1920's jumping in England

[davidlayne 5]

MARTLESHAM PARACHUTISTS - A/C DOBBS AND CPL. EAST

In England , it was the men of the Parachute Test Unit who led the way. Amongst them were two jumpers called Dobbs and East, who made a largely unrecognized but significant contribution to British parachuting, and who would have contributed even more had they lived longer.

'Brainy' Dobbs, they called him, for he had an inventive mind not entirely applied to the parachute, for he made a two-wheeled car, and an aquaplane, which he eventually crashed on the banks of the River Deben. Towards the parachute, he had the right attitude. 'A parachute', he would say to the men he trained, 'must be so simple that even the highest officer in the Royal Air Force can understand it.' His main contribution to parachute technology was the 'trapezoidal' ripcord handle. Remember the trouble that Lieutenant Harold Harris had in trying to find the ripcord ring as he tumbled through the sky? Others had experienced the same problem, particularly when wearing the heavy gloves required for open-cockpit flying. There were also occasions when the circular handle had slipped from its fabric housing to dangle free, which made the finding of it whilst falling even more traumatic. 'Brainy' Dobbs devised a trapezoidal-shaped handle (one side longer than the other) that not only presented a wider handhold, but also allowed the elasticised mouth of the pocket to grip the converging sides more securely. He had one made in the workshops at Henlow, where Leslie Irvin saw it on one of his frequent visits. Within months the American had patented it and produced it. So when you reach for your trapezoidal handle, all you sky people, think of 'Brainy' Dobbs.'

Dobbs was a good parachutist, but East was said to have been even better. The two of them, with no guidance, had tackled the mysteries of free fall, and it had been East who had quickly discovered that the normally tumbling body could be stabilized by spreading out arms and legs, and that even though this caused a tendency for the body to rotate like a propeller, that too could be controlled by adjusting the relative positions of the limbs. He hadn't fully mastered it yet, but he was close. He would surely have been amongst the first of the world's controlled free fallers had his bravery and confidence not killed him at the age of twenty-five. On 9 March 1927 he made a display drop from a Vickers Vimy at Biggin Hill. He was to have jumped from 5,000 feet and delayed his opening for twenty seconds, but Flight Sergeant 'Timber' Woods, the Vimy pilot, gave him an extra thousand without telling him, for he knew that it wasn't altitude but lack of it that killed people who leapt from aeroplanes. So East jumped from just above 6,000 feet. He was seen to be falling in a slow, head down spin, which then developed into an almost leisurely somersaulting, which continued until he pulled his ripcord only 100 feet above the ground. The canopy streamed, but he crashed onto the road that borders the airfield on its western side, and died instantly. Some said that he had been trying to dive into the valley and open his 'chute out of sight of the aerodrome 'to give them a real thrill'. What is more likely is that when that slow and not unpleasant somersaulting began, he became so intent on this novel sensation and on finding a means to control it, that despite the extra 1,000 feet that 'Timber' Woods had given him, he lost sense of time and of the looming earth until it was too late. He probably died as other free fallers have died since-from sheer preoccupation.

Two days later, 'Brainy' Dobbs was practicing 'balloon hopping' at Stag Lane aerodrome in North London . Harnessed to a small gas balloon, he was making gigantic leaps across the airfield, rising to over 100 feet, and then settling back to earth before propelling himself once more into the air and the gentle wind. It was great sport! At the end of the 'field he made one final bound. He sailed over a tree, and came down the other side onto electric power cables. He, like East, died instantly.

(Extract from "The Sky People, a History of Parachuting' by Peter Heam Airlife 1990.)

I don't care how many skydives you've got,
until you stepped into complete darkness at
800' wearing 95 lbs of equipment and 42 lbs
of parachute, son you are still a leg!

[mjosparky 3]

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for he made a two-wheeled car,

Isn't that called a motorcycle?

My idea of a fair fight is clubbing baby seals

[SkydiveJack 1]

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for he made a two-wheeled car,

Isn't that called a motorcycle?

It's a British thing, you wouldn't understand.

[CountZero23 0]

Reading the excellent "Birdmen Batmen and Skyflyers" and came across the reference to 'balloon hopping' and Dobbs story.

Interesting article on 'balloon hopping' here without much detail, apparently it was a pretty short lived experiment. Looks like it could be quite a laugh.

http://paleofuture.gizmodo.com/balloon-jumping-yesterdays-fun-and-dangerous-sport-1450733941

The only way to get rid of a temptation is to yield to it.

[riggerrob 558]

Another RAF test jumper was "The Yorkshire Birdman". He was one of the first to jump a wingsuit, but was smart enough to leave the RAF as a young man.

[riggerrob 558]

On a related note: does anyone know when George Quilter started making parachutes?
Does anyone have a list of Quilter's patents?