Links below relate interesting history of Ft. Benning's and similar jump
towers. Good pix.
1. http://www.erectorworld.com/jumphistory.html
... The idea for the World's Fair parachute jump began in the 1920's in
Russia, where simple wooden towers were used to train the world's first
paratroopers. These towers also proved to be popular recreation for Russian
citizens.
In the early 1930's, retired U.S. Naval Air Commander James H. Strong
witnessed these towers in operation in Russia, and set out to design an
improved version for use by U.S. military trainees. Strong patented his
original design in August of 1936. It utilized electric motors to pull the
24' diameter military parachutes up a series of eight steel guide cables
that were arranged in a circle around a tall steel tower. Over the years,
Strong sold military jump towers to branches of both U.S. and foreign armed
forces; three of his towers are still in use at Fort Benning, Georgia, to
this day ....
2. http://www.riverviewparkchicago.com/generic.html?pid=7
http://www.suba.com/~scottn/explore/sites/parks/rivervie.htm
http://history.amusement-parks.com/users/adamsandy/riverviewmain.htm
... In 1936, Riverview converted an old observation tower, the Eye-Full
Tower (a corny pun), into a new ride, the Pair-O-Chutes. The Pair-O-Chutes
was based on a parachute training tower invented for the military by Maj.
James Strong. Riverview's was the first civilian tower in the US.
Riverview's tower was copied by the 1939 World's Fair for their amusement
zone, and that ride was later moved to Steeplechase Park on Coney Island.
In 1939, a couple got married on the Pair-O-Chutes ....
3. http://www.mcny.org/lnmrk3.htm
Photo
4. http://naid.sppsr.ucla.edu/coneyisland/mapsdocs/con49-map9.htm
Color postcard.
5. http://www.nydailynews.com/09-27-2002/news/v-pfriendly/story/22097p-20953c.html
[September 2002] ... Yesterday, Borough President Marty Markowitz disclosed
that the New York City Economic Development Corp. is about to begin a $5
million restoration of the 262-foot tower, once part of Steeplechase Park ....
6. http://www.carnegiemuseums.org/cmag/bk_issue/1997/sepoct/feat6.html
[Three designers' concept drawings for '39 Fair; first shows jump tower in
foreground.]
... While numerous exhibitions and books have focused on the 1939 New York
World's Fair and its history, Drawing the Future is the first to showcase
the works of designers and renderers whose job it was to actually create
the "World of Tomorrow." These beautiful documents of the design process,
created as the Fair was fleshed out from 1936 to 1938, portray buildings,
displays and objects that were considered for inclusion in Flushing
Meadows. Some were built as shown while others changed considerably, or
completely, on their way to temporary reality. A number of the projects
presented here were never realized, and exist solely in these renderings.
Drawn before a single supporting pile was driven, and years before the
first lucky family entered the Fair's magical precinct, they are the most
accurate remaining record of the intentions of the architects and designers
who created this, the greatest of all 20th-century world's fairs ....
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