The last image of Franz Reichelt, an Austrian-born French tailor who is remembered for jumping to his death from the Eiffel Tower while testing a wearable parachute of his own design.
Like all parachutes, Reichelt’s idea relied on the increasing the surface area of a falling person in an attempt to slow their descent, but instead of being attached to an overhead canopy, his parachute would be integrated into the flight suit itself.
Reichelt’s suit had a number of extra panels and flaps that would deploy as a person was in freefall. Or at least that was the idea.
