Dating to the 1960s, this Soviet film’s title translates as “People from the Sky” and celebrates the art of skydiving. It features two prominent Russians — including world record holder Valeria Marencheva — and some fantastic photography of the free fall. The film’s lyrical beginning features the female skydiver literally telling the clouds that she loves them! At 2:55 a group of male and female skydivers ascend in a Russian aircraft and then bail out the rear cargo doors at 3:40. At 4:44, a ground radio station communicates to the skydiving team. Their activities are filmed during the drop by a jumper with a 16mm helmet camera.

The Soviets were some of the pioneers in the military use of skydivers. In 1933, the Soviets staged the first mass parachute drop when they dropped 62 parachutists from three bombers. They greatly expanded their parachute units and in 1936 dropped 1,800.

We encourage viewers to add comments and, especially, to provide additional information about our videos by adding a comment! See something interesting? Tell people what it is and what they can see by writing something for example: “01:00:12:00 — President Roosevelt is seen meeting with Winston Churchill at the Quebec Conference.”

This film is part of the Periscope Film LLC archive, one of the largest historic military, transportation, and aviation stock footage collections in the USA. Entirely film backed, this material is available for licensing in 24p HD, 2k and 4k. For more information visit http://www.PeriscopeFilm.com