Thrilling Aerial Show Is Serious Business

CBS Evening News: Golden Knights Parachute Team Has Entertained For 50 Years - But Mission Is Deadly Serious

(CBS)  More than 8,500 air shows across 50 states - and some 50 countries.

The U.S. Army's Golden Knights parachute team has spent the last five decades making crowds look straight up, reports CBS News correspondent Kimberly Dozier.

The Golden Knight alums started it all.

"We started without a budget," said founding member Will "Squeak" Charette. "We begged for airplanes and we used our own parachutes."

Now the team field-tests the best gear the Army's got, and they've cleaned up on awards.

The tandem team has jumped with athletes, presidents and even a correspondent or two - including Dozier.

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Read Kimberly Dozier's reporter's notebook on the Golden Knights.

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They are in effect a U.S. Army advertising powerhouse, reaching an estimated audience of 800 million eyeballs a year - some of them a couple times over - through air shows, magazine and newspapers, and of course, television.

And when they're not jumping out of airplanes, they're training the U.S. military's special forces how to get to work in places like Afghanistan, so no one sees them coming.

The parachute team is currently led by Green Beret Colonel Tony Dill.

"Drop in from 35,000 feet and before you know it, you're touching down and knocking on their front door," Dill said. "It's safer to fly than drive."

But jumping with all that gear takes a lot of training.

"It's very difficult to jump combat equipment," Dill said. "Day one they were landing spread out the size of a football field. By the time they left, they all landed within about 30 yards of the dead center."

So it may look like a great show - but this is deadly serious business.

Golden Knight Ben Borger is perfecting the winged suit, which essentially turns him into a human glider. That could carry combat troops even farther behind enemy lines.

"We could put this on with a small amount of equipment and weapons and probably travel ten miles," Borger said.

But this time, they won't be letting anyone know they're coming.