Frank Derry helped build one of the most dangerous professions in America by solving a problem that did not have an established answer yet: how do you safely parachute firefighters into rugged mountain terrain?

Smokejumping ranked among our Top 10 Toughest Jobs in the World in 2026. Derry belongs in the Career Journalist series because he paired that extreme work with aircraft experience, entrepreneurship, equipment design and invention.

The Frank Derry Collection at Eastern Washington University documents a career that began with a summer as a Forest Service smokechaser in 1922. Derry later worked for Northrop Aircraft in California, established Derry Parachute Service in 1936 and became a West Coast distributor for Eagle parachutes.

Associated Press goes inside the modern smokejumper job and the specialized parachuting it still requires.

Then came the experimental years. In 1939, Derry participated in the early Pacific Northwest smokejumping tests that helped prove firefighters could be inserted by parachute into remote country. He later became a trainer and equipment developer for the growing program.

EWU’s archive credits Derry with development work on the static-line system in 1941 and a steerable parachute in 1942–43. The famous “Derry slots” modified a round canopy so a jumper could exert directional control instead of simply drifting wherever the wind carried the parachute.

The broader National Interagency Fire Center history describes just how experimental this era was: parachutes, harnesses, protective suits, deployment systems and landing procedures all had to be created for a job that barely existed.

The U.S. Forest Service shows the modern smokejumper pipeline from preparation and parachuting to work on an active fire.

Derry eventually served as head instructor to an estimated 400 smokejumpers. His work extended beyond one parachute design into jump suits, harnesses and canopy systems that helped turn an experiment into an operational profession.

That puts him in the same Career Journalist tradition as smokejumper-turned-dentist Robert Rosenthal and EOD technician-turned-ultramarathoner Aaron Hale: people who mastered a high-consequence job and then added another demanding skill set.

Derry’s résumé stands out for another reason. He was not merely performing a dangerous job. He was helping invent the equipment that made the job possible.

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