two40 0 #1 December 30, 2006 I was just reading a book, Ripley's Believe it or Not Encyclopedia of the Bizarre, and foud this on page 135: QuoteWhen his plane caught fire over England, Sergeant Jim Webb, of Geneva, Nebraska, bailed out at 23,000 feet and landed astride a horse in a field in Surrey, England and QuoteIn 1942, Lieutenant I. M. Chisov, a Russian pilot, fell 21,980 feet from his fighter plane and survived! it doesn't say whether they had parachutes but i presume they didn't. anyone know anything more about these two gents? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
BillyVance 34 #2 December 30, 2006 Not familiar with those two, but I have heard of the stewardess surviving a fall inside the tail section of an airliner that broke apart."Mediocre people don't like high achievers, and high achievers don't like mediocre people." - SIX TIME National Champion coach Nick Saban Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Zing 2 #3 December 30, 2006 QuoteWhen his plane caught fire over England, Sergeant Jim Webb, of Geneva, Nebraska, bailed out at 23,000 feet and landed astride a horse in a field in Surrey, England Note that it only says he fell out and landed astride a horse ... it doesn't say Sgt. Webb or the horse survived. I did know Gene Minnel from Alaska. Back in the late 70s, early 80s, he cutaway a main about 2 grand and hit the trees and snow at the edge of a parking lot on a demo in Fairbanks, with his reserve still in the container. One of the witnesses ran over to him expecting to find Gene dead ... instead, the corpse said, "That wasn't so bad." He suffered a crushed heel and broken fingers along with severe bruising. Wasn't his day that day. He died from cancer just a few years ago.Zing Lurks Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
katzurki 0 #4 January 7, 2007 QuoteIn 1942, Lieutenant I. M. Chisov, a Russian pilot, fell 21,980 feet from his fighter plane and survived! it doesn't say whether they had parachutes but i presume they didn't. anyone know anything more about these two gents? That was (obviously) during WW-II, emergency bailout from a burning plane after a bombing mission. Ivan had a parachute but the ripcord was severed by a bullet hit, which he noticed when he smoked it fairly low (the intention to deploy low was to avoid being a dangling target for the German planes), so there wasn't much time to do anything. However, he landed on a steep slope, the impact was therefore glancing, and of course the snow helped him. He underwent surgeries and never returned to active duty, though he did resume flying later. I can't find any information whether he is still alive. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
RogerRamjet 0 #5 January 8, 2007 Quote QuoteWhen his plane caught fire over England, Sergeant Jim Webb, of Geneva, Nebraska, bailed out at 23,000 feet and landed astride a horse in a field in Surrey, England Note that it only says he fell out and landed astride a horse ... it doesn't say Sgt. Webb or the horse survived. I did know Gene Minnel from Alaska. Back in the late 70s, early 80s, he cutaway a main about 2 grand and hit the trees and snow at the edge of a parking lot on a demo in Fairbanks, with his reserve still in the container. One of the witnesses ran over to him expecting to find Gene dead ... instead, the corpse said, "That wasn't so bad." He suffered a crushed heel and broken fingers along with severe bruising. Wasn't his day that day. He died from cancer just a few years ago. Personnally, if I cutaway and don't get a reserve out for some reason and survive, I'd have to say it WAS MY DAY! ----------------------- Roger "Ramjet" Clark FB# 271, SCR 3245, SCS 1519 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
