First Jump. October 20, 1922

Lt. Harold R. Harris bailed out of a Leoning PW-2A over Dayton, Ohio, being the first U.S. military pilot to make an emergency parachute exist from an aircraft.  The aircraft crashed at 403 Valley Street without injuring anyone.

Harris.  He wasn't the first man saved by parachute, contrary to what this caption states.  Balloon crews had used them during World War One and passengers in disabled aircraft had used them before this day in 1922 as well.  He was the first aircraft pilot to use one.

Harris was a test pilot, and unlike many in that field, he lived a long life, serving in the military twice as well as having a role in commercial aviation.  He died at age 92 in 1988.

The crash site.

Indeed Crimean pilot Pavel Argeyev, who had served in the French and Imperial Russian militaries, died this day in an aircraft accident in Czechoslovakia, which he was flying as a test pilot.

This Day in Aviation: Lieutenant Commander Virgil Childers (“Squash”) Griffin, Jr., United States Navy, made the first takeoff from an aircraft carrier of the U. S. Navy.

This Day in Aviation: Lieutenant Commander Virgil Childers (“Squash”) Griffin, Jr., United States Navy, made the first takeoff from an aircraft carrier of the U. S. Navy.

Vought VE-7 approaching the USS Langley in October 1922.  This is the same ship, with the same sort of aircraft, involved in the item noted above.

Lex Anteinternet: Tuesday, August 8, 1922. An eventful Tuesday.

Lex Anteinternet: Tuesday, August 8, 1922. An eventful Tuesday.: 

Tuesday, August 8, 1922. An eventful Tuesday.

Here's more on the story involved in the photograph appearing above.

1922 - Into the Grand Canyon and Out Again by Airplane

Lex Anteinternet: Wednesday, June 14, 1922. Birth of Robin Olds

Lex Anteinternet: Wednesday, June 14, 1922. Birth of Robin Olds:   

Wednesday, June 14, 1922. Birth of Robin Olds

 

Legendary fighter pilot Robert "Robin" Olds, Jr., son of an Army Air Corps officer of the same name, was born this day in Hawaii.

He became a triple ace, scoring kills in World War Two, Korea and Vietnam, and retired as a Brigadier General in 1973.  His father had been a Major General.

Olds was a larger than life character in every way.  He was married for many years to starlet Ella Raines, although their marriage eventually ended in divorce and he remarried (he still came in at half the total number of marriages than his father).  His penchant for drinking likely kept him from rising higher in the Air Force than he did.  He served on the Steamboat Springs Planning Commission in retirement.

He died in 2007 at age 84.