100th Anniversary of First Emergency Free Fall: October 22, 2022 represents the 100th anniversary of the first emergency bailout from an aircraft using a freefall parachute. Lt. Harold Harris, Chief of McCook Field Flying Section, whose Loening PW-2A Monoplane was disabled while testing new ailerons in combat practice was forced to jump. He landed in a grape arbor in the backyard of a house on Troy Street in Dayton, while his plane crashed nearby on Valley Street. Near the en

Joint Precision Air Drop System (JPADS) The Aviation Trail Parachute Museum has introduced a new exhibit as of August, 2022. On display is a fully rigged heavy payload shown as it would be prepared for an airdrop using the Joint Precision Air Drop System. The Joint Precision Air Drop system (JPADS) is an American military air drop system which uses the Global Positioning System (GPS), steerable parachutes, and an onboard computer to steer loads to a designated point of impact

On Friday, August 12, 2022 a group of engineers and engineering students/interns from Air Force Research Laboratory and various other departments at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base visited the Aviation Trail Parachute Museum for a presentation and tour. Parachute expert Dr. Jean Potvin, a physicist at St. Louis University (seen in the photo seated at the right), and Randy Zuercher, Curator of the Parachute Museum (standing by the lectern) conducted an introductory session and

The Aviation Trail Parachute Museum hosted team members on July 27, 2022 SSG Jason Bauder and SGT Nick Corozco, two members of the Army Golden Knights, the elite Army parachute demonstration team visited the Aviation Trail Parachute Museum on Wednesday , July 27, 2022. They were in Dayton preparing for the team's performance at the CenterPoint Energy Dayton Air Show on the subsequent weekend at the Dayton International Airport. (SSG Bauder on left, SGT Corozco on right in pho

2:00 pm, July 27, 2022 - the Army Golden Knights Parachute team members will be touring the Parachute Museum Update: As first announced on July 15 (below), members of the Army Golden Knight will be touring the Parachute Museum on July 27. The time for the tour has been announced as 2:00 PM. 07/15/2022 - The Army Golden Knights, the elite Army parachute demonstration team will be performing at the CenterPoint Energy Dayton Air Show on July 30 & 31, 2022 at the Dayton Internati

Photos from July 16 at Armstrong Air & Space Museum The Aviation Trail Parachute Museum was one of the featured displays at the Armstrong Air & Space Museum which celebrated its 50th Anniversary in conjunction with the Wapakoneta Summer Moon Festival community event. As seen in the photos below, visitors to the display could try on a parachute, listen to presentations on parachute history, see demonstrations of parachute aerodynamics, learn about different types of parachutes

Sat. July 16 & Sun. July 17, 2022 • 10 am to 5 pm at Armstrong Air & Space Museum The Armstrong Air & Space Museum celebrates its 50th Anniversary in conjunction with the Wapakoneta Summer Moon Festival community event. The Aviation Trail Parachute Museum will be one of the featured attractions on the weekend of the event. Among the features that will be presented at the Parachute Museum booth: • Presentations on parachute history • Try on a parachute • Demonstrations of para

C-47 Fly-In and Paratrooper Jump at NMUSAF #7 in a series of videos featured by the Aviation Trail Parachute Museum Presented by the National Museum of the United States Air Force National Museum of the United States Air Force video Free parachute demonstrations & static displays were held at the National Museum of the United States Air Force on Wednesday, April 27, 2022. Two historic C-47's, Tico Belle and Placid Lassie, were on hand to drop the volunteer paratroopers and re

Floyd Smith in 2022 National Inventors Hall of Fame: A former trapeze artist turned aviator and test pilot, Floyd Smith holds US Patent Nos. 1,340,423; 1,462,456 for the first successful free-fall parachute. Near the end of WWI the US Army put together a parachute research group that came under the Engineering Division at McCook Field in Dayton. Their job was to develop a practical parachute for in-flight escape from fixed wing aircraft. They drafted requirements and tested

The Parachute Museum Recommends: For fascinating information on parachuting, the Parachute Museum recommends parachute.com, the website of the United States Parachute Association. The site offers industry news, articles on safety, and many other features. While on the website, check out the official magazine of the USPA - "Parachutist" for some interesting articles. You can click on the current March 2022 issue, and also on back issues to leaf through page by page for more ar

Jumping From Space! #6 in a series of videos featured by the Aviation Trail Parachute Museum Red Bull Stratos Project space dive 2012 presented by BBC Studios Presented by BBC Studios In 2012 Austrian Felix Baumgartner successfully broke Joe Kittinger's record for the world’s highest parachute jump that was set in 1960 (see video #3 in the Parachute Museum Theater series). Baumgartner dropped from an unofficial altitude of 128,000 feet - about 1.5 miles higher than expected.

Research physicist and parachute expert, Dr. Jean Potvin, visited the Aviation Trail Parachute Museum on July 16. As a friend and supporter of the museum, Dr. Jean Potvin, a physicist at St. Louis University, has been a regular contributor to the Aviation Trail Parachute Museum twitter feed. For his first in-person visit to the museum, he drove in from St. Louis with several crates full of parachute related materials from his personal collection to share with the committee. H

Aviation Trail Parachute Museum Report: Dayton McCook Field was the flight test center for the Army Air Service and did research and development of the parachute. Lt. Harold R. Harris was the first person to save himself by freefalling from a disabled airplane. He was also the first person inducted into the Caterpillar Club, for those aviators who save themselves from a disabled airplane by parachuting out of it. The Caterpillar Club is named for the insects that spun the sil