What and where was the first recorded dropzone?

[swoopfly 7]

what was the first dropzone there was and where was it located?

[brettski74 0]

According to the history of my home DZ, the St Catherine's Parachute Club is the oldest skydiving club in North America. I'm not sure if that's supposed to be qualified with a statement that it's still operating in some form today. Either way, 1962 is a long time ago in skydiving years.

[BIGUN 1,409]

There was a 10,000 way on Normandy around 1944. André-Jacques Garnerin became the first person to make a parachute jump on October 22, 1797 over Monceau Park in Paris

Nobody has time to listen; because they're desperately chasing the need of being heard.

[GaryRay 0]

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There was a 10,000 way on Normandy around 1944. André-Jacques Garnerin became the first person to make a parachute jump on October 22, 1797 over Monceau Park in Paris

talk about a big way, i wonder who was base.

JewBag.
www.jewbag.wordpress.com

[likestojump 3]

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There was a 10,000 way on Normandy around 1944. André-Jacques Garnerin became the first person to make a parachute jump on October 22, 1797 over Monceau Park in Paris

talk about a big way, i wonder who was base.

I am just guessing, but I bet those were Static Lines :)

[skydiverbry 0]

Just had to be the smart one

Hi ya Kieth

Bry

--------------------------------------------------
Growing old is mandatory.Growing up is optional!!

D.S.#13(Dudeist Skdiver)

[JerryBaumchen 1,436]

Hi swoop,

I know that the Seattle Skydivers were operating in the 50's; probably mid to later 50's.

We had a local here in Portland, back in the mid-60's, who had jumped in Seattle about then. He is still alive; John Pummel B-37.

I also have a Packing Data card that I took out of an old rig that has something about Portland Parachutes, demo jumping, etc. The earliest logged date on the Card is 1954.

Going to be tough to get anything exact,

JerryBaumchen

[Amazon 7]

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Hi swoop,

I know that the Seattle Skydivers were operating in the 50's; probably mid to later 50's.

We had a local here in Portland, back in the mid-60's, who had jumped in Seattle about then. He is still alive; John Pummel B-37.

I also have a Packing Data card that I took out of an old rig that has something about Portland Parachutes, demo jumping, etc. The earliest logged date on the Card is 1954.

Going to be tough to get anything exact,

JerryBaumchen

1954 for Seattle Skydivers.

http://www.seattleskydivers.org/

Established in 1954, Seattle Skydivers is the longest continuously-run skydiving association in the United States. Our charter is "to promote parachuting and skydiving as a sport and to promote safety in all parachuting activities."

[JerryBaumchen 1,436]

Thanks Jeanne,

I do appreciate the update.

I am thinking that Loy Brydon may have been one of the originals. I know that he was wearing a Seattle Skydivers t-shirt at the Pioneers Reunion in Tuscon back in '02.

JerryBaumchen

[brettski74 0]

According to the plaque at Skydive Burnaby, the St Catherines Parachute Club celebrated their 50th year in 1998, which means they started in 1948. I'm not sure where they jumped, however, as according to the dropzone history, they only moved there in 1962. I'll ask around the DZ and see if anybody knows.

[JerryBaumchen 1,436]

Hey Jeanne,

I went to their website and sure enough, Brydon was one of the founding members.

Not a bad guess for an old f***.

JerryBaumchen

[skydave114 0]

The first commercial DZ in the USA was Parachutes Incorporated, Orange ,Massachusetts. Open for business May 2, 1959.
As to the the first ever DZ, I guess that would depend on how you define the term "drop zone"

[pchapman 279]

There were clubs in the 1930's too. Little seems to be widely known about them as history got interrupted by the war.

As with many "inventions", there are going to be different versions of the "first", depending on how things are defined. A DZ can range from large businesses with multiple turbines, down to clubs owning or renting a single piston Cessna.

I can give an example of even humbler origins which happens to be from Canada. It certainly qualifies as a DZ, having some equipment, a fixed base of operations, and catering both to new and experienced jumpers. There must surely have been other examples like it in Canada and the US too.

In Canada our official CSPA history always mentions the St. Catharines Parachute Club having been formed in 1948, but no clubs are mentioned before that, only feats by individuals.

I knew someone, Cam Warne, who started jumping in Canada in 1938, in a group who called themselves the Canadian Parachute Club, in the Downsview part of Toronto. (Post-war, the St. Catharines club got the publicity because it lasted so long, but there were others too -- Cam was in the Oshawa club east of Toronto for a few years starting in '46.)

In 1938 an instructor, George Bennett, was travelling around the country giving parachute courses, I believe with some sponsorship by Irving and the government assisted flying clubs program. (Both the flying and parachute rigging was being encouraged to build up a base of experience in case war came.)

After George trained a group of 34 first jump students, some of them plus one other experienced jumper formed the club. They rented an airplane and pilot from a local flying club, such as a 2 seat open cockpit Gypsy Moth biplane. Your very first jump would be a freefall from 2000-2500', with no instructor on the plane. Put your hand on the ripcord, jump, count to 3, and pull!

The club owned just one set of gear. It consisted of a standard pilot's emergency seat pack rig, an Irvin with a 24' unsteerable round silk canopy, modified to attach a lap container with another 24' round. When a crowd gathered to watch the jumping, the jumpers would pass the hat to defray expenses.

Cam completed the ground school (about 2 nights a week for 4 weeks, focusing on parachute packing), did his first jump, then received his parachutist certificate stating he was qualified to pack, service, and jump all Irving parachutes. After 5 more jumps he could receive his instructor rating.

As some have said, it really was creating a sport out of an emergency procedure. Not much of a DZ by modern standards but it was a DZ.

[MakeItHappen 15]

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what was the first dropzone there was and where was it located?

IIRC, the Russians established jump training from AC c1920. The Germans later followed under Kurt Student. The US started much later, c1942. There was a lot of resistance within the US Army Air Corp to even let pilots wear parachutes. Russia and Germany were way ahead of the US on that issue. After US pilots saw that the German pilots saved themselves after being shot down, the US warmed up to the idea of giving pilots a parachute.
I have it in a reference that I will be perusing next week or it might be in a book I do not have access to and is out of print (but I read it years ago).
I'll list it on Skydive History when I find it.

Depending on your definition of 'dropzone' you could even consider the places that the early balloonists dropped jumpers to be 'the first'.

.

.
Make It Happen
Parachute History
DiveMaker

[dks13827 3]

also, some military clubs such as Ft Bragg had fun jumping in the years following WW II, I believe.

[CDRINF 1]

Fort Campbell Sport Parachute Club opened in April 1958, jumping on Yamato DZ, later renamed Son DZ. Campbell and Bragg jumpers always went back and forth over who was first.

CDR