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The last time I visited the Canadian Air and Space museum at Rockcliffe (a suburb of Ottawa, Canada) I noticed that the huge south wall was blank. The only exhibit was a dilapidated ejection seat that a young guide was trying to explain to tour groups. Her explanation left me under-whelmed. Mind you it is easy to underwhelm a Master Parachute Rigger like me.
So I started ruminating adding a large display to that vacant wall.
What about a display on the history of parachuting in Canada?
Start on the left end with a full-sized replica of Edward D.Hogan’s hot-air balloon and the parachute that he jumped in 1888.
You could repeat that display with a World War 1 Canadian Artillery officer parachute jumping from a flanking hydrogen balloon over Belgium.
The World War 2 display would include the 1st Canadian Parachute Battalion jumping into Normandy and concluding with their dash to prevent Soviets from occupying Denmark.
The Cold War saw the Canadian Army struggle to maintain parachute capabilities and the RCAF maintain an edible search-and-rescue capability. Perhaps include a full-sized freefall cylinder with a toboggan and tent on the floor below.
The brightest star of the Cold War era was Domina Jalbert’s invention of the square, ram-air parachute that now dominates skydiving and special forces operations. Civilian precision-landing competitors like Kathy Cox and Pierre FourNd used Jalbert’s invention to bring home medals from world meets.
During the 1970s and 1989s Canadian competitors brought home medals won in the new sport of freefall formations (old-school term “relative work”).
The most spectacular exhibit of Jalbert’s Parafoil would involve the 3-way (open) canopy formation that the CAF Parachute Demknstration Team “Skyhawks” routinely perform at air shows.
The last exhibit would include a full-sized replica of Jay Moldeski swooping a pond with a parafoil. For an added thrill, spray the crowd with water.
Footnotes: most of these replicas only need to be half-hulls.
I have skydived with Cox and Fourand, the Skyhawks (1981) and conducted refresher training for Canadian Search and Rescue Technicians).
Sponsors could include Airborne Systems while CSAR and Skyhawks parachutes could be drawn from RCAF surplus stocks.
So I started ruminating adding a large display to that vacant wall.
What about a display on the history of parachuting in Canada?
Start on the left end with a full-sized replica of Edward D.Hogan’s hot-air balloon and the parachute that he jumped in 1888.
You could repeat that display with a World War 1 Canadian Artillery officer parachute jumping from a flanking hydrogen balloon over Belgium.
The World War 2 display would include the 1st Canadian Parachute Battalion jumping into Normandy and concluding with their dash to prevent Soviets from occupying Denmark.
The Cold War saw the Canadian Army struggle to maintain parachute capabilities and the RCAF maintain an edible search-and-rescue capability. Perhaps include a full-sized freefall cylinder with a toboggan and tent on the floor below.
The brightest star of the Cold War era was Domina Jalbert’s invention of the square, ram-air parachute that now dominates skydiving and special forces operations. Civilian precision-landing competitors like Kathy Cox and Pierre FourNd used Jalbert’s invention to bring home medals from world meets.
During the 1970s and 1989s Canadian competitors brought home medals won in the new sport of freefall formations (old-school term “relative work”).
The most spectacular exhibit of Jalbert’s Parafoil would involve the 3-way (open) canopy formation that the CAF Parachute Demknstration Team “Skyhawks” routinely perform at air shows.
The last exhibit would include a full-sized replica of Jay Moldeski swooping a pond with a parafoil. For an added thrill, spray the crowd with water.
Footnotes: most of these replicas only need to be half-hulls.
I have skydived with Cox and Fourand, the Skyhawks (1981) and conducted refresher training for Canadian Search and Rescue Technicians).
Sponsors could include Airborne Systems while CSAR and Skyhawks parachutes could be drawn from RCAF surplus stocks.
