ARTIFACTS
By Sharon Adams
A membership card for the Caterpillar Club.
The
club no one
hopes to join Parachuting to safety from an aircraft that crashes is the Caterpillar Club’s sole entrance criteria
F
Captain Brian Bews ejected moments before his CF-18 Hornet became a fireball.
Parachuting pioneer Franz Reichelt before his doomed leap from the Eiffel Tower in 1912.
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ighter pilot Captain Brian Bews was rehearsing for an air show in Lethbridge, Alta., on July 24, 2010, when one engine of his CF-18 Hornet died. He ejected only 90 metres from the ground; two seconds later, his jet was a fireball and he was floating to earth. Bews had just become eligible for the Caterpillar Club, an exclusive group no one really wants to join: those who survived by parachuting from an aircraft that crashed. No one knows exactly how many people have been saved by parachutes, though just one manufacturer—the Irvin Air Chute Company (later Irvin Aerospace, now Airborne Systems)—has rescued more than 100,000. First World War parachutes were scarce and were inconveniently stored aboard
observation balloons and aircraft. Tailor Franz Reichelt invented the wearable parachute, but was killed in a demonstration jump from the Eiffel Tower in 1912, captured on macabre newsreel footage. In 1919, Leslie Irvin, nicknamed Sky-Hi, tested a wearable parachute with a ripcord, designed by the U.S. Army Parachute Section, and went on to manufacture them. Irvin formed the Caterpillar Club in 1922 to recognize crash survivors who had used Irvin parachutes. Named for the silkworms that provided material for early parachutes, the club issued membership cards and gold caterpillar pins
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