Bird Man's Death Jump
The Pathe cameras caught this tragic piece of footage in 1963. Gerard Masselin is the jumper who dies when his parachute fails to open. We can't find much about this man or what he was trying to achieve.
British Pathé
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Unknown user says
Wikipedia states that he was demonstrating a "wingsuit" and that it failed to work properly - though he appears to be wearing something akin to today's wingsuits, he also appears to be wearing a backpack that is likely to be a parachute ; a clip from a The Age (an Australian newspaper) dated Tuesday September 17, 1963 says that he died when his parachute failed to open. Both say that he was a stuntman, so at least that's one bit of extra information.
The Age clip is at: http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1300&dat=19630917&id=-TRVAAAAIBAJ&sjid=E5UDAAAAIBAJ&pg=3608,2523544
Wikipedia (a small mention under "accidents"): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wingsuit_flying
Unknown user says
Oh, I found more... https://uk.news.yahoo.com/on-this-day---birdman--gerard-masselin-dies-after-parachute-fails-164733016.html#XaLbRFH A lot more!