Albert Berry (parachutist)
Albert Berry (* 1878 in Philadelphia , Pennsylvania , United States ; † in the 20th century ) was an American aviation pioneer. He jumped at the 1. March 1912 became the first man with the parachute from an airplane. He was the son of balloonist John Berry and a captain in the US Army .
prehistory
The aviation pioneer Thomas Wesley Benoist and his chief pilot Tony Jannus had developed a new type of parachute early 1912th The parachute was fastened in a metal container under the fuselage. The parachutist sat on a kind of trapeze during the flight. For the new type of parachute, Benoist and Jannus received US Patent # 1,053,182.
Together with aviation pioneer Hugh A. Robinson, Benoist had designed a new biplane with a pusher propeller . The trapeze for Albert Berry was attached under this double-decker.
The jump
The first attempt to jump failed due to bad weather conditions. On March 1, 1912 at 2:30 p.m. Tony Jannus finally took off with Berry from Kinloch Field near St. Louis . The Benoist biplane flew around 17 miles to the Jefferson Barracks , a barracks in southern St. Louis, where the jump was to take place.
The jump took place at a height of around 450 meters at 90 km / h. Berry tied himself to the parachute and then released his locks on the trapeze. His weight ripped the parachute out of the metal container. Berry fell about 150 meters before the parachute opened. The parachute had a diameter of around 11 meters and was made of unbleached cotton. Berry believed his jump would affect the stability of the machine, but Jannus couldn't see any fluctuations.
When Benoist reached Jefferson Barracks, where everyone was waiting for the plane, he went to Colonel Wood's building. When they both came out, the soldiers confirmed to them that Berry had landed. When asked whether he would repeat the jump, Berry said "never again" .
Other sources claim that Grant Morton jumped off a plane back in 1911.
Mount Berry , a mountain in Antarctica , is named in his honor .
Web links
- Image of Albert Berry under the Benoist biplane
- Jefferson Barracks - Albert Berry's landing site ( December 12, 2005 memento in the Internet Archive )
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Berry, Albert |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | American parachutist, first jumped from an airplane |
| DATE OF BIRTH | 1878 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Philadelphia , Pennsylvania , United States |
| DATE OF DEATH | after 1912 |