User:Jafalejczyk/sandbox

Francis J. (Frank) Falejczyk

He was born March 8, 1927, in Buffalo, the son of Francis J. and Anna Greszeruk Falejczyk. He attended Saints Peter & Paul School in Jamestown, NY, then High School in Lakewood, NY. Frank was trained in Hardhat or helmeted diving at the Sparling School of Diving and Underwater Welding in Wilmington, California. He was a veteran of World War II, serving in the U.S. Navy.

He had a pilot's license before he had a driver's license. Frank learned to fly at the Jamestown, NY airport. He ferried CUBS for Piper Aircraft, and restored a Heath Parasol with the help of his wife, Eleanor, who sewed all the fabric covering the aircraft.

Frank was a pioneer in the parachute diving community and started the Jamestown Parachute Club. He held an FAI Jumpmaster's License C-37, issued by the National Parachute Jumpers-Riggers Inc. In 1957 he was the only civilian team captain of the U.S. Skydiving Team in international competition and was a member of the Caterpillar Club, an informal association of people who have successfully used a parachute to bail out of a disabled aircraft. .

He was a registered diver with the sheriff of Erie County and a certified explosives blaster with the New York Labor Department. Falejczyk salvaged a Navy AD-6 attack bomber that crashed in the Chautauqua Lake while on a training mission.

Frank was a member of a team of five Navy deep sea divers who set a world record saturation dive of 77 hours in a hyperbarcic chamber at a pressure depth of 1,000 feet. The dive was conducted at Duke University in Durham, North Carolina.

He worked with many noted inventors and divers, including Edwin A. Link, Scott Carpenter and Jacques Cousteau. He was involved with the U.S. Navy Undersea Warfare Group, developing swimmer life support systems at Scott Aviation's Hydrospace Group in Buffalo, New York.

He was the only human subject of a fluid breathing experiment, which resulted in the basis of diving techniques seen in the film The Abyss, and was published in Scientific American and the Science Digest.

In the 1980s he set an ultralight endurance record non-stop of 10 hours and 33 minutes at Dart Aerodrome. He was certified as a flight instructor for visual and instrument flying.

He is survived by his wife, Eleanor of Springville; a daughter, Nancy Falejczyk of Arcade; a son, Joseph Falejczyk; a grandson, Harlan Falejczyk of Rio Nido, California; a sister, Josephine Smith of Lakewood; and his companion of many years, Regina Redecki, with whom he made his home in Buffalo.