Former President George Bush tandem jumps with Staff Sgt. Bryan Schell and other members of the Golden Knights for his 80th birthday on June 14, 2004.
The former Navy pilot’s first jump took place September 2nd, 1944 when he was shot down by Japanese fire and forced to bail out of his Avenger torpedo bomber during a bombing run off of Chichi Jima in the Pacific theater. Bush paddled against the current for hours to avoid capture and was rescued by a U.S. submarine.
Bush’s second jump fulfilled a promise he made to himself nearly 53 years ago – to make a successful parachute jump just for fun. Bush’s third jump on June 9, 1999 celebrated his 75th birthday.
He’s 83 and just had hip replacement surgery in January, but that isn’t keeping former President George H.W. Bush from skydiving. Bush celebrated the grand reopening of his presidential museum Saturday with a surprise skydive. Bush jumped Saturday strapped to an expert from the Army Golden Knights parachute team, as he did three years ago.
It was his sixth jumped and planning to do it again on his 85th birthday on 2009.
The 69,000-square-foot museum, described by the former president as the “centerpiece of my library,” has been mostly closed since April for an $8.3 million facelift.
Jim Clash, Chris Needels on George Bush’s Skydiving 1997-1999
video by YOUTUBE and Associated Press
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