Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-06-09

by men IN the nyln8 profession,
and which has been instrumental
in saving in this country thus far 122
lives not to mention the number of lives 1t has
saved in foreign countries, did not attain its
present state of popularity without the Gus
tomary struggle for recognition Like every So
called new-fangled device it met with indiffer-
ence, opposition and even ridicule.
few pilots who served overseas during the
war, and who in aerial combats had seen enemy
pilots use the parachute successfully, expressed
a desire for this article of flying equipment, but
the average pilot, feeling secure that nothing
would happen to him anyway, considered 1t as
unnecessary impedimenta. Even after several
Army pilots were saved from certain death by
the parachute no widespread enthusiasm pre-
vailed regarding its use.
Nowadays every pilot and passenger in an
Army plane wears the parachute. Several years
ago orders were issued by the chief Of the Army
Air Corps making its use compulsory In view
however OF the wonderful reputation Tor EN-
cheney which the parachute enjoys today 1t is
safe to say that pilots in the military and navai
air services as well as In commercial aVaUoh
would hardly think of making fight without
1t, orders or no orders
The efficiency of the present type Of Army
parachute can be attributed more to the whole
hearted interest and unfagging activity exer-
cised in its development by Maj. E. l.. HOFFMAN,
Hoffman was rewarded for the outstanding
part he played in the development OF this nav
less life-saying apparatus when President Cool
idge in 1926 presented the Collier trophy 10
him This trophy is awarded annually TOT the
greatest achievement in aviation IN America
the value Of which has been thoroughly Demon
strated by actual during the preceding
year.
IT is generally conceded that the f1rst para
chute was built and used by Frenchman In
1874 This parachute was rigid structure,
covered with very strong paper and 1apr1c, ana
it was used in Jump from Dullolng IN PARIS
In England year or later, the same type
nj parachute was used in a jump from a hot
air balloon Subsequent leaps were made from
balloons with various shaped parachutes. Prac-
tically all of them, however, were OF rigid
construction and were therefore already open.
About 1880 the late Capt. Thomas Baldwin
came into prominence by jumping from hot-alf
balloons with a parachute which was fore-i
runner of the present type. Capt! BALDWIN was
the first really successful parachute jumper,
success in this case being gagged by the length,
of time a man lived while engaged in this pro-
fession Other balloonistS followed Capt. Bald
win in rapid succession, the most prominent
one being A. Leo Stevens who constructed
great many parachutes one type OF which was
used extensively by the Army IN connection with
balloon flights.
The first practice Jump from an airplane was
accomplished in 1912, when parachute In
conical type of container was used. This con-
tainer was attached to the arpiane and the
parachute was launched when the jumper
after leaving the plane caused it to be pulled
out of its centainer
From this time until the World War numer-
Gus parachute jumps were made from alrplanes
during exhibitions, but 1t remained Tor the
great conflict to prove the unquestioned value
of the parachute as life-saving apparatus for
use with airplanes as well as balloons.