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1919 – Leslie Irvin of the United States makes the first successful voluntary free-fall parachute jump using a new kind of self-contained parachute.
Irvin was born in Los Angeles. He became a stunt-man for the fledgling Californian film industry, for which he had to perform acrobatics on trapezes from balloons and then make descents using a parachute, the Type-A.
Irvin made his first jump when aged fourteen. For a film called Sky High, he first jumped from an aircraft from 1,000 feet in 1914. He developed his own static line parachute as a life-saving device in 1918 and jumped with it several times. He joined the Army Air Service’s parachute research team, and at McCook Field near Dayton, Ohio.
After World War I, Major E. L. Hoffman of the Army Air Service led an effort to develop an improved parachute for exiting airplanes by bringing together the best elements of multiple parachute designs. Participants included Irvin and James Floyd Smith. The team eventually created the Airplane Parachute Type-A.
https://thisdayinusmilhist.wordpress.com/2014/04/19/april-19/
Irvin was born in Los Angeles. He became a stunt-man for the fledgling Californian film industry, for which he had to perform acrobatics on trapezes from balloons and then make descents using a parachute, the Type-A.
Irvin made his first jump when aged fourteen. For a film called Sky High, he first jumped from an aircraft from 1,000 feet in 1914. He developed his own static line parachute as a life-saving device in 1918 and jumped with it several times. He joined the Army Air Service’s parachute research team, and at McCook Field near Dayton, Ohio.
After World War I, Major E. L. Hoffman of the Army Air Service led an effort to develop an improved parachute for exiting airplanes by bringing together the best elements of multiple parachute designs. Participants included Irvin and James Floyd Smith. The team eventually created the Airplane Parachute Type-A.
https://thisdayinusmilhist.wordpress.com/2014/04/19/april-19/
Posted in these groups: 
Aviation
Military History
Aviation Military History
Posted 9 y ago
Responses: 4
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LTC Stephen C. I just grew a new hero. Gonna put his picture right next to Bill Welch and Georgie Patton!
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SPC Jan Allbright, M.Sc., R.S.
The complete story on Leslie Irvin
Apparently he also designed the Bomber Jacket!
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leslie_Irvin_parachutist
Apparently he also designed the Bomber Jacket!
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leslie_Irvin_parachutist
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Hats of to the man who not only talked the talk, but walked the walk. or in this case jumped from an airplane. There is courage, and there is crazy. That man had the best of both.
His courage in being an experiment not only starts the paratroopers, but helps save countless lives because of the parachute. Just awe inspiring.
His courage in being an experiment not only starts the paratroopers, but helps save countless lives because of the parachute. Just awe inspiring.
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