MASTER of PARACHUTE
Do you know, who was the first to catapult from a plane in Poland? Do you know, who holds the Polish record in the freefall parachute jump? If you don't know - read on...
On September the 4th, 1957, on a bright, warm morning, a jet-plane Ilyushin-28 made a take off.
Colonel Józef Ostrowski was the pilot, with major Ludwik Pimkiewicz as a navigator, and there on board, in a bomb well, dressed in an almost astronaut-style garment, captain Tadeusz Dulla a well-known military parachutist, was sitting. The bomb well was lined with felt to make it a somewhat warmer place. The garment weighed almost 100 pounds, and the parachutist was also equipped with a special oxygen respirator with a flat oxygen vessel. The plane, purposefully disarmed to reach a higher altitude, climbed to the level of more than 40,000 feet. The bomb door was opened at 42,490 feet, on a border of the stratosphere, where the temperature reached -74 degrees. Capt. Dulla, after several seconds of tumbling (the velocity of the plane exceeded 370 mph), stabilised his position with the freefall speed of 380 fps. He felt an intense cold, and pressure jumps almost made him deaf. He knew he was falling in the direction of the ground, but a glossy layer of clouds at 16,000 feet gave an illusion of climbing to
the glittering ceiling. The velocity was decreasing due to the densification of the atmosphere, but in the third minute of his dive the parachutist, with the parachute still closed, was already on the level of 5,300 feet after he had passed the lower level of clouds at 6,500 feet. Tadeusz started to count seconds aloud. At the height of 1300 feet, while parachutist's velocity was still 160 fps, the parachute appeared above his head. Tadeusz Dulla landed safely not far from a smoke candle lit by his colleagues at the airfield in Kroczewo, making a fall from an altitude of 42,490 feet in 4 minutes 45 seconds, with a free fall of 41,010 feet (3 minutes 15 seconds). It is still a record of Poland.
Colonel Józef Ostrowski was the pilot, with major Ludwik Pimkiewicz as a navigator, and there on board, in a bomb well, dressed in an almost astronaut-style garment, captain Tadeusz Dulla a well-known military parachutist, was sitting. The bomb well was lined with felt to make it a somewhat warmer place. The garment weighed almost 100 pounds, and the parachutist was also equipped with a special oxygen respirator with a flat oxygen vessel. The plane, purposefully disarmed to reach a higher altitude, climbed to the level of more than 40,000 feet. The bomb door was opened at 42,490 feet, on a border of the stratosphere, where the temperature reached -74 degrees. Capt. Dulla, after several seconds of tumbling (the velocity of the plane exceeded 370 mph), stabilised his position with the freefall speed of 380 fps. He felt an intense cold, and pressure jumps almost made him deaf. He knew he was falling in the direction of the ground, but a glossy layer of clouds at 16,000 feet gave an illusion of climbing to
the glittering ceiling. The velocity was decreasing due to the densification of the atmosphere, but in the third minute of his dive the parachutist, with the parachute still closed, was already on the level of 5,300 feet after he had passed the lower level of clouds at 6,500 feet. Tadeusz started to count seconds aloud. At the height of 1300 feet, while parachutist's velocity was still 160 fps, the parachute appeared above his head. Tadeusz Dulla landed safely not far from a smoke candle lit by his colleagues at the airfield in Kroczewo, making a fall from an altitude of 42,490 feet in 4 minutes 45 seconds, with a free fall of 41,010 feet (3 minutes 15 seconds). It is still a record of Poland.
The record was popularised by newspapers, Tadeusz Dulla gave numerous interviews for the press, and in a popular television programme Eureka he showed the viewers the oxygen apparatus and the garment he had used during his record-breaking
jump.
jump.Parachuting organisations recognise parachute jump records not according to the altitude of jumping, but rather a free fall distance. Nowadays, due to high costs, such jumps are very seldom performed. The world record is held by Eugene Andreev from the USSR, who (on November the 1st, 1962) made a free fall from a distance of 80,380 feet. An earlier attempt of the American, Joseph Kittinger, from the height of 102,800 feet was not recognised as the freefall record, since Kittinger used a drogue to help keep him from tumbling and spinning.
The Polish master of parachute and catapult, now the retired colonel Tadeusz Dulla, was born in 1921 in Tomaszów Mazowiecki. He completed a primary school and a high school (of commerce)
in Zamosc, where the whole family had moved. He had always dreamed of a career in the aviation field, and not even waiting to attain majority, he applied in 1938 to the Military Aviation School for Underaged in Swiecie.
in Zamosc, where the whole family had moved. He had always dreamed of a career in the aviation field, and not even waiting to attain majority, he applied in 1938 to the Military Aviation School for Underaged in Swiecie.The outbreak of the Second World War found him on an aerodrome in Krosno. He was not able to complete his schooling, but immediately after this part of Poland was liberated, he was drafted to the army and landed up in 1944 in a Military Aviation School established in Zamosc, but later moved to Deblin. In 1946 he completed a course for navigators and was proposed to either continue studying at the course for headquarters officers or for parachutists. He chose the second option and thus hit the road to the sporting success described above. He became the parachuting instructor, and he taught and made jumps, as an officer in several air force bases in Lodz, Elblag, Cracow. In the middle of the fifties his score exceeded 600 parachute jumps of many sorts, even for a movie, and at shows on Aviation Day. He performed numerous parachute jumps by night, into the water, or freefall jumps. He jumped from many planes, e.g. Ił-2, PO-2, Li-2, CSS-13, Jak-11, An-2, Tu-2 i many other types of planes. In the summer of 1951, after numerous tests and trials with mannequins and Tadeusz himself, already
a lieutenant, a catapult was mounted in a Tu-2 plane and Tadeusz was catapulted from the plane at the height of 5300 feet. It was the first catapulting of the man from a plane in Poland. This test was very important - it was aimed at convincing pilots, that catapulting was a quite safe way to leave a plane in case of a serious failure. Later, he was catapulted many times from various plane types.
a lieutenant, a catapult was mounted in a Tu-2 plane and Tadeusz was catapulted from the plane at the height of 5300 feet. It was the first catapulting of the man from a plane in Poland. This test was very important - it was aimed at convincing pilots, that catapulting was a quite safe way to leave a plane in case of a serious failure. Later, he was catapulted many times from various plane types.From 1951 Tadeusz Dulla was chief of the Rescue Service of the Air Force Chief Command in Warsaw. His record-breaking, though not the first or the last free fall parachute jump, gave him a major's rank. As a full colonel, he retired in 1979. For two years he worked in Polish civil airlines. Nowadays (2003) 
he lives as a pensioner with his wife Krystyna in Parczew, not far from Lublin. For many years, even when retired, he was passionate hunter. My uncle eagerly recounts his adventures in the air and on land. I decided to write down the story, as there are few now left who once witnessed those events.
Tadeusz Dulla died on February 20, 2007 at the age of 86. He was buried two days later at the Parczew cemetery.
If you can add some facts to this story or want to know more about Tadeusz Dulla, e-mail me.
he lives as a pensioner with his wife Krystyna in Parczew, not far from Lublin. For many years, even when retired, he was passionate hunter. My uncle eagerly recounts his adventures in the air and on land. I decided to write down the story, as there are few now left who once witnessed those events.Tadeusz Dulla died on February 20, 2007 at the age of 86. He was buried two days later at the Parczew cemetery.
If you can add some facts to this story or want to know more about Tadeusz Dulla, e-mail me.
Marek Zalinski
Youtube published an interesting old document on catapulting, where Tadeusz Dulla takes his part:
Last changes made on December 4, 2010
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