Wine & Lecture: Skydiving Entrepreneur H. "Skippy" Smith and the Pacific Parachute Company in San Diego

The Coronado Historical Association invites you to the next installment of our Wine & Lecture series:

Skydiving Entrepreneur H. “Skippy” Smith and the Pacific Parachute Company in San Diego.

Eighty-two years ago, Howard “Skippy” Smith founded the nation’s first black-owned and managed defense production plant in San Diego. Agin Shaheed will discuss the life of this skydiver turned entrepreneur. Born in Alabama in 1913, “Skippy” Smith moved to Los Angeles California during the Great Depression with little to nothing in his pocket with hopes of becoming a pilot. By 1939, he had become a renowned skydiver with his partner Mac “Skip” Gravelly. The duo became well known for the difficult and dangerous free fall jumps followed by delayed parachute openings.

Skippy Smith would eventually move to San Diego and become the first African American hired by defense contractor, Standard Parachute to test, pack and inspect parachutes manufactured for WWII. Around the same time, comedian Jack Benny’s partner, Eddie” Rochester” Anderson was looking for ways he could contribute to the war effort. With Anderson’s financial backing, Skippy’s Pacific Parachute Company opened on 8th Street in San Diego in March 1942.

Visit: https://coronadohistory.org/calendar/event/wine-lecture-skydiving-entrepreneur-h-skippy-smith-and-the-pacific-parachute-company-in-san-diego/

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