First Deaf Skydiver

[BillyVance 34]

This is an interesting video clip in ASL, but with English subtitles for the hearing people.

For years I'd known that Hubert Becher was the first Deaf Skydiver. His details can be found at www.deafskydivers.org, but basically, he started jumping in the early 60's.

Now, this clip is not about him. There was another one, decades earlier, in the 1930's. He only made one jump, and it killed him. His name was Dummy Mahan, who was a well-known boxer at the time. Enjoy the video narration.

http://deafdigest.com/videos/video-parachute/

oops, forgot to include the link.

"Mediocre people don't like high achievers, and high achievers don't like mediocre people." - SIX TIME National Champion coach Nick Saban

[IanHarrop 37]

Quote

This is an interesting video clip in ASL, but with English subtitles for the hearing people.

For years I'd known that Hubert Becher was the first Deaf Skydiver. His details can be found at www.deafskydivers.org, but basically, he started jumping in the early 60's.

Now, this clip is not about him. There was another one, decades earlier, in the 1930's. He only made one jump, and it killed him. His name was Dummy Mahan, who was a well-known boxer at the time. Enjoy the video narration.

http://deafdigest.com/videos/video-parachute/

oops, forgot to include the link.

So Mahan died hoping that a skydive would cure his deafness... we will never know if it did...

"Where troubles melt like lemon drops, away above the chimney tops, that's where you'll find me" Dorothy

[BillyVance 34]

Quote

Quote

This is an interesting video clip in ASL, but with English subtitles for the hearing people.

For years I'd known that Hubert Becher was the first Deaf Skydiver. His details can be found at www.deafskydivers.org, but basically, he started jumping in the early 60's.

Now, this clip is not about him. There was another one, decades earlier, in the 1930's. He only made one jump, and it killed him. His name was Dummy Mahan, who was a well-known boxer at the time. Enjoy the video narration.

http://deafdigest.com/videos/video-parachute/

oops, forgot to include the link.

So Mahan died hoping that a skydive would cure his deafness... we will never know if it did...

I was thinking about the people on the ground watching his jump... "Pull the fucking cord ya dummy!"

"Mediocre people don't like high achievers, and high achievers don't like mediocre people." - SIX TIME National Champion coach Nick Saban

[airtwardo 6]

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He only made one jump, and it killed him.

I guess the dytter needed batteries.

~ If you choke a Smurf, what color does it turn? ~

[ripcord4 0]

This is a TOUGH audience!

[howardwhite 4]

Some more:

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The Sept. 6, 1929 Seattle Star (Seattle, WA, USA) newspaper featured an article on Mahan. He was of Mexican heritage. Boxing commissions originally would not allow him to fight, because he couldn't hear or talk. His manager, Fred Winsor, convinced them that Fred "was more intelligent than 80 per cent of the fighters who have their five senses." Mahan fell off a high chair when he was a baby and the shock made him deaf. He was unable to hear and develop his voice. His family came from Tombstone, AZ. His started fighting in the bootleg amateur clubs of Los Angeles.

Per many day-after newspapers, on Feb. 24, 1930, Mahan went parachuting once again--in the hope that he could "cure" his deafness. (After previous parachuting falls, he had regained his hearing for a few hours at a time, papers had reported.) At Mills Field near San Francisco, Mahan boarded a plane piloted by Colonel Harry Abbott, inventor of the so-called "fool proof" parachute. At 3,200 feet Mahan jumped from the plane. But both the pilot and the main parachutes failed to fully open. He fell into some mudflats below and was killed. It was soon after determined that the shroud lines of the parachute had become entwined about one of his heels soon after he jumped.

Harry Abbott was the father of the legendary Dan-San Abbott, a recipient in 1990 of PIA's Lifetime Achievement Award for his many roles in the parachute industry. Dan-San is also an expert on early German military airplanes.
Here's a chunk of a contemporary newspaper story about "Dummy" Mahan and a picture of him on board the plane.. I assume that's the pilot all duded up in his white suit.

HW

[BillyVance 34]

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I assume that's the pilot all duded up in his white suit.

HW

That's Dummy in the white suit standing by the plane and shaking the pilot's hand.

"Mediocre people don't like high achievers, and high achievers don't like mediocre people." - SIX TIME National Champion coach Nick Saban

[jawbreaker 0]

What???

[poppenhager 1]

Harold Wright D-112 started jumping in Florida 1959 or 60.He trained and put out students from his luscomb (while flying) at the same time.He was the first jumper at Deland,Fl.He was stone deaf since childhood.He was also a private pilot and parachute rigger.I signed him off for his rigger ticket in 1962.A great person who accomplished alot with his handycap...............POP

[Krip 2]

Hi Mr Pop

1962 Damn I was 15yo back then.

I hope to get a lot older to.

Keep on truckin

One Jump Wonder

[BillyVance 34]

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Harold Wright D-112 started jumping in Florida 1959 or 60.He trained and put out students from his luscomb (while flying) at the same time.He was the first jumper at Deland,Fl.He was stone deaf since childhood.He was also a private pilot and parachute rigger.I signed him off for his rigger ticket in 1962.A great person who accomplished alot with his handycap...............POP

Good info to know. Thanks. How did he communicate in person?

"Mediocre people don't like high achievers, and high achievers don't like mediocre people." - SIX TIME National Champion coach Nick Saban

[poppenhager 1]

He read lips and could speak (almost)normal.Harold was a teacher at a school for the deaf for many years.............POP