<html><head><meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"></head><body dir="auto"><header class="entry-header" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px auto 30px; max-width: 1040px; width: 1024px; padding: 0px 376px 0px 60px;"><h1 class="entry-title" style="box-sizing: border-box; clear: both; line-height: 1.3; margin: 0px 0px 5px; font-weight: 400;"><a href="https://www.thisdayinaviation.com/1-march-1912/" rel="bookmark" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration: none; caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 19px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><font color="#000000">1 March 1912</font></a></h1><div class="entry-meta" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px auto; max-width: 1040px; width: 588px; clear: both; padding: 0px;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><span class="date" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-right: 20px;"><a href="https://www.thisdayinaviation.com/1-march-1912/" title="Permalink to 1 March 1912" rel="bookmark" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration: none;"><time class="entry-date" datetime="2019-03-01T01:12:57-08:00" style="box-sizing: border-box;">March 1, 2019</time></a></span><span class="categories-links" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-right: 20px;"><a href="https://www.thisdayinaviation.com/category/aviation/" rel="category tag" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration: none;">Aviation</a></span><span class="tags-links" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-right: 20px;"><a href="https://www.thisdayinaviation.com/tag/albert-berry/" rel="tag" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration: none;">Albert Berry</a>, <a href="https://www.thisdayinaviation.com/tag/antony-h-jannus/" rel="tag" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration: none;">Antony H. Jannus</a>, <a href="https://www.thisdayinaviation.com/tag/benoist-headless/" rel="tag" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration: none;">Benoist Headless</a>, <a href="https://www.thisdayinaviation.com/tag/benoist-type-xii-school-plane/" rel="tag" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration: none;">Benoist Type XII School Plane</a>, <a href="https://www.thisdayinaviation.com/tag/kinloch-field/" rel="tag" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration: none;">Kinloch Field</a>, <a href="https://www.thisdayinaviation.com/tag/lambert-st-louis-international-airport/" rel="tag" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration: none;">Lambert–St. Louis International Airport</a>, <a href="https://www.thisdayinaviation.com/tag/parachute/" rel="tag" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration: none;">Parachute</a></span></span></div></header><div class="entry-content" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px auto; max-width: 1040px; width: 1024px; -webkit-hyphens: auto; word-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px 376px 0px 60px;"><figure id="attachment_15666" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-15666" class="wp-caption aligncenter" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px auto; max-width: 100%; width: 580px;"><a href="http://www.thisdayinaviation.com/1-march-1912/berry-albert-captain-u-s-army-and-jannus-albert-1-march-1921-jefferson-barracks/" rel="attachment wp-att-15666" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration: none; caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><font color="#000000"><img class=" wp-image-15666 size-full" src="http://static.thisdayinaviation.com/wp-content/uploads/tdia//2013/02/BERRY-Albert-Captain-U.S.-Army-and-JANNUS-Albert-1-March-1921-Jefferson-Barracks.jpg" alt="Anthony H. Jannus and Captain Albert Berry, U.S. Army, prior to their flight, at Jefferson Barracks, 1 March 1912. (NASM) " width="580" height="369" srcset="https://static.thisdayinaviation.com/wp-content/uploads/tdia/2013/02/BERRY-Albert-Captain-U.S.-Army-and-JANNUS-Albert-1-March-1921-Jefferson-Barracks.jpg 580w, https://static.thisdayinaviation.com/wp-content/uploads/tdia/2013/02/BERRY-Albert-Captain-U.S.-Army-and-JANNUS-Albert-1-March-1921-Jefferson-Barracks-300x190.jpg 300w" sizes="(max-width: 580px) 100vw, 580px" style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; vertical-align: middle; max-width: 100%; height: auto;"></font></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-15666" class="wp-caption-text" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-style: italic; margin: 0px 0px 24px;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Antony H. Jannus and Captain Albert Berry, U.S. Army, prior to their flight, at Kinloch Field, Missouri, 1 March 1912. The parachute is packed inside the inverted cone. (NASM)</span></figcaption></figure><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">1 March 1912: At Jefferson Barracks, St. Louis, Missouri, Captain Albert Berry, United States Army, made the first parachute jump from an airplane.</span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Pilot Antony H. Jannus and Captain Berry took off from Kinloch Field, a balloon-launching field in Kinloch Park, (now, Lambert–St. Louis International Airport, STL) and flew aboard a 1911 Benoist Type XII School Plane, 18 miles (29 kilometers) to the drop zone at Jefferson Barracks. The airplane was a pusher biplane which was based on a Curtiss pusher, and is also called the Benoist Headless.