AERONAUTICS: Major Baldwin

Next in the air but on a bed of sickness Major Thomas Scott Baldwin died in Buffalo at the age of 69. Long associated with aeronautics, ” Cap ” Baldwin was the originator of the parachute and was the first man to dare descend in one—in San Francisco in 1885. For many years he flew and manufactured balloons, dirigibles and planes. In 1893 he operated at the World’s Fair in Chicago the first balloons owned by the United States Army. During the war he was Chief of the Army Balloon Inspection Service.