A History Of The Parachute

A Brief History Of The Parachute -- Popular Mechanics

One hundred years ago, an Army daredevil completed the first parachute jump from a plane. But the history of the chute goes all the way back to Leonardo da Vinci, and all the way up to today's advanced military air drops.

Base jumpers like Jeb Corliss have nothing on U.S. Army Captain Albert Berry (right, above). The son of a balloonist, Berry grew up jumping out of balloons and dangling from a trapeze bar suspended from a parachute, a common stunt for early 20th century daredevils. But 100 years ago, on March 1, 1912, Berry entered a class of his own when he hopped off the axle of an early Benoist pusher biplane high above a St. Louis army base, and became the first person to jump from an airplane and land by parachute.

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