Aviator & Parachute Inventor James Floyd Smith 1956 Valhalla Cemetery

James Floyd Smith (October 17, 1884 – April 18, 1956) was a test pilot and instructor for Glenn Martin and was a manufacturer of parachutes. He built and flew his own plane in 1912 and invented the manually operated parachute for the Army in 1918. He was awarded the Aero Club of America Medal or Merit.

Biography

He was born in Illinois on October 17, 1884, then his family moved to Union, Oregon. In 1907 he married Hilder Florentina Youngber of Galesburg, Illinois. Their first son, Sylvester Smith, was killed at age 11 by a car in 1919, in Chicago. 

They had a second son, Prevost Vedrines Smith (1913–1991) aka Prevost Floyd Smith. In 1930 the family was living in Morrisville, Bucks County, Pennsylvania and Floyd was working as an engineer.[1] Prevost and Floyd started the Smith Parachute Company at Gillespie Field in San Diego County, California which became the Prevost Smith Parachute Company.[2]

Floyd died on April 18, 1956 in San Diego, California of cancer.[3] He was buried at Valhalla Cemetery in the Portal of Folded Wings Shrine to Aviation.[4][5][6]


Patent

A patent was filed on July 27, 1918 and issued May 18, 1920 for his parachute. The assignee was the Floyd Smith Aerial Equipment Company of San Diego, California. Floyd with Leslie Leroy Irvin, developed a 28-foot backpack parachute. On April 28, 1919, Irvin jumped from a de Havilland biplane traveling at 100 miles per hour at an altitude of 1,500 feet. After Irvin bailed out of the airplane and falling free, he manually reached the ripcord handle and pulled it, and the parachute fully deployed at 1,000 feet. Irvin became the first American to jump from an airplane and manually open a parachute in midair. Floyd's original 1919 ripcord parachute is on display at the Air Force Museum at Dayton, Ohio. [1]

References

1. 1930 US Census; Morrisville, Bucks County, Pennsylvania 
2. "James Floyd Smith". Early Aviators. Floyd and Prevost started the Smith Parachute Company in San Diego County, which became the Prevost Smith Parachute Co. after Floyd's death in 1956. 
3. "Of Fleeting Fame; Unusual achievements of some unusual people who died in 1956". New York Times. December 30, 1956.  He invented the modern ripcord parachute ... 
4. "Died". Time magazine. April 30, 1956. James Floyd Smith, 71, onetime dauntless barnstorming flyer and test pilot, who invented the modern ripcord parachute, founder of the Pioneer Parachute Company; of cancer; in San Diego. 
5. "James Floyd Smith". Catholic News Service in Star-News. December 18, 1956. Pasadena, California. Memorial services for James Floyd Smith, pioneer aviator and one of the first men to ever parachute from a plane, were held at the Portal of the Folded Wings at Valhalla Cemetery.
6. "James Floyd Smith, 71.". Washington Post. December 18, 1956. Aeronautic engineer and pioneer flier who invented the first successful free type of manually operated parachute now used by the Air Force, established three altitude records for seaplanes and was awarded the Aero Club of America Medal or Merit; in San Diego, California.