Early county fair parachute jumpers eg 1912

[crossv 0]

I haven't read all the posts here to see if this is covered, but I am trying to find any history on people who jumped at county fairs in the early 1900's. I found one reference to this on a history website in Iowa in 1908. My particular interest come from a diary mentioning a jump in October 1912 in Pecos Texas. Hopefully one of the links below will provide an image of that page.

http://www.fototime.com/inv/48B8E7D5AC680EB


[url="http://www.fototime.com/inv/48B8E7D5AC680EB"]Balloon jump[/url]

Any comments or expertise in how to flesh out who this might have been is greatly appreciated and thanks,

CB Wilson

[Erroll 49]

crossv

I haven't read all the posts here to see if this is covered, but I am trying to find any history on people who jumped at county fairs in the early 1900's. I found one reference to this on a history website in Iowa in 1908. My particular interest come from a diary mentioning a jump in October 1912 in Pecos Texas. Hopefully one of the links below will provide an image of that page.

http://www.fototime.com/inv/48B8E7D5AC680EB


[url="http://www.fototime.com/inv/48B8E7D5AC680EB"]Balloon jump[/url]

Any comments or expertise in how to flesh out who this might have been is greatly appreciated and thanks,

CB Wilson

Balloon jump

[skypuppy 1]

crossv

I haven't read all the posts here to see if this is covered, but I am trying to find any history on people who jumped at county fairs in the early 1900's. I found one reference to this on a history website in Iowa in 1908. My particular interest come from a diary mentioning a jump in October 1912 in Pecos Texas. Hopefully one of the links below will provide an image of that page.

http://www.fototime.com/inv/48B8E7D5AC680EB


[url="http://www.fototime.com/inv/48B8E7D5AC680EB"]Balloon jump[/url]

Any comments or expertise in how to flesh out who this might have been is greatly appreciated and thanks,

CB Wilson

About the only way I know is to comb through the old local newspapers from the time to find if it's mentioned. You have to be pretty persistent. Sometimes, especially if it's a weekly paper, they talk about upcoming jumps as if they happened and then if you persist you may find out that they were cancelled or someone else had to do it when the first participant didn't show up, or didn't get offered enuf money when the collection hat went around... Hopefully the local library has them on microfiche.

If some old guy can do it then obviously it can't be very extreme. Otherwise he'd already be dead.
Bruce McConkey 'I thought we were gonna die, and I couldn't think of anyone

[riggerrob 558]

The newspaper "le Pioneer) (sp?) recounts the first parachute jump in Quebec, Canada.
In September of 1888, Mr. Larsen jumped into the Sherbrooke County Exhibition. Mr. Larsen jumped from a hot-air balloon. He was born in Canada, but lived int eh 'states for many years, then he worked the county fair circuit as a balloonist and show jumper.

[riggerrob 558]

Please allow me to correct a spelling error in my previous post.

" 4-6 September, 1888. First parachute descents in Canada. Canadian-born Edward D. Hogan, of Jackson, Michigan, performed hot air balloon ascensions and parachute descents at the Great Eastern Exhibition, Sherbrooke, Quebec.
Ref: le Pionier, Sherbrooke, Que., 6 September, 1888."

Quoted from: 125 Years of Canadian Aeronautics, A Chronology 1840 - 1965. by G.A. Fuller, J.A. Griffin and K.M. Molson.
Published by the Canadian Aviation Historical Society, 1983.

It has been 30 years since I have seen this book. I met Mr. Molson when he was curator of the Canadian Aviation and Space Museum in Rockcliffe.

[obelixtim 100]

Tiny Broadwick did a lot of jumps back then....

My computer beat me at chess, It was no match for me at kickboxing....

[riggerrob 558]

........
About the only way I know is to comb through the old local newspapers from the time to find if it's mentioned. ........
------------------------------------------------------------

Fortunately for Canadians, Mr. Molson did all that research and his book includes sources .... like local newspapers.
He documents dozens of exhibition jumps - from hot air balloons - during the late 1800s. Most of those jumps were done to entertain crowds at county fairs.
He also documents a few exhibition jumps from rickety early biplanes early in the 20th century, but exhibition jumping didn't really take off until after World War 1 when hundreds of military pilots returned to Canada and military-surplus airplanes (e.g. Curtis JN-4 Jenny trainers) were sold at auction for a song.
The 1920s were the heyday of barnstormer a working county fairs etc.

[betzilla 56]

Quote

" 4-6 September, 1888. First parachute descents in Canada. Canadian-born Edward D. Hogan, of Jackson, Michigan, performed hot air balloon ascensions and parachute descents at the Great Eastern Exhibition, Sherbrooke, Quebec.
Ref: le Pionier, Sherbrooke, Que., 6 September, 1888."

A quick google search turns up this blog post about one of Edward D Hogan's subsequent jumps. Interesting!

https://av8rblog.wordpress.com/2014/09/04/first-canadian-parachute-jump-1888/

And here's another article, about E.D. Hogan's brother (apparently, daredeviling was a Hogan-family affair!):

http://www.mlive.com/news/muskegon/index.ssf/2011/07/looking_back_balloonist_prof_w.html

[Bob_Church 7]

Of you're still looking into this send me an email and I'll put you in touch with a guy with a lot of articles about these jumps.


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