Los Angeles. First Motorcycle Parachute Jump

In 1926, Fred Osborne attempted the first motorcycle parachute jump—and it didn’t work.

He organized his stunt to take place at Huntington Cliff, outside of Los Angeles. He had the ramp erected, got the camera set up, and put together his flight suit. He revved up to about 60 miles per hour, and tried to deploy the chute once he passed over the ramp.

The speed and drop of the cliff weren’t enough for the chute to catch, and it never opened properly. Miraculously, he lived.

The April 27, 1927 edition of Popular Science Monthly attributed his survival to the telephone wires that supposedly broke his fall. The cycle crashed to the ground and caught fire, and Osborne was rushed to the hospital where it was reported that he was expected to recover fully.