Last week, the Defense Logistics Agency awarded Airborne Systems with a letter of appreciation for 90% or above on-time delivery. We are proud to support and meet the needs of our warfighters and are honored to be recognized for our hard work.
Read the letter below:
Over the past several months, Airborne Systems has released a special tribute each month commemorating the 100th anniversary of two momentous events for our founder Leslie Irvin. On June 18, 1919 Leslie incorporated the Irvin Air Chute Company which has continued to grow and thrive throughout the years to become what is today known as Airborne Systems. And on April 19, 1919 – 100 years ago TODAY – Leslie Irvin performed the world’s first intentional freefall jump. From our 100-year anniversary video, to Leslie Irvin’s induction into the International Skydiving Museum and Hall of Fame, to poems recounting history, we have tried to do justice to the greatest achievement in the skydiving world. However, the truth is, there is nothing we could do to fully express our gratitude and recognize Leslie Irvin for what he did 100 years ago. He took a leap of faith, literally, and in turn, created the most successful parachute company in the world. Our team looks to Leslie’s passion, dedication, and grit and are proud to emulate those same qualities in the execution of everything we do on a day-to-day basis. Leslie has provided Airborne Systems with the drive to continue to innovate. The best thing we can do is simply say, thank you, Leslie!
We are lucky and proud to be able to work side by side with one of Leslie Irvin’s coworkers, Chuck Lowry, who has been with the company since 1955. Chuck continues to share stories of Leslie Irvin as a young business owner, reminiscing on his generosity and leadership. Chuck Lowry recently traveled to the Parachute Industry Association (PIA) Symposium in February of 2019. Here, he gave a speech about the history of parachutes alongside his son and grandson, who all work as engineers at Airborne Systems. This was a unique opportunity as three generations stood at the PIA podium, on the year of Leslie Irvin’s 100-year anniversary of the first intentional freefall jump. Each Lowry had their own unique projects and experiences to share with the audience. The youngest, Charles Lowry, spoke of the Mars 2020 Parachute Mission and the future of parachutes. We strive to continue Leslie’s legacy each day and push the envelope. Leslie would be proud to know that soon another parachute designed by the company he founded will be landing on Mars! And so begins the next 100 years of Airborne Systems.
We invite you to watch the video from PIA 2019 where Charles H Lowry Jr., Charles Allen Lowry, and Charles W. Lowry share their unique parachute stories.
Check out some of our other 100-year tributes:
Answers will be posted in a week.
Hint: our website will have some answers!
On April 19, 1919, Leslie Leroy Irvin made the world’s first premeditated freefall parachute descent using a rip cord, rather than using a canister or tether line attached to the aircraft to pull open the parachute. Working with the U.S. Army’s Air Service parachute research team, Irvin made the historic jump from a plane over McCook field near Dayton, Ohio. During the jump, Irvin broke his ankle but was inspired to start his own parachute business.
Later that year, in June of 1919, he opened the Irvin Air Chute Company in Buffalo, NY. What became known as the Irvin parachute gained rapid acceptance, and by the early 1930’s was in service with some 40 air forces around the world. With the start of World War II, Irvin became a major manufacturer of parachutes. During that war, Irvin parachutes saved over 10,000 lives. The Irvin name had set the standard for innovation, reliability, and quality.
As a humanitarian, Irvin was obsessed with saving lives with his equipment. He founded the Caterpillar Club in 1922 to recognize individuals that had their lives saved by a parachute. Today, the Caterpillar Club is one of the most famous flying clubs in the world and has awarded thousands of men and women with a gold caterpillar pin symbolizing the silk from which early parachutes were made. Some of its famous members include names such as Charles Lindbergh, General James Doolittle and former astronaut John Glenn. Since its creation, Leslie Irvin has given a gold caterpillar pin to each member, a tradition still observed by Airborne Systems today.
