What is the Caterpillar Club? 

I've been around water for my whole life.  On occasion I've had to jump out of a boat due to a outboard motor on fire, or the sailboat over turning.  I always had that seat cushion or life perserver to hold on to.   Before April 28, 1919 there was no way to jump out of a plane and deploy a parachute yourself.  Some model of tethered parachutes were made, but if the plane spun out of control the parachute could not deploy.  It was Leslie Irvin's dream to develop a chute that you could deploy at will.  Irvin was asked to join the Air Corps parachute research team, and in April of 1919 he would test his design.

It was thought that if you were to jump from a plane that you would not have any control of your limbs to deploy a parachute.  Going at 100 mph 1000 feet in the air Irvin proved them wrong.  With a smart pull of his rip cord Irvin's 28' chute deployed.  His excitement from the jump caused Irvin to make a careless landing and he broke his ankle, but he considered it a small price to pay.

Any person from that time on who jumped from a disabled aircraft with a parachute became a member of the Caterpillar Club.  In 1922 Lieutenant Harold R. Harris chief of the McCook Field Flying Station  Jumped from a disabled monoplane.  From Don Glassman's book Jump gave this account of the name of the club.

"Discussion arose as to the probable outcome of this one jump, and a realization that many more were to follow.  I believe Timmerman first suggested that a club be formed to embrace these intrepid airmen.  Suggestions for approiate names were offered.  We decided that 'Sky Hookers' and 'Crawlers' were week and ineffective.  Not long after our conversation, I received literature about the Caterpillar Tractor Company from a relative, showing a design for their advertisements, that is, a wavy streak with 'Caterpillar' written across its face.

I immediately got in touch with Timmerman and Hutton, and suggested to them that the organization be called 'Caterpillar Club' for several reasons, namely: The parachute main sail and lines were woven from the finest silk.   The lowly worm spins a cocoon, crawls out and flies away from certain death, if it remains in sight of the cocoon.  A better example of what a pilot or passenger should do in the case of an uncontrollable plane could not have better figurative depiction."

In 1922 Leslie Irvin made a pledge to donate a gold pin to every person whose life was saved from one of his parachutes.  By the 1950's the number of members in the club had grown to over 80,000 members.  I had thought that the Irvin Air Chute company was the only company to issue caterpillar pins.  Not long ago while surfing the web on Ebay.com I started looking for Caterpillar Club artifacts.   I did not think I would find any, but to my surprise I did.  I found out that the Pioneer Parachute Co. donated plaques to people to packed parachutes for caterpillar club members.  The Switlik Parachute Company issued both gold and silver pins.   The Irvin Air Chute company issued gold pins with ruby eyes to its members.   Below you will find copies of advertisements for the various parachute companies, and some types of caterpillar pins.