History of Skydiving
SkyDiving became a recognised sport with a large following in the 1950s when practitioners progressed from straight parachute descents to free-falling before activating the parachute.
The documented history of skydiving and parachuting goes back as far 1470.
1485First parachute design appearing in an anonymous Italian manuscript
1617Leonardo da Vinci sketch of sophisticated parachute
1783Faust Vrančić makes first parachute test jump from Tower in Venice
1797Sebastien Lenormand invents first practical parachute
1887French aeronaut Jacques Garnerin makes first successful parachute descent from great height
1890Captain Thomas Baldwin invents first parachute harness
1903Paul Letteman & Kathchen Paulus invent folding/packing parachute in a backpack
1911Wright Brothers first powered flight
1913Grant Morton makes first parachute jump from an aircraft
1919Georgia Broadwick becomes first woman to parachute from a moving aircraft
1960Leslie Irvin makes first premeditated freefall jump from aircraft
1964Capt Joe Kittinger achieved the highest and longest parachute jump in history
1970The First Square Ram was invented by Domina Jalbert in Florida.
1986The Ram Air Canopy became the industry standard
1994Bart Simpson goes skydiving – Springfield USA
20041st World Team Formation Skydiving Event – 216 Skydivers, Bratislava, Slovakia
2006The Oldest Skydiver: Frank Moody, aged 101, made a tandem jump at Skydive Cairns USA
2007World's largest formation in free-fall – 400 Skydivers, Udon Thani, Thailand
2008World's largest canopy formation – 100 Skydivers, Lake Wales Florida, USA
2009Largest wing suit formation – 71 Skydivers, Elsinore California, USA
2010Largest head down formation (vertical formation) - 108 Skydivers, Chicago Illinois, USA
Atlas Angels come on the scene as jump ships in South Africa.
