Funny Holidays - Parachute Birthday

Since ancient times, people have tried to conquer airspace by learning to fly. One of the myths of Ancient Greece tells about the architect and sculptor Daedalus, who designed wings for his son Icarus. The flight ended tragically: the wax that held the bird's feathers together melted under the heat of the sun's rays. A more successful parachute jump from a hot air balloon was made on June 3, 1785 in London. The design was invented by aeronaut Francois Blanchard. In honor of this invention, the birthday of the parachute is celebrated annually on June 3. For the first time, the idea of ​​a “tent made of starched linen”, which would allow one to jump from any height and land safely, was voiced by Leonardo da Vinci. He also owned a sketch of a device that was very reminiscent of a modern version of a parachute. The idea of ​​the Italian artist, inventor, scientist and writer was realized in practice only 200 years later with the advent of aeronautics. The parachute (from the Greek para, meaning “against,” and the French chute, meaning “fall”) was made and tested by physicist Louis-Sébastien Lenormand. The scientist made his first jump from a tree using a device consisting of two umbrellas. But later Lenormand improved his invention and successfully dived from a height of 26 m on December 26, 1783 from the balcony of the Montpellier observatory. The physicist saw the purpose of the cone-shaped device, consisting of a dome and a basket of willow twigs, in rescuing people from burning buildings. Somewhat earlier, in 1617, the Croatian scientist and polyglot Faust Vrancic made a parachute jump. The tester constructed it according to the sketches of Leonardo da Vinci, using fabric stretched over a wooden frame. Vrancic dived from an 86 m high bell tower in Bratislava. But the achievement of Francois Blanchard remains in world history. The Frenchman parachuted from a height of 300 m in 1785 a dog, and a year later - a ram. The animals landed safely, and Blanchard's invention was adopted by aeronauts. History has preserved for us the names of other people who made a significant contribution to the development of parachuting. The man who made the first jump from a hot air balloon over Paris in 1797 was named André-Jacques Garnerin. And the inventor of the aviation backpack parachute with a pilot ring is Gleb Kotelnikov. The Russian scientist tested his invention in June 1912. The first world championship in skydiving took place in 1951. Today, not only professionals, but also amateurs practice this sport. Each of them knows the unforgettable sensations and vivid emotions that come from soaring above the ground and rapidly falling at a speed of 200 km/h. Extreme hobby helps a person to see the beauty of the world around him from a bird's eye view. Therefore, the birthday of the parachute is widely celebrated by paratroopers, geologists, intelligence officers, professional parachutists, pilots and other aviation workers.