SKYDIVING, term, First Use

[patworks 5]

SKYDIVING, term, First Known Use: In September 1953 a French-American parachutist named Raymond Young wrote an article for the April 1954 issue of Flying Magazine. Young described his feelings about the sensations of free-falling. He used the term "Skydiving" for the first time to describe this sport..." (Source: Michael Horan, Index to Parachuting, 1979, p. XXV)

Pat Works nee Madden Travis Works, Jr .B1575, C1798, D1813, Star Crest Solo#1, USPA#189,

[JerryBaumchen 1,048]

Hi Pat,

Ray Young was also the very first American to ever compete in a World Championships, the '54 World Meet.

JerryBaumchen

[pchapman 261]

That April '54 issue: choose page 26 for the article "The Free-Fall French" by Ray Young:
http://books.google.ca/books?id=2GOUY9ILm1cC&lpg=PA10&dq=flying%20magazine%20april%201954&pg=PA26#v=snippet&q=parachute&f=false

Curiously, I don't see him actually using the term "skydiving" or "sky diving" -- but he does write about how the free-fall parachuting isn't just falling but diving, because of the body position used for stability. He compares it to a swan dive but it could be more of a spread eagle depending on how far out arms and legs are. For most of the article, he writes about parachutists or jumpers -- just that they dive through the air.

The term "skydiving" gets used a regularly in the occasional parachuting article written in popular magazines by the end of the '50s, including by Istel who tended to write articles about the sport. The earlier references are all about "sky diving" as two separate words.

If Young wrote about the concept of diving through the sky, Istel was someone who pinned down the phrase:

Istel wrote in the April '56 issue of Flying magazine that "Sky diving refers to the technique of maintaining absolute control of one's body during free fall before the parachute is opened." He goes on to state that not one American knew how to skydive, but the Russians and French did, so he learned from the latter in 1955. He doesn't however mention Ray Young, whatever his exact nationality. It is a little surprising since Young had published in the same magazine so shouldn't have been unknown. (Certainly a few lone individuals had figured out some form of stable fall earlier. Young had learned at a state-sponsored French school.)

I only learned this stuff from using Google Books to look at some 1950's magazines, being curious about this thread.

Was Ray Young at a World Meet? Or Jerry were you thinking of Fred Mason, who is in the standard histories as the first American at a Worlds, in '54. Sgt. Mason apparently died in a gliding accident not much later, so never passed on much of what he had learned.

[JerryBaumchen 1,048]

Hi Peter,

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Was Ray Young at a World Meet? Or Jerry were you thinking of Fred Mason,

Depends upon how good my memory is.

I remember that the first American in a World Meet was an American living in France at the time. That leads me to Ray Young. I think we call it deducting or something like that.

But I have been wrong before & will be wrong in the future.



JerryBaumchen

PS) Where are those USPA folks when we need them?

[pchapman 261]

In any case, one wonders, whatever became of Ray Young?

[Krip 2]

Hi Pat

I wonder what the french word term for parachuting is, and if skydiving is a english translation for that word.

R

[hcsvader 1]

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Hi Pat

I wonder what the french word term for parachuting is, and if skydiving is a english translation for that word.

R

i believe the word "parachute" means "to stop the fall." or something like that.

Have you seen my pants?
it"s a rough life, Livin' the dream
>:)

[oldwomanc6 38]

Quote

Quote

Hi Pat

I wonder what the french word term for parachuting is, and if skydiving is a english translation for that word.

R

i believe the word "parachute" means "to stop the fall." or something like that.

You made me curious, so I googled. "Chute" one of the French words that means "fall". "Para" is from the Greek meaning "almost, close to, or thwarted"

"Indicates some protection from" I like that best

lisa
WSCR 594
FB 1023
CBDB 9

[pchapman 261]

Quote

I wonder what the french word term for parachuting is, and if skydiving is a english translation for that word.

Good question. My french is crappy, but in looking over french language articles on the web about the history of skydiving, they always talk about "parachutisme" -- I just don't see any equivalent to "sky diving".

In the 1954 Ray Young article, he did put a fair bit of emphasis on how that newfangled stable freefall body position resembled that of a diver.

[SkydiveJack 1]

Quote

Quote

I wonder what the french word term for parachuting is, and if skydiving is a english translation for that word.

Good question. My french is crappy, but in looking over french language articles on the web about the history of skydiving, they always talk about "parachutisme" -- I just don't see any equivalent to "sky diving".

In the 1954 Ray Young article, he did put a fair bit of emphasis on how that newfangled stable freefall body position resembled that of a diver.

When I first jumped in France in 1983 I learned the word as Chute Libre, meaning Fall Free. Working with Google Translate those words in English come out Chutera Librement. But then on closer inspection I saw that as a Noun it was Chute Libre.

So "Skydiving" really doesn't seem to be a translation from French.

Class dismissed!

[patworks 5]

Excellent Inputs... I'm gonna use it for a National Skydiving Museum "Timeline" Thank You Sir

Pat Works nee Madden Travis Works, Jr .B1575, C1798, D1813, Star Crest Solo#1, USPA#189,