Parachute Jump - Precursors

Precursors

Stanley Switlik and George Palmer Putnam, Amelia Earhart's husband, built a 115-foot-tall (35 m) tower on Stanley's farm in Ocean County, New Jersey, now the site of Six Flags Great Adventure. Designed to train airmen in parachute jumping, the first public jump from the tower was made by Ms. Earhart on June 2, 1935.

The Parachute Drop was patented by retired U.S. Naval Commander James H. Strong and Stanley Switlik, who were inspired by primitive parachute practice towers he had seen in the Soviet Union. The Soviet Union had been using simple wooden towers to train paratroopers since the 1920s, and despite the dangers of the Soviet design, which used just a single guide cable and sometimes found the jumper colliding with the structure, the towers were employed for recreational use as well. Strong designed a safer version which included eight guide wires in a circle surrounding the parachute. In 1936, Strong secured a U.S. patent for his design, and he built several test platforms at his home in Hightstown, New Jersey in 1936 and 1937. The military platforms suspended a single rider in a harness and offered a few seconds of freefall after the release at the top, before the chutes opened to slow the fall. Civilians showed a great deal of interest in trying out the ride for themselves, and Strong was quick to turn his invention to non-military use as well, making some design changes in the process: a seat that could hold two, a larger parachute for a slower drop, the metal ring which held the parachute permanently open, and shock-absorbing springs to ease the final landing.

Strong sold military versions of the tower to the Romanian and U.S. militaries. He installed towers at a New Jersey training center, probably Fort Dix. Four were later installed in Fort Benning, Georgia. One was toppled in a 1954 tornado. Two appear to be in use. He also converted an existing observation tower in Chicago's Riverview Park into a six-chute amusement ride. This enterprise, the "Pair-O-Chutes", did brisk enough business to inspire Strong to apply to build and operate a jump at the 1939 New York World's Fair.