This rare documentary film short is about the birth of Sky Diving, i.e. Non-emergency Parachuting, now practiced as a sport in the United States of America, circa 1960. The film was produced by Leslie Winik and directed by Lew Sanborn, Parachute Club of America license D-1 who, along with Jacques Istel, license D-2, was also an actor, without stunt men, in the film. The film featured the first live air-to-air movie sequence of a sky diver during free fall ever captured on film, and was an Oscar-nominee in 1961. Among the sequences featured was a heart-stopping view as seen from inside the jump plane's cockpit from which the exit door had been removed. At jump altitude, approximately 12,000 ft. ASL, the camera first pans inside the aircraft cockpit, catching a view of the pilot, his controls and instruments. Then the camera follows Sanborn as he directs the pilot on final approach to Sanborn's intended exit from the plane. The camera then follows Sanborn as he motions the pilot to cut the aircraft's power. Clad in white coveralls and helmet, black boots and gloves, goggles, two parachutes, altimeter and stopwatch, Sanborn begins his exit from the cockpit. He moves through the open doorway onto the precariously-placed man step outside the open doorway. With the wind blast tearing at his face and clothing, the camera follows his exit. Sanborn carefully positions his gloved hands along the wing strut, then moves his feet, first one, then the other, onto the narrow step below. With the slipstream viciously tearing at his body, he calmly gestures 'Goodbye' and thrusts himself gracefully spread-eagle out and away into the bottomless blue. The camera pans slowly downward as Sanborn's white figure slowly disappears into a bank of cumulus clouds below. This never-before filmed sequence was the first of it's kind ever witnessed by US movie-goers.
This precedent-setting, history-making film (now rare) should be made accessible, in HD DVD format, to the public, to high schools, universities, museums, libraries as well as other institutions.
This precedent-setting, history-making film (now rare) should be made accessible, in HD DVD format, to the public, to high schools, universities, museums, libraries as well as other institutions.
