Tribute to Our Early Winged Brothers

[ScottGray 0]

Photos attached are of early birdmen and "batmen" from the early 1900s, most died flying thier creations.

WSI-5 / PFI-51 / EGI-112 / S-Fly
The Brothers Gray Wing Suit Academy
Contact us for first flight and basic flocking courses at your DZ or boogie.
www.thebrothersgray.com

[ScottGray 0]

More Pics

WSI-5 / PFI-51 / EGI-112 / S-Fly
The Brothers Gray Wing Suit Academy
Contact us for first flight and basic flocking courses at your DZ or boogie.
www.thebrothersgray.com

[lego 0]

Cool pictures! Did any of those suits actually fly, or are these the last picutures taken of the guys that built those suits?

lego

[SkymonkeyONE 3]

Nearly every single person that ever flew any of those suits died.

[stratostar 5]

The yellow suit in pic one is hanging in the bombshelter bar in Perris Valley, I think, the photo is very small and I can get a real good look.

you can't pay for kids schoolin' with love of skydiving! ~ Airtwardo

[ScottGray 0]

Chuck is correct. All of these suits were jumped, several of them only once. Depending on whose account you believe somewhere between 70 - 95% of all the early birdmen/batmen died jumping exprimental wingsuits. These were the days of barnstorming daredevil shows crossing the US. Red Grant, a known batwing survivor, pegged the percent of fatalities closer to the 95%, but this seems to have been a guess.

WSI-5 / PFI-51 / EGI-112 / S-Fly
The Brothers Gray Wing Suit Academy
Contact us for first flight and basic flocking courses at your DZ or boogie.
www.thebrothersgray.com

[meekerboy 0]

One of the few to survive was Harry Ward from the UK. He knew when to quit. I recommend reading his fantastic book - The Yorkshire Birdman.

Harry Ward also did a lot of work on the stable spread position (although he was not the first).

[Butters 0]

The people were supposed to be the pilots but often were the passengers with the suits doing the flying. Between the suits entangling with the canopy and low pull altitudes ... death was common. Many of them drew large crowds, expecting to see them fly, only to watch them fall to their death.

"That looks dangerous." Leopold Stotch

[dploi 0]

Quote

Cool pictures! Did any of those suits actually fly, or are these the last picutures taken of the guys that built those suits?

wings3 was the first one to really fly. If I'm not mistaken, that's Leo Valentine. His book, "Birdman", is also a recommended read.