Carl Boenish

Carl Boenish, D-2556, was a pioneer freefall photographer capturing many of the earlier relative work jumps and was the aerial cinematographer for the feature-length movie “Gypsy Moths” starring Burt Lancaster, Gene Hackman and Deborah Kerr. He experiment ed with different film speeds, perfected slow-motion techniques and used creative camera angles including mounting a camera backward on his helmet. Boenish was one of the first camera flyers to modify a jumpsuit with wing extensions to slow his fall rate for large-formation photography. He is considered the father of modern BASE jumping and filmed the first jumps from El Capitan in 1978 helping to popularize that sport. He was posthumously awarded USPA’s Lifetime Achievement Award. Boenish died in a BASE jump off the Troll Wall inNorway in 1984.