On June 30, 1913, Tiny, aged 20, became the first person-man or woman-to parachute from an airplane. Jumping from a pusher-type biplane piloted by Glen Martin, she landed safely in a meadow in Griffith Park near downtown Los Angeles. Actually, Tiny had been jumping since 1908 as part of a carnival hot-air balloon act, sometimes making as many as three cutaways in one jump. On March 8, 1915, the Chief of the U. S. Army Aeronautical Corps came to San Diego's North Island especially to observe Tiny's demonstration of a parachute jump (from a military plane). The military had not been using parachutes before this time, but shortly thereafter, they became mandatory. During World War I, Tiny served as an adviser to the Aeronautical Corps. In 1922, she gave up parachuting altogether because there was no money in it. Tiny is the only living female member of the Early Birds-a Pre World War I aviators' organization. The parachute she used in history's first recorded jump is on permanent display in the Smithsonian.
