![]() “My new invention is like nothing else,” Reichelt told Le Petit Journal. Though functional fixed-canopy parachutes already existed, and a parachute had already been invented that worked for high altitudes, no parachute existed for people leaping from planes or at low altitudes. But with his Austrian clients, he was only know to talk about one thing - parachutes. The Tragic Story Of Franz Reichelt And His Parachute Suitīorn in 1878 in Austria, Franz Reichelt later established himself in France as a successful tailor. ![]() Listen above to the History Uncovered podcast, episode 30: Franz Reichelt, “The Flying Tailor,” also available on iTunes and Spotify. 4, 1912, Reichelt summoned friends, journalists, and cameramen to watch him triumphantly leap from the Eiffel Tower’s first platform. He believed he needed to test it from a greater height. Yet Reichelt became convinced that the problem lay not in his invention, but in how he had tested it. But although Franz Reichelt developed his invention with enthusiasm, early prototypes failed miserably.ĭummy after dummy - tossed from Reichelt’s Parisian apartment - plummeted straight to the Earth. He imagined something light enough that a pilot could wear it, and hardy enough that it could save the pilot’s life. The tailor began to develop a “parachute suit.” But as he read stories about plane crashes, he became determined to help. Reichelt, an Austrian-born tailor living in France at the turn of the century, watched the rapid development of early airplanes with fascination. They say “pride cometh before the fall.” In few circumstances can this be applied so literally as in the case of parachute inventor Franz Reichelt. ![]() Wikimedia Commons Franz Reichelt poses in his infamous parachute suit.
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