Back in 1514, the legend, Leanardo da Vinci was busy sketching the first pictorial evidence of a life saving device, known now as the Parachute, in his infamous sketchbook. As far as historians know Leanardo never put his sketches into practice. Almost 100 years passed until the parachute was recorded again, this time it was a Hungarian mathematician living in Italy called Fausto Varanzio and his book was called ‘Machinae Novae’. The Year was 1595 and he had a few modifications on Leanardo’s design, mainly he abolished the solid pyramid frame and opted for a rectangle design that allowed the drag of the air to create a dome like shape rather than a rigid pyramid structure. He called it Homo Volans, which roughly translates as ‘flying man’. Veranzio claims that he made several successful ‘jumps’ from a building in Venice. Again, however, historians have yet to prove that he put his sketches into practice, or indeed wether they would actually work...............until now!.... The History Channel contacted the British Parachute Association and commissioned ‘Wild Dream Films’, an award winning independent television production company,to take on the Veranzio Project, Ray Armstrong, a B.P.A. chief instructor, ex Red Devil, highly experienced skydiver and Director of ‘Precision Stitching’, was the obvious choice to make this happen, “The perfect man for the job” ... ....So in a small field in the oxfordshire countryside on a beautiful summer solstice sunrise on 20th June 2008, a small team of skydive and balloon enthusiasts with a busy film crew set out to prove that ‘Homo Volans’ could actually fly. Richard. P.Ashford, a champion balloon accuracy pilot, promptly had his balloon set up and was watching the winds in eager anticipation. Alec , ‘Homo Volans’ rigger, swiftly set to work building the 400 year old device with admirable focus and knot tying skills. The structure consisted of 4 lengths of bamboo slipped gently through single stitch sleeves, hemp cordage tightly bound the four corners and 4 pieces of hemp rope tied onto the corners to secure Ray underneath. With a little help from Ben Seguss (safety crew) and Trevor ‘magoo’ Dickson (photographer and safety crew) and under supervision of Ray, the 400 year old device was rigged with surprising ease considering the complexity of modern parachutes these days. Alec’s job was nearly done, the wind was picking up, and without a moment to reflect on his achievements set about the task of making this adventure a safe one. As this has never been done before this was a complicated task. A simple yet effective safety line was rigged from the balloon to Ray’s primary harness. More of Alec’s knots secured the four corners of the structure to a single attachment point with a three ring release. Ray got his parachute rig on, had quick safety check and we were almost ready to go...marvelous. Richard and his team, meanwhile, had inflated the balloon and were assessing the conditions...it was getting to be a close call. The tension was building as we attached the full structure to the basket. Ray rigged his primary harness to the four hemp suspension lines and set his three ring release and cutaway system, all this time coordinating the historic build whilst conducting numerous interviews for the film crew,top ninja! The balloon was now roaring with excitement as Richard primed her ready for this historic flight,the chase plane was ready for take off............................................To be continued....... Sorry you’ll have to wait for the viewing on the History Channel.. The Veranzio Project
 
 
Leonardo da Vinci 1514
Fausto Veranzio 1595
 
Ray Armstrong 2008