This is a short "Pathé Baby film" of an early parachute descent. See how the parachutist has to atach himself to the parachute before jumping. The parachute is already hanging on the wingtip !
According to the Pathé-Baby catalogue this was shot in Dayton, Ohio, where the US Army Air Forces parachute research team was located. So the aviator in question is presumably Leslie Irvin or one of his colleagues. According to Wikipedia, Irvin had first made a parachute jump as a stunt for a 1914 film called Sky High but unfortunately there appears to be no such film in 1914. Anyway, he subsequently joined the research team at Dayton and developed the Irvin parachute, making the first freefall jump in 1919 (the parachute worked but Irvin broke his ankle). The first men known to have been saved in earnest by the Irvin parachute were William O' Connor in 1920 and one Lt. Harris in 1922, after which the Caterpillar Club was formed for all those saved by the parachute. This film presumably dates from about 1920.
The Caterpillar Club is still in existence in England and still hands out Caterpillar pins to those who jumped out of a disabled aircraft and had their life saved by a parachute.
