With Flag Day tomorrow, I’m reminded of a U.S.A. flag towed by an Australian parachutist named Dave Benson from Queensland, who jumped from my airplane (a 1951 Cessna 170A with its right door removed) twice at the Watsonville Fly-in & Airshow in 1999 and twice from my airplane at the Napa Valley Airshow in late 1999.
This photo is of Dave’s son, Rod, flying the same size flag and carrying on the family tradition.
Dave carried the 100’x50’ flag in a special bag on his chest with his parachute on his back. He would pack the flag inside a huge hangar and fold it into his front pack, which had a pin-released folding bottom. He clipped a 25-pound sand bag onto the bottom grommet to make the flag fly well and that bag sat on top of the folded flag inside his front pack. When he jumped and pulled his parachute cord and was flying stably, he would then pull the pin from the bottom of his front pack and the 25-pound sand bag would push the flag out the bottom.
He attached the top grommet of the flag to a 3-foot cable that was attached to the bottom of his parachute pack on his back and he would tow the flag to airshow center where he had 8-10 guys who would always catch the flag to keep it from touching the ground.