Edward Lincoln Hoffman (1884–1970) was a

United States Army Air Service The United States Army Air Service (USAAS)Craven and Cate Vol. 1, p. 9 (also known as the ''"Air Service"'', ''"U.S. Air Service"'' and before its legislative establishment in 1920, the ''"Air Service, United States Army"'') was the aerial war ...

(USAAS) pilot, officer and Engineering Division Chief at

McCook Field McCook Field was an airfield and aviation experimentation station in Dayton, Ohio, United States. It was operated by the Aviation Section, U.S. Signal Corps and its successor the United States Army Air Service from 1917 to 1927. It was named fo ...

. With no parachute experience, he formed a team that included aviation pioneers Leslie Irvin and

James Floyd Smith James Floyd Smith (17 October 1884 – 18 April 1956) was an inventor, aviation pioneer, and parachute manufacturer. With borrowed money, he built, then taught himself to fly his own airplane. He worked as a flight instructor and test pi ...

which developed the first modern

parachute A parachute is a device used to slow the motion of an object through an atmosphere by creating drag or, in a ram-air parachute, aerodynamic lift. A major application is to support people, for recreation or as a safety device for aviators, who ...

. The 1926

Collier Trophy The Robert J. Collier Trophy is an annual aviation award administered by the U.S. National Aeronautic Association (NAA), presented to those who have made "the greatest achievement in aeronautics or astronautics in America, with respect to im ...

was awarded to Major E. L. Hoffman, Air Corps for "development of a practical parachute;" the year's greatest achievement in American

aviation Aviation includes the activities surrounding mechanical flight and the aircraft industry. ''Aircraft'' includes fixed-wing and rotary-wing types, morphable wings, wing-less lifting bodies, as well as lighter-than-air craft such as hot air ...

Early life

Born to

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states th ...

veteran William Hoffman and his wife Mary E Aearn on 17 December 1884 at

Fort Slocum Fort Slocum, New York was a US military post which occupied Davids Island in the western end of Long Island Sound in the city of New Rochelle, New York from 1867 to 1965. The fort was named for Major General Henry W. Slocum, a Union corps comm ...

, Davids Island, New Rochelle, New York. Edward L. Hoffman after enlisting in the infantry 21 July 1909, commissioned as an officer on 9 October 1911. In 1917 he transferred to the Aviation Section, Signal Corps with assignment as Engineering Division Chief at McCook Field. As Chief, Hoffman's division worked on all aspects of aviation including parachutes, bombsights, and aerial refueling.

Parachute testing

In September 1918, General Billy Mitchell directed that a team evaluate available parachutes and identify the best chute. Mitchell picked Glenn Martin test pilot and former flying circus daredevil

Floyd Smith Floyd Robert Donald Smith (born May 16, 1935, in Perth, Ontario) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey centre and coach. Biography Smith grew up in Galt, Ontario, playing junior hockey with the Galt Black Hawks. He made his National Ho ...

. Smith added motor mechanic Guy M. Ball to his two man team. After the WWI Armistice, Smith's team came under command of Major Hoffman who formed the Parachute Board adding several other civilians including: Floyd Smith, Guy Ball, show-jumper Harry Eibe, Army parachutist Sgt Ralph Bottreil, engineers James M. Russell and James J. Higgins. The newly reorganized team tested 17 parachute designs including: static line designs of Broadwick, Stevens, Ors, Kiefer Kline, Otto Heinecke, Leslie Irvin, Omaha Tent Company, and Floyd Smith. The first tests, using dummies, favored Floyd Smith's parachute design. This winning design was further developed and merged key features into the "Type A" parachute: a soft pack worn on the back; a rip cord to deploy the parachute; and a spring assisted pilot chute to aid in main parachute deployment. Conservative Major Hoffman and others believed the free-fall was dangerous and that a jumper might blackout before pulling the ripcord. Aerial circus jumpers Floyd Smith and Leslie Irvin convinced Hoffman to test the Type A with Irvin volunteering to jump and Smith piloting the test.

First free-fall jump

On 28 April 1919 using the "Type A" 28 foot backpack parachute, volunteer Leslie Irvin, flying in a Smith piloted

de Havilland DH9 The Airco DH.9 (from de Havilland 9) – also known after 1920 as the de Havilland DH.9 – was a British single-engined biplane bomber developed and deployed during the First World War. The DH.9 was a development of Airco's earlier successful ...

biplane A biplane is a fixed-wing aircraft with two main wings stacked one above the other. The first powered, controlled aeroplane to fly, the Wright Flyer, used a biplane wing arrangement, as did many aircraft in the early years of aviation. While ...

