Deborah de Costello
203rd Skydiving Fatality -- October 1, 1920
Deborah de Costello had immigrated from Spain with her parents when she was just four years old. At 26, with no living relatives, she was the last of the Tinney Troupe, an aerial circus whose leader had recently lost his life performing at the Michigan State Fair. Leaping from the top wing into a high, cold wind, he had failed to connect with a rope ladder dangling from a higher biplane, and fell 500 feet to his death before the immense crowd.
Miss Costello began as a smoke balloon jumper, then the airplane weaned her from the balloon. Performing as Senorita de Costello, she made her first parachute drop from an airplane at the Michigan State Fair. Eventually, as an aviatrix with the Tinney Troupe, she flew her own airplane, dubbed the "Ethel Dare."
Where her rudderless ark went, she went also. She went a devil-may-care way, in which she got numerous duckings in lakes and scratchings in tree tops. At Bergen Point, New Jersey, she cut an artery when slashing her parachute loose from a balloon. Covered in blood, she was found unconscious when she reached the ground. When others would warn against her persistant flirtation with death, she would smile and say, "If it comes - well..." and snap her fingers.
Her last parachute drop was made at the Leelanau County Fair on the shore of Lake Michigan. She and aviator Charles Radcliffe had contracted for several parachute drops over the crowds, but high winds and storms had prevailed. Despite these adverse conditions, she had made several futile attempts, but, to the disappointment of the spectators, all ended short of jumping. The fair association, concerned for her safety, advised against further efforts. But the creed of the professional dare devil - "Don't disappoint the crowd!" - ruled her heart, so on Friday, faced with a large and anticipatory crowd, Miss de Costello insisted on performing.
The wind was from the northwest, out of the lake, so there was no thought of taking a life preserver or having a motor launch stand by in case of a water landing. At 3100 feet, she cut the parachute loose and left the plane. Radcliffe watched her drift toward Sleeping Bear Point, but as she crossed the point the parachute was seized by a cross-current of air, the existence of which had not been forecast, and was carried out over angry Lake Michigan.
Appreciating the danger, Radcliffe turned back and attempted a desperate maneuver. Three times, without success, he eased close to the parachute and tried to hook it with his plane, knowing full well that he could send the girl plummeting to her death if he tore it apart and it should then slip away. But by the time he came back again for another try, the parachute had hit the water and Miss de Costello had disappeared beneath the tempestuous waves.
PDF at Rick Masters’ Ghosts of Wind and Cloud website