Editing Parachute (section)

===Post-World War I===
[[File:Ben Turner making a parachute jump 1938.jpg|thumb|Ben Turner making a parachute jump from a plane at Camden, Sydney, 14 August 1938.]]
The experience with parachutes during the war highlighted the need to develop a design that could be reliably used to exit a disabled airplane. For instance, tethered parachutes did not work well when the aircraft was spinning. After the war, Major Edward L. Hoffman of the [[United States Army]] led an effort to develop an improved parachute by bringing together the best elements of multiple parachute designs. Participants in the effort included [[Leslie Irvin (parachutist)|Leslie Irvin]] and [[James Floyd Smith]]. The team eventually created the Airplane Parachute Type-A. This incorporated three key elements:
* storing the parachute in a soft pack worn on the back, as demonstrated by [[Charles Broadwick]] in 1906;
* a [[Ripcord (skydiving)|ripcord]] for manually deploying the parachute at a safe distance from the airplane, from a design by [[Albert Leo Stevens]]; and 
* a [[pilot chute]] that draws the main canopy from the pack.

In 1919, Irvin successfully tested the parachute by jumping from an airplane. The Type-A parachute was put into production and over time saved a number of lives.<ref name="airspace2010"/> The effort was recognized by the awarding of the [[Robert J. Collier Trophy]] to Major Edward L. Hoffman in 1926.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://naa.aero/awards/awards-and-trophies/collier-trophy/collier-1920-1929-winners |title=Collier 1920–1929 Recipients |website=[[National Aeronautic Association]]}}</ref>

Irvin became the first person to make a premeditated free-fall parachute jump from an airplane. An early brochure of the Irvin Air Chute Company credits William O'Connor as having become, on 24 August 1920, at [[McCook Field]] near [[Dayton, Ohio]], the first person to be saved by an Irvin parachute.<ref>{{cite web |first=Ralph S. |last=Cooper |url=http://home.earthlink.net/~ralphcooper/pimagz17.htm |title=The Irvin Parachute, 1924 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20030830123556/http://home.earthlink.net/~ralphcooper/pimagz17.htm |archive-date=30 August 2003 |via=[[Earthlink.net]] |access-date=22 October 2013}}</ref> Test pilot Lt. [[Harold R. Harris]] made another life-saving jump at McCook Field on 20 October 1922. Shortly after Harris' jump, two Dayton newspaper reporters suggested the creation of the [[Caterpillar Club]] for successful parachute jumps from disabled aircraft.

Beginning with [[Italy]] in 1927, several countries experimented with using parachutes to [[paratroopers|drop soldiers behind enemy lines]]. The regular [[Soviet Airborne Troops]] were established as early as 1931 after a number of experimental military mass jumps starting from 2 August 1930.<ref name="history"/> Earlier the same year, the first Soviet mass jumps led to the development of the parachuting sport in the [[Soviet Union]].<ref name=" history"/> By the time of [[World War II]], large [[airborne forces]] were trained and used in surprise attacks, as in the battles for [[Battle of Fort Eben-Emael|Fort Eben-Emael]] and [[Battle for The Hague|The Hague]], the first large-scale, opposed landings of paratroopers in military history, by the Germans.<ref>Dr L. de Jong, 'Het Koninkrijk der Nederlanden in de Tweede Wereldoorlog', (Dutch language) part 3, RIOD, Amsterdam, 1969</ref> This was followed later in the war by airborne assaults on a larger scale, such as the [[Battle of Crete]] and [[Operation Market Garden]], the latter being the largest airborne military operation ever.<ref>Dr L. de Jong, 'Het Koninkrijk der Nederlanden in de Tweede Wereldoorlog', (Dutch language) part 10a-II, RIOD, Amsterdam, 1980</ref> Aircraft crew were routinely equipped with parachutes for emergencies as well.<ref>Airborne Equipment: A History of Its Development, John Weeks (1976), ISBN 0715371177</ref>

In 1937, [[drag chute]]s were used in aviation for the first time, by [[Soviet Union|Soviet]] airplanes in the [[Arctic]] that were providing support for the polar expeditions of the era, such as the first [[drifting ice station]], [[North Pole-1]]. The drag chute allowed airplanes to land safely on smaller [[drift ice|ice floes]].<ref name="history"/>

Most parachutes were made of silk until World War II cut off supplies from Japan. After [[Adeline Gray (parachutist)|Adeline Gray]] made the first jump using a nylon parachute in June 1942, the industry switched to nylon.<ref>{{cite web |title=obit-adeline-gray |url=http://www.oxford-historical-society.org/adeline/obit-adeline-gray.html |access-date=28 March 2021 |website=www.oxford-historical-society.org}}</ref>