 |
1919 Leslie Irvin makes the first freefall parachute descent; Irvin Airchute Company is formed. |
 |
1922 Leslie Irvin forms the “Caterpillar Club” for airmen saved by a parachute. |
| |
1925 The UK Government orders Irvin Air Chutes for the Royal Air Force aircrew. |
 |
1933 Irvin Parachute officially adopted by 37 air forces worldwide. |
| |
1940 Irvin and GQ collaborate to produce the X-type Paratroop Parachute Assembly to meet the need for a safe and reliable static line assembly for the new and rapidly expanding Army Airborne Forces. This assembly, with minor modifications, is used throughout WWII and for 20 years beyond. |
 |
1944 D-Day, the largest liberation force in human history is launched with the Allied airborne forces using Irvin designed parachutes. |
| |
1946 The first "live" ejection is made from an aircraft using a Martin Baker ejection seat fitted with an Irvin parachute assembly. |
| |
1950 Irvin brake parachutes first fitted to aircraft of the USAF and Royal Air Force. |
| |
1951 Martin-Baker, in collaboration with Irvin, develops the first autonomous pilot seat ejection system. |
 |
1960 First aerial recovery of a space capsule launched from an orbiting satellite (Discoverer 13) uses an Irvin parachute recovery system. |
 |
1963 Landing brake-parachute developed by Irvin for SR-71. |
 |
1965 Irvin’s first mortar deployed Spin/Stall Parachute Recovery System used on DC9 development aircraft. |
| |
1969 Para-Flite founded to develop, manufacture and market gliding parachutes. |
| |
1976 Irvin develops and qualifies the parachute system for the NASA Pioneer Venus program. |
 |
1976 Goodyear, in collaboration with Irvin, uses a parachute decelerator system to safely land the Viking spacecraft on Mars. |
 |
1978 Irvin flight termination & mid-air recovery system used on the Air Launched Cruise Missile (ALCM). |
 |
1991 Space Shuttle Endeavor successfully lands using an Irvin brake-parachute. |
 |
1996 Irvin designed and tested a cluster of 3 Ringsail parachutes to recover the Boeing EELV concept’s 20,000 lb. propulsion module demonstrating the technology to successfully return the first stage rocket engine to a water landing for subsequent recovery, refurbishment and re-use. |
 |
1998 World-record largest parachute cluster flight for the Kistler K-1 development. Irvin advanced the state-of-the-art of large spacecraft recovery systems. |
 |
1999 F-22 development aircraft successfully conducts flight tests with Irvin’s self-monitoring, pilot-actuated Spin/Stall Parachute Recovery System. |
 |
2003 NASA Pad Abort Demonstrator program flies 156ft diameter Ringsail cluster—recovery system test, demonstrating technology for a future manned spacecraft crew. |
 |
2004 Cassini-Huygens mission—Titan moon of Saturn exploration. Irvin provided parachute design and manufactured the parachute system. |
 |
2005 SpaceX - Irvin developed the parachute recovery system for 1st stage recovery of Falcon I commercial launch vehicle for low cost transport of satellites to low earth orbit. |
| |
2006 Para-Flite successfully tests the "Mega-Fly", breaking the world record with the largest ram air canopy ever flown. |
| |
2007 Airborne Systems combines the legacy and core technologies of Irvin Aerospace, GQ parachutes, Para-Flite, Irvin Canada and AML into one single company |
