FALL OF SIX MILES

Hokitika Guardian, 21 May 1937, Page 7

FALL OF SIX MILES

PARACHUTE JUMPER’S PLAN SPECIAL STOP-WATCH MADE t o'-T'rjiv at-.. 1 1 ; . I A British parachutist is preparing . lor an attempt •io wiest from - , ~a | t lit* world’s record, which that country has held for the past seven years. In order to place the record well beyond the reach of any rivals he intends to drop 34,000 ft about six miles, before pulling the ripcord of lii.s parachute. He is Mr -Reginald Kavenaph, famous as a parachutist and test pilot “The attempt will fake place over Salisbury Plain in a few week’s timo and 1 shall make numerous practice drops first, increasing height each time,’’lie said. “The longest delayed drop T have done is 19,800 ft. The present unofficial record he] dby Russia is approximately 31,000 ft, “A stop-watch is being made for me which checks my rate of fall in units of 5000 ft for the first 20,000 ft., then in hmdrcds of feet. For 150 seconds T shall fall at about 200 miles - an hour, decreasing to about }7O miles an hour in the denser atmosphere nearer the ground. “A new kind of oxygen mask has been designed for me. and I shall carry my own oxygen cylinder*. There will he only sufficient oxyrr«n to inkt mo fur about, two and a lmlf mini’+pe.prpT must take the greatest‘care not id open my parachute ton soon.”