Reichelt

About

WARNING: DISTRESSING FOOTAGE

Gaumont newsreel footage, unused/unissued, of the fatal fall of Franz Reichelt from the Eiffel Tower, Paris, France, 4th February 1912.

Austrian-born Franz Reichelt was a French tailor, inventor and parachuting pioneer.

On February 4, 1912, to test a wearable parachute of his own design, he jumped

from the Eiffel Tower, to his death.

Franz Reichelt is first shown wearing the parachute apparatus he designed and invented, before he ascends the Eiffel Tower. He tips his cap.

French intertitle:

Comme s'il eut pressent l'horrible sort qui l'attendait, le malheureux inventor hesita longuement avant de se lancer dans la vide.

English translation:

As if aware of the horrible fate awaiting him, the unfortunate inventor hesitated a long time before launching himself into the void.

Reichelt stands on the rail of the first platform of the Eiffel Tower,

where two assistants attend. Reichelt prepares to jump. He hesitates on

Archive

Wikimedia Commons, in Wikimedia Commons

Licence or status

Public domain, as the Wikimedia Commons states it.

Rights statement

Public domain

Credit

Unknown authorUnknown author/collective

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