David Waterman was a pioneer in photography, journalism and competition, and a major force in developing the sport. He made his first jump with the Army at the age of 17, in 1954. Later, he found work as a photo journalist, and won British Sports Photographer of the Year 1974 and the Special section of the World Photo Competition (1974) with parachuting images. Thus began 3 decades of Dave’s photography being published worldwide, promoting skydiving as it evolved as a sport. Scenes from A Bridge Too Far, Bollywood and riding a bike out of a C-130 caught the public’s imagination. Dave was Editor of the British Parachute Association magazine for 6 years. He changed its flavor, taking 90% of the photographs, writing quality articles and adding colour pages.
Dave’s team won the first British meet in ‘10-man’ (as it was called in those days), and went on to represent UK at the world meet. A new discipline of 8-way began and Dave formed an 8-way team with Symbiosis, the British 4-way team. They took 4th place in the World Championships in Australia in 1977. The Symbiosis 8-way team dominated for a decade. Dave passed away in 2021.
Date of First Jump: 1954
Born: May 20, 1937
Died: April 21, 2021
