When researching news stories from February 1912, one jumped out at me immediately: the tragic tale of Franz Reichelt, who died when his homemade parachute malfunctioned on a jump from the Eiffel Tower. I know what you’re thinking, and no…I’m not sure what it says about me that this was the story I felt most compelled to write about, either. I suppose that, as a person who is pretty darn terrified of falling to my death from a giant height (and I assume I’m not alone there), I couldn’t help but be drawn to it. And, thanks to a certain wonderful husband of mine, it actually turns out to have been a pretty inspired choice.
You may have seen in the news recently that a man named Felix Baumgartner is planning on skydiving from the edge of space down to Earth, breaking a number of records (highest skydive, highest manned balloon flight and longest free fall), as well as the sound barrier, in the process. I actually hadn’t seen this story, but thankfully my husband had…and so with his help, I had the perfect link between my Eiffel Tower story and the modern-day. Aah, it’s always good when a plan comes together.
So let me tell you about Franz Reichelt. Now, you know when you read about something that really is genuinely tragic (not to mention scary), but you can’t help but let out that terrible, inappropriate laugh? Yes…that. Reichelt was a tailor and parachute enthusiast, who managed to combine his two loves by inventing a parachute suit. This suit would allow aviators to jump from stricken aircrafts with the minimum of fuss; on falling, the wearer would need to simply stretch their arms out to the side, and the built-in parachute would deploy. The problem? It didn’t really work. Before 1912, Reichelt had designed a number of prototypes and each of them had proven to be a failure; still, he remained convinced that his idea was a work of genius. Finally, in February 1912, he got the break he had been hoping for: after months of pushing, he was finally granted permission to test the suit from the first level of the Eiffel Tower. Absolutely convinced that the higher testing ground would prove to be the missing ingredient required for success, he then surprised everyone by announcing that he would conduct the test himself. Bearing in mind that he had broken his leg just the year before falling from a height of around 8 metres, you have to admire the bloke’s guts (while, of course, shaking your head at his stupidity). Friends who were accompanying him tried desperately to persuade him against it, but Reichelt was having none of it, and after a cheerful wave to the crowd gathering below, he jumped. The ‘parachute’ wrapped itself around him, and he dropped to the ground in a mere five seconds, dying on impact. It’s not funny. I know, it really isn’t funny. But I can’t help it; I see the photo of Reichelt in his parachute suit, and those awful giggles start creeping their way up my throat. Just…oh dear. It was never going to work really, was it? Poor, old, misguided Franz Reichelt.
Thankfully, Feliz Baumgartner is a little more prepared; his jump has taken years of planning already, and he still has another few months to go. Hopefully in 2113, someone will be writing an article about his brilliant, groundbreaking, successful leap to Earth…and who knows what crazy, futuristic stunt they’ll be comparing it to. A century may have passed, but it’s clear that the human race is still not bored of new inventions, of finding new ways of pushing itself, or of committing insane, thrilling experiments, and I have no doubt this will still be the case in another hundred years.
