The Reichelt Invention, its silk shape ready to catch the wind. The mannequin had glided down to a perfect landing. Once, however, the parachute system had worked perfectly. Most of the time, the mannequins would hit the ground with a solid thud. Finally, he had gotten permission to test his designs at the Eiffel Tower where he threw his mannequins off of the first platform level. He would suit them up, then, pulling the parachute out, he would manually throw them off tall buildings. Reichelt had been testing his designs for many months using mannequins. Reichelt’s design was radically different, being more like a wingsuit/parachute blend. Whereas others had been working on a parachute that involved a concave canopy that would inflate above and slow the aviator’s fall, held in shape by a wooden frame, these proved too bulky for use in an aeroplane. His idea was to design a system that could be worn like a garment, part of which involved a backpack into which a silk, folded parachute would be packed with care. These were valuable skills for an inventor, particularly one who was focused on perfecting a pilot’s parachute. Reichelt had arrived in Paris from Austria just five years earlier to set up shop as a tailor for men’s and women’s clothing. His invention was revolutionary - a backpack-mounted, non-rigid parachute for use by pilots.įrancois (Franz) Reichelt, posing for the camera prior to his leap. His death was tragic and, though most consider his leap of faith to be little more than folly, in fact, he was on the right path - but only with years of further work would that be known.
Francois (Franz) Reichelt was just such a man. Not every aviation pioneer was successful - in fact, many were not, with some even dying on the long and hard road to proving that man could safely fly.
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