The Caterpillar Club was founded after Lieutenant Harold R. Harris bailed out of a disabled aircraft. Realizing that the parachute industry was rapidly developing, it was suggested that a club should be formed honoring those whose lives had been saved a parachute. The Irvin Air Chute Company created the club and Harris became its first member. The number of members rapidly increased. By the end of World War II, the club had grown to over 34,000 members and is now estimated to be well over 100,000 members.
One of the most famous members of the club is General Jimmy Doolittle, a U.S. pilot who has made two emergency landings with Irvin chutes. Upon surviving his second bail out in 1931, he sent a well-known telegram to Leslie Irvin reading, “Plane failed: chute worked”.
Other well-known members include Charles Lindbergh, both a stunt and airmail pilot, aviation pioneer Augustus Post, Larry “Scrappy” Blumer, an American Ace pilot, former astronaut John Glenn, and the former president of the United States, George H. W. Bush, who bailed out of his plane during World War II.
Until his death in 1966, Leslie Irvin was the Honorary Secretary of the club, but despite the fact that he has made over 300 parachute jumps, Irvin was never forced to bail out and was never eligible for a membership himself.
As Airborne Systems approaches our 100th anniversary as a company in 2019, we look back on all the great achievements of our founder, Leslie Irvin. We are honored to carry on the Caterpillar Club in his name.
Read more
This past weekend, on November 3, 2018, Leslie Irvin was inducted into the International Skydiving Hall of Fame. Elizabeth Johnson, Director of Sales and Marketing at Airborne Systems, and Robert Sinclair, Chief Engineer of Space and Recovery at Airborne Systems, attended the banquet and proudly accepted Leslie Irvin’s award. The event was filled with skydiving icons from all around the world.
Pictured to the right: (from left) Daryl Henry (represented by friend Buzz Bennett), Henny Wiggers, Coy O. McDonald Jr., Ray Cottingham, Jay Stokes, Roger Ponce de Leon, Leslie Irvin (represented by Rob Sinclair and Elizabeth Johnson of Airborne Systems), Dom Jalbert (represented by his grandson Craig Oldre), Tony Uragallo, and Suzie Hunter-Joerns.
(Photo by Andrey Veselov)
The Skydiving Hall of Fame is awarded to people who “…through leadership, innovation and/or accomplishments have defined, promoted, inspired and advanced skydiving at the highest and sustained levels such that they have made it possible for generations of skydivers to enjoy the sport.” (Skydivingmuseum.org/hall-of-fame). Leslie Irvin is credited with making the first premeditated free-fall descent using a ripcord in 1919. With an intense interest in parachute innovation and jump safety, he formed his own parachute company also in 1919, which grew to six factories by 1939 serving over 45 countries, and eventually led to today’s Airborne Systems. During the WWII era when canopies were made of silk from Japan, he quickly got to work and delivered the first canopies made entirely from nylon, the material of choice to this day for skydivers. His many patents for innovative design of canopies and parachuting equipment pioneered the industry and produced tremendous advancements to the parachute industry.
We are so honored that Leslie Irvin received this well-deserved award. Every day, we strive to carry on his legacy in the parachute industry with new technology, innovations, and ideas. As we come up on the 100th anniversary of Irvin’s first intentional freefall jump and incorporation of the Irvin Air Chute company, we are proud of the many contributions to the industry through his incredible legacy.
Read more
For our October 19th release to honor our 100 year anniversary coming up in June of 2019, we have designed a calendar full of historical facts about our story over the last 100 years!
January: 1928: Leslie Irvin opens a factory dedicated solely to the production of Irving parachutes in Buffalo, NY.
February: 1963: Landing brake-parachute is developed by Irvin for SR-71.
March: 1964: Irvin produces the XB-70A Landing Deceleration System.
April: 1986: Irvin Industries develops an air droppable light weight survival kit (SKAD), containing two six-man inflatable rafts and emergency survival equipment.
