Para-Jump Club
Previous/other names: Sports Parachute Club (1976)
Prominent date(s) of activity: 1959 - 1976?
History: The Para-Jump Club was started in 1959 by Dave Peters and Martin Archer-Shee from Montreal (of the Montreal Skydivers). Claimed to be, upon its foundation, to be the only university Para-Jump Club in Canada, boasting thirty members in its first year. Equipment was stored in the basement of the Old Arts Building. After ground training, first jumps with the club required using a static line attached to the aircraft to open the parachute. Club members could wear the club badge after completing the first jump. After qualification to free-fall, open the parachuste with a ripcord and after learning to pack the parachute, participants could wear the UNB Skydiver badge.
Activities: The Club practiced sky-diving, free falling, and maneuvering with an open parachute at 2,200 feet in the air. During Winter Carnivals of the 1960s the club would make demonstration jumps on the frozen Saint John River in Fredericton. Guests from the United States would often participate the Carnival events.
Source(s):
- Up the Hill, 1961, p. 103.
- Up the Hill, 1976, p. 142.
- Email from Dave Peters, 22 October 2019, UA Case 173.
© UNB Archives & Special Collections, 2014