{"id":5490,"date":"2015-06-24T05:00:23","date_gmt":"2015-06-24T09:00:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/?p=5490"},"modified":"2015-06-30T14:36:51","modified_gmt":"2015-06-30T18:36:51","slug":"high-flying-or-falling-history-makers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/2015\/06\/24\/high-flying-or-falling-history-makers\/","title":{"rendered":"High-flying (or falling?) history-makers"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"A <\/a>
A girl with guts: 17 year-old Shirley Reese was the only girl to skydive with the Oliver High School Black-White Gut Club in 1970. (Anthony Kaminski\/The Pittsburgh Press) <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"Police <\/a>
Police help skydiver Ralph Garrison safely return to the ground after he landed in a tree in 1970. Awkward as this debacle may seem, Mr. Garrison was not the first, nor the last, skydiver to learn a tree’s bark can have a bit of a bite. (Donald J. Stetzer\/The Pittsburgh Press) <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"Pittsburgh's <\/a>
Pittsburgh’s original skydiving dare-devil still has the parachute from 1928 that he shredded when he was forced to make an emergency landing in a dead tree. (The Pittsburgh Press) <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"Jim <\/a>
Jim McGowan of King of Prussia, PA gave an enthusiastic thumbs up after successfully (and safely) landing in the chilly water of Lake Wallen in 1981. He made history as the first paraplegic to skydive in the United States. (Don Fisher\/The Pittsburgh Press) <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>\n

The Westmoreland County Airshow this weekend featured\u00a0high-flying feats and created a bystander adrenaline rush as the Blue Angels roared overhead.<\/p>\n

The Westmoreland County Airport Authority began hosting airshows in the 1970s. Since then, the performance has become one of the biggest and most popular in Pennsylvania, routinely featuring famous acts including the U.S. Navy Blue Angels and the U.S. Air Force Thunderbirds.<\/p>\n

Airplane flyovers are not the only performances starred at Westmoreland through the years. For some thrill seekers, remaining in the plane to perform aerobatic stunts during the show did not quench their thirst for adventure. In 1976, performers took things a step further–a step off the plane and into the blue sky.<\/p>\n

Several dare-devil skydivers highlighted the show\u00a0by jumping in and landing in front of the crowd.<\/p>\n

Skydiving in the 70s was not new to Pittsburgh The sport can trace its roots to over five decades before this spectacle.<\/p>\n

Between 1924 and 1928, John Skelton, dubbed \u201cPittsburgh\u2019s original dare-devil skydiver\u201d by the Pittsburgh Press, toured the country as a wing-walker parachutist. In those four years, Mr. Skelton made over 300 jumps. His routine included jumping from a vintage World War I aircraft flying at 3,000 feet before landing near spectators. Since Mr. Skelton\u2019s jumps were from a lower altitude than most of the free-fall skydiving popular today, he spent a majority of his time in the sky under an open parachute.<\/p>\n

That is not to say Mr. Skelton did not face his fair share of close calls while floating back to Earth.<\/p>\n

On one particularly memorable skydive, gusting winds carried him away from his landing target. Faced with either landing in a frigid river or a blazing steel mill furnace, he steered his canopy into a nearby tree. Although Mr. Skelton only suffered a sprained ankle from clambering out of the branches, his canopy was shredded.<\/p>\n

Mr. Skelton married and \u201cretired\u201d shortly afterwards, but kept the chute as a memento. Despite the nerve-wracking landing, he confessed to the Press in 1976, \u201cI\u2019d like to try some free-fall jumps like today\u2019s kids make.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mr. Skelton may have been the first skydiving dare-devil from the \u2018Burgh, but he certainly was not the last Pennsylvania native to test the limits of human flight.<\/p>\n

Most skydivers prefer ending a jump on dry land, but for skydiver Jim McGowan, large bodies of water were an intentional target. Why the water landings? Because in 1981 this Philadelphia man had his mind set on skydiving, despite being paraplegic. Without the control of his legs, landing on solid ground posed a great risk for broken bones.<\/p>\n

On May 13, 1981, Mr. McGowan became the first paraplegic to skydive. The water of Lake Wallenpaupack in Pennsylvania’s Pocono Mountains cushioned his landing after jumping from 3,000 feet. He splashed into the lake\u2019s chilly water and emerged with a beaming smile and held two thumbs-up in celebration. As a team of divers helped him from the lake, he told the Pittsburgh Press, \u201cI feel fantastic.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mr. McGowan continued on in skydiving, setting multiple records on his way as the first paraplegic to perform different skydiving maneuvers. While McGowan told the Philadelphia Inquirer in 1986 that he had \u201cvery few problems,\u201d his skydiving saga came with its fair share of scratches and scrapes.<\/p>\n

After all, landing in water requires flotation devices, accuracy, and forethought. At one point, he overshot his target lake and broke an ankle on the rocky shore. Then there were the five jumps that he landed in a Florida lake before learning it was home to alligators.<\/p>\n

His reaction to the scaly situation? A cheerful, “Live and learn.”<\/p>\n

After making 20 skydives between 1981 and 1984, McGowan turned his attention to other hobbies,\u00a0including an attempt to\u00a0swim the English Channel. Present Day\u00a0his work keeps him closer to the ground, though he still offers the advice,\u00a0“You don’t have to settle for taking the safer route in life.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Airplane flyovers are not the only performances starred at Westmoreland through the years.<\/p>\n

Look at the picturesHigh-flying (or falling?) history-makers<\/span><\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":26,"featured_media":5494,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true},"categories":[944],"tags":[958,964,980,1319,1318,1198,1316,1002,1250,1315,1244,1223,1317],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/Skydiving005.jpg?fit=2258%2C2977&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":430,"url":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/2014\/07\/23\/pittsburgh-water-towers-of-all-shapes-and-sizes\/","url_meta":{"origin":5490,"position":0},"title":"Pittsburgh water towers of all shapes and sizes","date":"July 23, 2014","format":"gallery","excerpt":"The variations in water towers tell a few stories.","rel":"","context":"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/tumblr_n94t4lCX4N1rr5swxo1_1280.jpg?fit=1200%2C871&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1157,"url":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/2013\/12\/06\/whatever-happened-to-santo-bazzano\/","url_meta":{"origin":5490,"position":1},"title":"Whatever happened to Santo Bazzano?","date":"December 6, 2013","format":"gallery","excerpt":"Santo Bazzano disappeared from the news until 1935.","rel":"","context":"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/12\/Screen-Shot-2014-12-17-at-12.02.01-AM.png?fit=1052%2C532&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":6803,"url":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/2016\/06\/02\/when-tornadoes-tormented-the-pittsburgh-region\/","url_meta":{"origin":5490,"position":2},"title":"When tornadoes tormented the Pittsburgh region","date":"June 2, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"\"It was eerie and evil and awful.\" That's how Dana Barker of William Street in Mount Washington described the sound of the tornado that tormented her neighborhood on June 2, 1998. 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