at 100 mph and 1500 feet above the ground, jumped (with a backup chute strapped to his chest) and manually pulled the ripcord fully deploying his chute at 1000 feet. Irvin became the first American to jump from an airplane and manually open a parachute in midair. The new chute performed flawlessly, though Irvin broke his ankle on landing. Floyd Smith filed the Type A patent No. 1,462,456 on the same day. After Irvin's successful first jump, the team lined up to jump the Type A starting with Floyd Smith, then in order Russell, Higgins, and Bottreil. With over 500 static line jumps, Sgt Ralph Bottreil became the first US serviceman to free-fall jump with the Type A chute and was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross. The Parachute Board determined the backpack chute was crowding the cockpit, a redesign moved the parachute down the pilots back becoming the "seat style" chute. Hoffman's team tested the Type A parachute with over 1000 jumps. These successful tests resulted in the Army requiring parachute use on all Air Service flights. Hoffman developed the US Army specifications and drawings for this parachute, which the Army Air Service placed an order for 300 parachutes from the lowest bidder: Irvin's Irving Air Chute Company. After losing a patient dispute to Floyd Smith with zero compensation due to US Government parachute orders, the US Government compensated Smith with $3500 to transfer his patient to Irvin's company. The original 1919 Type A ripcord parachute is on display at the Air Force Museum at Dayton, Ohio. An early brochure of the Irving Air Chute Company credits William O'Connor 24 August 1920 at McCook Field as the first person to be saved by an Irving parachute, yet this was unrecognized. On 20 October 1922, Lieutenant Harold R. Harris, chief of the McCook Field Flying Station, jumped from a disabled

Loening Loening Aeronautical Engineering Corporation was founded 1917 by Grover Loening and Henry M. Crane produced early aircraft and amphibious aircraft beginning in 1917. When it merged with Keystone Aircraft Corporation in 1928, some of its enginee ...

PW-2A high wing monoplane fighter. Harris' lifesaving chute was mounted on the wall of McCook's parachute lab where the ''

Dayton Herald The ''Dayton Daily News'' (''DDN'') is a daily newspaper published in Dayton, Ohio, United States. It is owned by Cox Enterprises, Inc., a privately held global conglomerate headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, United States, with approximately ...

's'' aviation editor Maurice Hutton and photographer Verne Timmerman, predicting more jumps in future, suggested that a club should be formed. Two years later, Irvin's company instituted the

Caterpillar Club The Caterpillar Club is an informal association of people who have successfully used a parachute to bail out of a disabled aircraft. After authentication by the parachute maker, applicants receive a membership certificate and a distinctive lapel ...

, awarding a gold pin to pilots who successfully bailed out of disabled aircraft using an Irving parachute. In 1922 Leslie Irvin agreed to give a gold pin to every person whose life was saved by one of his parachutes. At the end of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

the number of members with the Irvin pins had grown to over 34,000 though the total of people saved by Irvin parachutes is estimated to be 100,000.Irvin GQ History – Accessed 28 Jan 2011
The Switlik Parachute Company of Trenton, New Jersey issued both gold and silver caterpillar pins. US President

Calvin Coolidge Calvin Coolidge (born John Calvin Coolidge Jr.; ; July 4, 1872January 5, 1933) was the 30th president of the United States from 1923 to 1929. Born in Vermont, Coolidge was a History of the Republican Party (United States), Republican lawyer ...

congratulated Major Edward L. Hoffman, Air Corps, on the 1926 Collier Trophy for "development of a practical parachute;" the year's greatest achievement in American

Triangle parachute

Out-growing McCook Field, in 1927 Hoffman's Parachute Board was moved to

Wright Field Wilbur Wright Field was a military installation and an airfield used as a World War I pilot, mechanic, and armorer training facility and, under different designations, conducted United States Army Air Corps and Air Forces flight testing. Loca ...

. Renamed the Parachute and Clothing Branch, Hoffman developed the airborne steerable "Triangle Parachute." Hoffman's branch developed large parachutes utilized to slow bombs and even recover or slow aircraft. Eventually this large parachute work was used in space capsule recovery. After Wright Field, Hoffman became the commander at

Lunken Airport Cincinnati Municipal Airport – Lunken Field (Cincinnati Municipal Lunken Airport) is a public airport in Cincinnati, Ohio, three miles (5 km) east of Downtown Cincinnati. It is owned by the city of Cincinnati and serves private aircr ...

in Cincinnati. His patient for the Triangle chute design was awarded but being designed during military duty was free for public use. Hoffman started the Triangle Parachute Company in Cincinnati. The US Army purchased some triangle parachutes but phased them out due to difficulty packing and expense which forced the Triangle Parachute Company to close. On 8 June 1936, Hoffman received a reprimand from the

United States Secretary of War The secretary of war was a member of the President of the United States, U.S. president's United States Cabinet, Cabinet, beginning with George Washington's Presidency of George Washington, administration. A similar position, called either "Se ...

George Dern George Henry Dern (1872–1936) was an American politician, mining man, and businessman. He co-invented the Holt–Dern ore roasting process and was United States Secretary of War from 1933 to his death in 1936. He also served as the List of Gov ...

for concealing connections to the Safe Aircraft Inc. and the Triangle Parachute Company in Cincinnati. On 1 June 1937, retiring as a Lieutenant Colonel, he moved his family to San Diego entering into the parachute manufacturing business with Jimmy Russell forming Hoffman & Russell in 1938. Their new venture developed very large parachutes able to return entire disabled aircraft safely to earth. Together they were awarded a patient to reduce parachute oscillations and they successfully tested a 60 foot diameter parachutes with designs for a 225 foot chute. Ahead of their time, Russell left the partnership to work at Standard Parachute Corporation. Edward L. Hoffman lived with his wife Ruth in San Diego, California where he died on 6 October 1970.

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