rather relaxed, which I would expect for TV. The reality is they probably descending head-first at around 200'/minute most of the time.

Albert Falco was one of my heroes, even more than Cousteau. I hope his last years were happy.

 

[turnerjd]

Alberts passing is very personal and sad for me. I first met Albert Falco in 1964 when I was an invited official observer of JYCs DDS the "Denise" when they were operating out of San Diego. After the Denise Dive Albert (Bebert ) inscribed a copy fo the Silent world to me -- I cannot read French nor his inscription but it appears to be as follows; "A Mr. Samuel Miller, in son venis de la 145 Voigin suscoupe San Diego, a.???.iolent? A Falco. Can any one translate or fill in the missing words?

I am some what surprised that there has been no mention of Albert's 1977 book "FALCO, Chief diver of the Calypso" by Albert Falco & Philippe Diole, iccc 77-376, Barrons Educational Series, hard cover & soft cover, 296 pages- A very informative book about his early life and his life of adventure up to 1977. I had contact with him on several other occasions but the opportunity never arose to have him inscribe this book.

If you want to, send me a scan of the original and I will try and work out what he wrote. The start is probably: A Mr Samuel Miller, en souvenir de la (145 voigin?) souscoupe.....

The 145 voigin looks wrong, and the end would normally be something like "a bientot", unless there was something special that happened.

It will almost certainly translate as: to mr Sam Miller, as a souvenir of our xxxxx in the souscoupe (the word they used for the submersible) in San Diego. See you soon, A Falco.

However, this is only a WAG for the moment.

Jon

 

[Sam Miller III]

to mr Sam Miller, as a souvenir of our xxxxx in the souscoupe (the word they used for the submersible) in San Diego. See you soon, A Falco.

A (?) could that be "For?" or "To?"

(145 voigin?)
It was the 145 dive of the DDS Denise

Oops! DDS =deep diving submersible- we also used "souscoupe" on rare occasions

Albert's writing is small and difficult to read..

I wonder just how many people knew him and have and early -pre "UW world of JYC" - inscription of Albert Falco?

I knew JYC (Zeek) some what well. His first inscription was a number of years prior to the TV program and world wide fame an was a true inscription; a message and a a signature. This was the case for the first few then he became famous and always on the run so the inscriptions became signatures on the last 3 or 4 books.

Thank you so much for your translation-- after all these good years!

I would suggest to you and others to obtain Albert Falco's book-- I note there are (were?) 3-4 on E-bay

SDM

 

[turnerjd]

So it must be 145ieme (145th). After a bit of a think (and a question to my French wife) the end is probably 'amicalement' literally 'friendly', but often used as a best wishes to somebody you get on well with.

The complete text will probably be

À Mr Sam Miller, en souvenir de la 145ieme plongée en soucoupe à San Diego, amicalement , A Falco.

To Mr Sam Miller, as à souvenir of the 145th dive of the souscoupe in San Diego, best wishes, A. Falco.

Word, of warning, I can't be 100% sure without seeing the original, but this is as close as I can get.

Jon

 

[Sam Miller III]

That apparently is the translation. Yes Albert and I got along very well.

I donot have the ability to scan- After my last crash & burn I replaced the computer with a very basic unit

Thank you very much a give your dear wife a big hug for all her efforts,

I note you are in France and a "part time car fanatic." I am interested in obtaining a WW11 "Gas o gen" used to convet cooking gas to power autos. Are you familar with the unit?

SDM

---------- Post added April 30th, 2012 at 04:05 AM ----------

 

[turnerjd]

Are you sure about the gasogen? I thought that it was a way of extracting a usable gas from wood or coal, rather than town gas.

I will ask the father in law (or the great. Grandmother) about a gasogen.

Jon

 

[Sam Miller III]

Are you sure about the gasogen? I thought that it was a way of extracting a usable gas from wood or coal, rather than town gas.

I will ask the father in law (or the great. Grandmother) about a gasogen.

Jon[
/QUOTE]
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Jon,
You are so correct--note the time I posted..didn't sleep well and the thought process was not engaged.

I have been informed the Gas o gen was used for extracting gas from charcoal.

I also understand the unit it fit on the back (trunk area) of a WW11 automobile --according from what I can gleen it was produced by 'Aire Liquide" in France, aka "Liquid Air" in US.

That is about all the information I have been able to aquire from my sources in the US who are interested in Vintage Automobiles.
Any and all information will be appreciated
SDM