May: 1996: Irvin designs and tests a cluster of 3 Ringsail parachutes to recover the Boeing EELV concept’s 20,000 lb propulsion module.
June: 1999: F-22 development aircraft successfully conducts flight tests with Irvin’s self-monitoring, pilot-actuated Spin/Stall Parachute Recovery System.
July: 2002: Para-Flite designs and produces the Advanced Tactical Parachute Systems, known as the T-11.
August: 2005: Para-Flite develops the parachute systems for first stage recovery of Falcon I commercial launch vehicle.
September: 2006: Airborne Systems competed and won the design competition for the MC-6 as the replacement for the MC-1 for the U.S. Army.
October: 2015: Blue Origin has a successful first flight.
November: 2017: The K-9 dog harness is developed.
December: 2018: Airborne Systems is awarded the contract for the Enhanced Multi-Mission Parachute System (E-MMPS) for the United States Marine Corps.
If you are interested in a 2019 calendar, contact Maria Holman at [email protected]!
Read more
One side of the coin features the first freefall parachute, known as the “Model A” parachute. The opposite side features our 100 year logo. In beautiful antique silver accented by our signature Airborne blue.
Read more
In order to properly commemorate this amazing accomplishment, each month we will be honoring our 100 year anniversary with a creative release. To kick off the first month, we thought a brief historical lesson in the form of a poem would be perfect.
From his first jump as just a young teen
To jumping out of a plane in 1914
Leslie Irvin was a pioneer in parachutes
On this point there is no dispute.
In 1919 he made the world’s first free fall descent
Using the first rip cord, down he went
Even though he broke his ankle when he landed
The Irving Air Chute Company he later branded.
A clerical error caused the name change to Irving
So, Leslie let it go because it had a nice ring.
But in 1970 back to Irvin Air Chute it went
And today Airborne Systems is the name 100 percent!
During WWII Irving Air Chute saved over 10,000 lives
Ensuring that stateside there were many happy wives.
The Irvin name became the standard for quality
And soon became worldwide policy.
Irving Air Chute was always a pioneer
On that point we are very clear
Patenting folding methods and switching to nylon are just some ways
That the parachutes were able to be used by Allied forces on D-Day,
In this 100th anniversary year of this historic event
We celebrate Irvin’s ability to invent
Making parachutes safer for all
Is something which we can all applaud!
Be sure to check back here on the 19th of every month to see what 100 themed ideas we come up with!
Read more
“The World Intellectual Property Organization promotes innovation and creativity for the economic, social, and cultural development of all countries, through a balanced and effective international and intellectual property system.” (WIPO Mission Statement)
Today, April 26th 2018, is World Intellectual Property Day. The theme this year is “Powering change: Women in innovation and creativity”. Here at Airborne Systems, we have a remarkable team of women influencing aerospace technology through innovative engineering. In honor of World Intellectual Property Day, we want to share the story of our talented, young engineer, Catherine Mollmann. For the past five years, Catherine, better known as “Cat” by her colleagues, has embraced challenges and demonstrated her ability to innovate across multiple areas of engineering. Cat has worked on designs within Airborne System’s Space and Recovery department as well as aiding in the production of our state-of-the-art RA-1 and Hi-5 ram air parachute systems. As part of her commitment to her profession, she also skydives to test our designs for women and small stature jumpers. Now at 219 jumps, Cat is on track to be a valuable test jumper at Airborne Systems. Sometimes innovation requires a woman bold enough to jump out of an airplane with a parachute she made herself.
We did a short interview with Cat to see what advice she has for other young women working hard to create innovation. She says not to get hung up with school. Real world experience is the key to success. “Get out there and network, take internships, and embrace the challenges of a competitive environment” explained Cat. Do not be afraid to jump in and see where you land or, in this case, jump out!
Cat is just one of many Airborne System’s talented, innovative, and creative women. We’re surrounded by women blazing trails, and Airborne Systems is committed to powering the change they are leading.
Read more
