Parachute Museum Artifact

Contained within a small 9" x 6" twelve page instruction booklet are some fascinating stories of parachute history, along with vintage photos. It is the 1925 "Supplement to Parachute Manual" published by the Air Service Engineering Division at McCook Field in Dayton, Ohio. (Click Here, or on the above image, to download the document).

It starts with an exciting account of the first emergency parachute leap in 1922 by Lt. Harold Harris, Chief of McCook Field Flying Section, whose Loening Monoplane was disabled while testing new ailerons in combat practice. 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. (An Aviation Trail sign is posted in the 300 block of Troy Street, commemorating the jump landing).

The brief booklet also contains examples of other parachute firsts, including a leap from a collision of planes, a leap from low altitude (150 ft.), a night leap, and some eventful parachute test jumps.

The Aviation Trail Parachute Museum is located on the second floor of the Aviation Trail Visitor Center at 16 South Williams St in Dayton. The Museum tells the story of the development of the free fall parachute from its invention at Dayton’s McCook Field after World War I, up to the vital role it plays in safely landing today’s spacecraft.