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Birdie Viola Draper (1916-2005) was a parachutist and stunt performer who made her first jump on June 6, 1937. [1] She traveled around the country as a member of the Thrill Day Performers and became known as the "Queen of the Daredevils." [2]
Draper was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota in 1916. In 1937 at the age of 20, Draper began her training as a parachutist with Stub Chrissinger, an instructor for Hincks flying service and one of two licensed parachute riggers in Minnesota. [1]
After her training, Draper joined the stunt group Thrill Day Performers traveling to state fairs. She was paired up with Captain F. F. "Bowser" Frakes who was best known for his daring plane crashing stunts and was known as the "Monarch of the Air." [3] Draper was recognized for crashing through sixteen sticks of dynamite with her car, as well as solid masonry walls, a stunt for which she received $42.50. [4]
By 1940, Draper completed thirty-five parachute jumps. [5] She retired in 1941 as a daredevil once she received her license as a parachute rigger from the Department of Commerce. [5] Shortly afterwards she took a position as a rigger for Ryan Aeronautical Company. Draper married George Griffin, a local attorney, and retired from Ryan Aeronautical Company in 1945. [1]
Draper died on November 1, 2005.
Barnstorming was a form of entertainment in which stunt pilots performed tricks individually or in groups that were called flying circuses. Devised to "impress people with the skill of pilots and the sturdiness of planes," it became popular in the United States during the Roaring Twenties.
A stunt performer, often called a stuntman or stuntwoman and occasionally stuntperson or stunt-person, is a trained professional who performs daring acts, often as a career. Stunt performers usually appear in films or on television, as opposed to a daredevil, who performs for a live audience. When they take the place of another actor, they are known as stunt doubles.
The Ryan Aeronautical Company was founded by T. Claude Ryan in San Diego, California, in 1934. It became part of Teledyne in 1969, and of Northrop Grumman when the latter company purchased Ryan in 1999. Ryan built several historically and technically significant aircraft, including four innovative V/STOL designs, but its most successful production aircraft was the Ryan Firebee line of unmanned drones used as target drones and unmanned air vehicles.
The Parachutist Badge, also commonly referred to as "Jump Wings", is a military badge of the United States Armed Forces. Some services, such as the Marine Corps, officially refer to it as an insignia instead of a badge. The United States Space Force and United States Coast Guard are the only branches that do not award the Parachutist Badge, but their members are authorized to receive the Parachutist Badges of other services in accordance with their prescribed requirements. The DoD military services are all awarded the same Military Parachutist Badge. The U.S. Army and U.S. Air Force issue the same Senior and Master Parachutist Badges while the U.S. Navy and U.S. Marine Corps issue the Navy and Marine Corps Parachutist Insignia to advanced parachutists. The majority of the services earn their Military Parachutist Badge through the U.S. Army Airborne School.
Georgia Ann "Tiny" Thompson Broadwick, or Georgia Broadwick, previously known as Georgia Jacobs, and later known as Georgia Brown, was an American pioneering parachutist and the inventor of the ripcord. She was the first woman to jump from an airplane, and the first person to jump from a seaplane.
Hilder Florentina Youngberg Smith was an aerial acrobat, parachutist, and pioneer aviator. She was one of California's first female pilots and the first woman to fly an airplane from LAX. Hilder was a member of a flying aerial team called The Flying Sylvesters.
James Floyd Smith was an inventor, aviation pioneer, and parachute manufacturer. With borrowed money, he built, then taught himself to fly his own airplane.
Sean Doherty Tucker is an American world champion aerobatic aviator. He was previously sponsored by the Oracle Corporation for many years, performing in air shows worldwide as "Team Oracle". Tucker has won numerous air show championship competitions throughout his career, was named one of the 25 "Living Legends of Flight" by the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum in 2003, and was inducted into the National Aviation Hall of Fame in 2008. He has led several efforts to assist youth in learning to fly or becoming involved in general aviation, and currently serves as co-chairman of the Experimental Aircraft Association (EAA)'s Young Eagles program, a role he has held since 2013.
Lillian Boyer was an American wing walker who performed numerous aerial stunts that included wing walking, automobile-to-airplane transfers, and parachute jumps between 1921 and 1929.
Nicholas John Piantanida was an American amateur parachute jumper who reached 123,500 feet with his Strato Jump II balloon on February 2, 1966, flying a crewed balloon higher than anyone before, a record that stood until Felix Baumgartner's flight on October 14, 2012.
CharlesBroadwick was an American pioneering parachutist and inventor. An executive director of the U.S. Parachute Association, Ed Scott, said "just about all modern parachute systems" use ideas Broadwick developed: "an integrated, form-fitting harness and container system nestled on the back." Broadwick developed the static line, a line from a parachute to an aircraft that pulls the parachute from its pouch. Static lines are still used by paratroopers and novice skydivers. U.S. Army Warrant Officer Jeremiah Jones commented, "[Broadwick] is like the grandfather of paratroopers." Broadwick demonstrated parachute jumps at fairs and taught and equipped famous female parachutist Tiny Broadwick.
Rodman Law was an American parachutist, building climber and later silent movie stuntman and actor.
Dorothy Hester Hofer Stenzel was an American aviator and stunt pilot. She had a groundbreaking stunt aerobatics career, often performing as "Princess-Kick-a-Hole-in-the-Sky", and later opened her own flight school in Cornelius, Oregon.
Odette Rousseau was a French parachutist. She qualified at the age of 23 and became French national champion in 1953 and a world champion in 1954. Rousseau made a world record jump on 25 August 1955 from a height of 8,721 metres. She later attended many Fédération Aéronautique Internationale committees and was appointed an officer of the Legion of Honour.
Gladys Roy was an American wing walker, barnstormer and film actress.
Edward Lincoln Hoffman (1884–1970) was a United States Army Air Service (USAAS) pilot, officer and Engineering Division Chief at McCook Field. With no parachute experience, he formed a team that included aviation pioneers Leslie Irvin and James Floyd Smith which developed the first modern parachute. The 1926 Collier Trophy was awarded to Major E. L. Hoffman, Air Corps for "development of a practical parachute;" the year's greatest achievement in American aviation.
Marie Margaret McMillin, was an American aviator who served in the Women's Army Corps from 1943 to 1945. Before entering the Women's Army Corps, McMillin achieved the world women's altitude record, jumping 20,800 feet in the Cleveland Air Races in 1932. During her military service, she worked as a parachute rigger at Fort Benning, Georgia. During her career as a professional parachutist, she is recorded to have completed 699 jumps.
Adeline Gray, married names Johnson and Graf, was an early American parachutist. She is thought to have been one of the only female parachutists in the United States before the 1940s. Gray received her parachuting license at the age of 19 and afterwards appeared as part of a stunt parachuting team in barnstorming shows. She was also a licensed pilot by 21. Gray later worked as a parachute rigger and tester for DuPont and on June 6, 1942, became the first person to jump with a nylon parachute. Gray became moderately famous for this and appeared in advertisements for Camel cigarettes.
Archibald “Archie” Pell Atherton III was an American pioneering parachutist, and inventor of various patented parachute designs. A pioneer for air safety; he is known as the originator of "spot landing", averaging a drop a day for one year at his peak.
Gladys Ingle was an American pilot, a wing walker and a member of the aerial stunt team the 13 Black Cats.
