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Three centuries later the idea of the parachute was born in the genius mind of Leonardo Da Vinci. He had made a sketch of pyramidal-shaped structure in his notebook. His original idea was to help people escape from high burning buildings safely. Although as far as it is known Da Vinci did not put into practice his project modern engineers consider that it would have worked. That is why Leonardo Da Vinci is considered to be the "Father of the parachute". About a century later the Hungarian mathematician Fausto de Veranzio who was working in Italy published a book called "Machinae Nova" about his designs of new devices. In that book he shows a picture of "Homo Volans" ("Flying Man") - a man who had jumped from high tower with an almost modern-looking parachute - some kind of oblong sail attached with four lines to a harness on the jumper. Although Vernanzio claimed to have several jumps with it there is not evidence proving this statement. In 1779 the French physicist Sebastian Le Normand, thogether with Joseph Montgolfier studied about parachutes by throwing animals. Le Normand is considered to be the first sistematic parachute constructor. Then in 1785 Jean Pierre Blanchard, famous balloonist and the first man who flew over the English channel, began to work on parachutes. After making successful tests with animals and even his own dog, he jumped himself several times reaching altitude of approximately 2400 meters. Blanchard also made the first silk canopy parachute. But the first parachute jump known for sure took place on 22 October 1797 in Paris. A man called Andre-Jacques Garnerin was doing his living by charging people watching his ballon flight until one day his balloon exploded at an altitude of 700 meters in front of the terrified spectators. Then Garnerin put into practice his homemade parachute which was 10 meters in diameter abd had 36 suspension lines. He lnded safely about 1 km far from his starting point.This man devouted to his work died on August 18, 1823 in an accident with his balloon, after receiving admission from influential people. Garnerin's wife Genevieve Labrosse and niece Elisa were the first women performing parachute jump. The first recorded emergency jump was made by the Polish aeronaut Jordaki Kuparento who jumped from his burning balloon on 14 July 1808 over Warsaw. In 1837 occurred the first fatal accident in Skydiving History when Robert Cocking jumped from 1700 meters and his cone-shaped parachute disintegrated .This proveked widely spread disbelief in parachuting but efford went on. In 1802 the French astronomer Lelandes realizes that the reason for the oscillations during fall was in the air that was under the parachute surface. He suggested putting a hole in the middle of the canopy and this really solved the problem. In 1885 Thomas Balwing invented the harness. In 1890 the Germans Paul Letteman and Kaethe Paulus used parachutes folded in bags. The name of the man who first jumped from a plane is disputable. Grant Morton Jumped from his plane in 1911 over Venice Beach, California. Captain Albert Berry who had previously jumped from balloons , made his parachute fall on March 1st, 1912 near St. Louis. With the fisrt freefall in 1914 began the sport parachuting.In the World War I the military forces realized the importance of the parachute in saving pilot in emergency. The first emergency escape was performed by an Austrilian pilot on the Russian front in 1916. Then parachuting was considerably improved by the army for special crew of paratroopers. Parachuting became popular as some French jumper began practising it for fun. The first sport parachuting championship was held in Yugoslavia in 1951. On August 16, 1960 in the New Mexico desert Colonel Joseph Kittinger made a world wide record by jumpingfrom an altitude of 102,800ft.His fall lasted about 4.8 minutes and he reached almost supersonic speed! His achievement remains the highest parachute jump in history. |