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Today is Skydiver's Day
Last reviewed: 01.07.2025
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On July 26, 1930, a group of Soviet parachutist pilots led by B. Mukhortov made the first series of jumps from airplanes near Voronezh. This event marked the beginning of the mass development of parachuting in the USSR.
In honor of this event, every year on July 26, professionals and amateurs of parachuting celebrate their professional holiday - Parachutist's Day, which has not yet been approved by law, but is known and widely celebrated among parachutists.
By the end of 1931, Soviet parachutists had completed about 600 training and demonstration jumps. That same year, young Soviet instructors made a number of jumps into water, into deep snow, at night from a great height, and long jumps, which later became widespread.
Parachuting is also a passion for Soviet women. On July 14, 1931, the first Soviet woman to jump with a parachute in the USSR was V. Kuleshova. A little later, on August 19, V. Fedorov and A. Chirkova jumped with parachutes.
The first parachute was developed, designed and tested by self-taught technician Gleb Kotelnikov, who was not indifferent to tragic outcomes in aviation flights. The first parachute was light, packed in a backpack, and was always with the pilot. The test results showed that the parachute worked flawlessly.
On October 27, 1911, Kotelnikov patented his invention "RK-1" (Russian, Kotelnikov's first) and applied to the Ministry of War. But the bureaucratic machine did not realize the importance of the invention, and Kotelnikov's proposal was rejected "as unnecessary."
Realizing the importance of the matter, Kotelnikov continued his work and in 1923 created a new model of the knapsack parachute "RK-2", and later the model of the parachute "RK-3" with a soft knapsack, which was patented on July 4, 1924. In the same 1924, Kotelnikov made a cargo parachute "RK-4" with a dome with a diameter of 12 meters. This parachute could lower a load weighing up to 300 kilograms. In 1926, Kotelnikov transferred all his inventions to the Soviet government.
At the end of 1929, by decision of the party and government, parachutes became mandatory for aviation and aeronautics.
Currently in Ukraine, parachute jumps from airplanes and balloons number in the tens of thousands, and jumps from parachute towers number in the hundreds of thousands.