</span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Barry had his parachute packed inside a conical container mounted beneath the airplane’s lower wing. They climbed to an altitude of 1,500 feet (457.2 meters).</span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">When the reached the desired altitude and were over the barracks’ parade grounds, Berry attached the parachute to a harness that he was wearing, then lowered himself on a trapeze-like bar suspended in front of the wings. He pulled a lanyard which released him. The parachute was opened by a static line.</span></p><figure id="attachment_15667" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-15667" class="wp-caption aligncenter" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px auto; max-width: 100%; width: 463px;"><a href="http://www.thisdayinaviation.com/1-march-1912/berry-albert-captain-u-s-army-parachutes-from-benoist-airplane-at-jefferson-barracks-st-louis-mo-1-march-1921/" rel="attachment wp-att-15667" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration: none; caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><font color="#000000"><img class="wp-image-15667 size-full" src="http://static.thisdayinaviation.com/wp-content/uploads/tdia//2013/02/BERRY-Albert-Captain-U.S.-Army-parachutes-from-Benoist-airplane-at-Jefferson-Barracks-St.-Louis-MO-1-March-1921.jpg" alt="Captain Albert Berry parachuting from teh Benoist biplane over Jefferson Barracks, 1 March 1912. (NASM)" width="463" height="640" srcset="https://static.thisdayinaviation.com/wp-content/uploads/tdia/2013/02/BERRY-Albert-Captain-U.S.-Army-parachutes-from-Benoist-airplane-at-Jefferson-Barracks-St.-Louis-MO-1-March-1921.jpg 463w, https://static.thisdayinaviation.com/wp-content/uploads/tdia/2013/02/BERRY-Albert-Captain-U.S.-Army-parachutes-from-Benoist-airplane-at-Jefferson-Barracks-St.-Louis-MO-1-March-1921-217x300.jpg 217w" sizes="(max-width: 463px) 100vw, 463px" style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; vertical-align: middle; max-width: 100%; height: auto;"></font></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-15667" class="wp-caption-text" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-style: italic; margin: 0px 0px 24px;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Captain Albert Berry parachuting from the Benoist biplane over Jefferson Barracks, Missouri, 1 March 1912. (NASM)</span></figcaption></figure><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">The Associated Press reported the event:</span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><em style="box-sizing: border-box;">ST. LOUIS, March 1. —For the first time in the history of a heavier-than-air flying machine, a man leaped from an aeroplane at Jefferson barracks this afternoon and descended safely to earth in a parachute. Capt. Albert Berry made the spectacular leap and it was witnessed by hundreds of cheering soldiers.</em></span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><em style="box-sizing: border-box;">Berry and Pilot Jannus left the Kinlock aviation field in the afternoon in a two-passenger biplane, carrying beneath the machine, in a specially constructed case, a large parachute. With practiced hand Jannus steadied the machine, Berry gave a quick jerk of a rope and, while the aeroplane, first bouncing up like a cork, suddenly poised and steadied itself.</em></span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><em style="box-sizing: border-box;">Hundreds of watchers held their breath as Berry shot toward the earth, the parachute trailing after him in a long, snaky line. Suddenly the parachute opened, the rapidity of the descent was checked and, amid cheers, the first aviator to make such an attempt lightly reached the ground.</em></span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Captain Berry landed safely.</span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Berry had previously parachuted from balloons. He was asked if he would repeat the jump from an airplane. <span style="box-sizing: border-box;">“Never again! I believe I turned five somersaults on my way down. . . My course downward. . . was like a crazy arrow. I was not prepared for the violent sensation that I felt when I broke away from the aeroplane.</span></span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><span style="box-sizing: border-box;"><br></span></span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><span style="box-sizing: border-box;"><br></span></span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><span style="box-sizing: border-box;"><br></span></span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><span style="box-sizing: border-box;"><br></span></span></p></div><br><div id="AppleMailSignature" dir="ltr"><p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">“Sometimes, flying feels too godlike to be attained by man. Sometimes, the world from above seems too beautiful, too wonderful, too distant for human eyes to see.”</span></p><p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
</p><p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"> — <span style="font-style: italic;">Charles Lindbergh</span></span></p></div></body></html>