Oxford Celebrates 75th Anniversary of Historic Parachute Leap

From the Oxford Historical Society: The Oxford Historical Society will commemorate the 75th anniversary of the historic leap by Oxford’s Adeline Gray - the first live test of a nylon parachute (June 6, 1942). The event will be held Sunday, June 4, at the Oxford Grange, 486 Oxford Road, from 2 - 4 p.m.

At the Grange Hall, parachute history and Adeline's contribution to WW II Allied efforts will be featured. Jim Reuter, engineer from the Pioneer Parachute Company, which manufactured Adeline's parachute, will give a talk, "Silk, Nylon, Parachutes and Adeline Gray." With silk in short supply because of the war, the new nylon parachutes were critical to the war efforts. Reuter will outline the physical attributes which made nylon a substitute for the silk previously used in parachutes.

Municipal Historian Dorothy A. DeBisschop will give a PowerPoint talk, "The Life of Adeline Gray and her Legacy," which will feature photos and newspaper article about the local woman's career. Raised in Oxford, she resided in Southbury where she raised her family of three children. After her famous jump, Adeline Gray was featured in True Comics. She became an advertising icon for Camel Cigarettes. The advertisements in LIFE magazine and other popular titles featured pictures of her historic live test of the parachute, and encouraged readers to test Camel cigarettes. A variety of ads were featured over the coming year -- sometimes with Gray portrayed in flight gear and sometimes in very feminine evening dress. This graduate of the local Oxford school system and Seymour High School is noted for her contribution to the war effort, both by the courage of the historic jump and her work at Pioneer Parachute Company. She has been nominated for the Connecticut Woman's Hall of Fame.

In addition, the society will show a brief 1940’s U.S. War Department Film, "Parachute Training and Types" will be shown.

Capping off the event, weather permitting, will be a parachute landing by Melissa Touma, skydiving instructor and Safety and Training Adviser at Connecticut Parachutist Inc. (CPI) in Ellington, CT. She has logged over 1100 jumps in her 7-year career, starting with the UConn Skydiving Club team, and later competing at the US Nationals in formation skydiving. Melissa has also participated in a number of state and national record jumps in both canopy and free-fall work. Melissa is looking forward to commemorating Adeline Gray's courageous and historic jump, which was a critical contribution to the war effort at the time and eventually helped pave the way for women in the sport.

A special guest at the event will be Keni S. Laviviere, daughter of Adeline Gray, who had aided the research on the parachutists amazing career by the loan of her mother’s scrapbook and photos for the exhibit and program.

Admission to the event will be $5 per person, with a maximum of $20 per family. For further information, call 203-910-4574.

Photo courtesy of the Oxford Historical Society