William Rankin ( born William Henry Rankin , October 16, 1920 - July 6, 2009 ) - US Air Force pilot, a veteran of World War II and the Korean War [1] . Perhaps the only person in the world who, having jumped out of an airplane with a parachute , fell into a severe thunderstorm and survived [2] .
| William Rankin | |
|---|---|
| English William rankin | |
| Date of Birth | October 16, 1920 |
| Place of Birth | Pittsburgh |
| Date of death | July 6, 2009 (88 years old) |
| Place of death | |
| Affiliation |  USA |
| Type of army | US Marine Corps |
| Rank | lieutenant colonel |
| Battles / wars | The Second World War
|
Colonel William Rankin took off on an F-8 U fighter from the South Weymouth , Massachusetts naval air base on Sunday July 26, 1959 and headed for South Carolina [2] . He knew that thunderstorms were foreseen along his plane, but he was sure that he could avoid them by climbing to a great height. So he did when he reached the thunderous front.
At 47,000 feet (14.3 km), a fire alarm suddenly went off and engine speed dropped to zero. The emergency power supply has also failed. At the same time, a thunderstorm raged below, and Rankin's plane was directly above the cumulonimbus cloud [1] .
Rankin was forced to eject. There was no high-altitude spacesuit on it, therefore, as a result, during a fall from a height through a thundercloud, he suffered from frostbite and decompression . Due to powerful ascending air currents, it descended 40 minutes instead of eleven, usually sufficient for such a height [2] . This was the world record for the duration of a parachute descent [3] .
Rankin wrote about his terrible adventure a book called The Man Who Rode the Thunder . In it, he describes in detail his feelings while in the center of a thundercloud. At first, he felt severe pain due to a sharp hypothermia (air temperature was about −50 ° C), but soon ceased to feel it, as unprotected skin areas were rigorized [2] . Rankin suffered much more from the so-called “explosive” decompression: he saw his body swell, as if preparing to burst, and his eyes seemed to be torn from someone’s eye sockets [1] . In his book, he describes these sensations as “the most cruel of tortures” [1] ; the pain was so unbearable that Rankin almost lost hope of survival. He was bleeding from his nose, from his mouth, from his eyes and from his ears. However, he understood that he had to remain conscious at all costs in order to put on his oxygen mask. When, after long efforts, he finally succeeded, Rankin felt incredible relief, almost happiness [1] .
About five minutes Rankin was in free fall: he knew that if he opened the parachute too early, he would stay too long at an altitude where extremely low temperatures prevailed. In addition, the oxygen supply in the mask would not be enough for a longer descent. Instant frostbite helped Rankin not so acutely feel the pain and continue to control his actions [1] .
Finally the parachute opened; at the same time, turbulence intensified. In addition, lightning flashed inside the clouds and thunder roared. According to Rankin, the peals of thunder rang out so close that he perceived them not as a sound, but as a painful physical effect to which his whole body reacted [1] . Only thanks to the helmet that protected the eardrums, Rankin was not deaf. As for lightning , he also did not perceive them the way they are usually seen from the ground - nearby they seemed huge, several feet thick, streaks of blue light [1] . Even with closed eyelids, they were blinding. At one point, Rankin opened his eyes and saw the dome of his own parachute in the light of sparkling lightning. It seemed to him that he was under the arches of a giant cathedral, and he decided that he had already died [1] .
The rain was so heavy that its currents flooded Rankin's face, and he could hardly breathe. But he retained the presence of the spirit so much that he could even imagine a picture full of black humor : his body would be found somewhere on a tree, with light, full of water, and everyone would rack their brains as he managed to drown [1] . Then the rain gave way to hail : Rankin had the feeling that thousands of hammers were drumming on his body. He was sure that only a helmet protected his head from serious damage.
Rankin was most afraid of landing over a pond or swamp, but, fortunately, the wind carried his parachute to the forest. While still in the sky, he tried to navigate the terrain, therefore, despite the grave condition, he managed to get out on his own and ask for help. He was taken to Ahoski Hospital ( North Carolina ).
When the doctors subsequently examined Rankin, they stated that his skin discolored under the influence of the cold, and his body was covered with bruises and abrasions due to the impact of hailstones. In addition, the skin left imprints of the seams of the suit when the pilot's body expanded due to decompression [2] . He also showed broken bones and internal bleeding [3] . The fact that he generally survived seemed to doctors a miracle. However, his adventure did not have any serious consequences for Rankin's organism [3] .
Rankin subsequently found out that the thunderstorm he had hit was one of the strongest ever recorded on the US East Coast [1] . His unique experience was repeatedly written in the press and in books on aviation and meteorology [3] .
Notes
- ↑ 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 The Man Who Rode the Thunder .
- ↑ 1 2 3 4 5 Entertaining cloud science, 2007 .
- ↑ 1 2 3 4 F8U Crusader .
Literature
- W. Rankin. The Man Who Rode the Thunder. - Prentice Hall, 1960 .-- 220 p. - ISBN 0135482712 .
- Gavin Pretor Pinney . Entertaining cloud science. Cloud Lover Tutorial = The Cloudspotter's Guide. - Gayatri, 2007 .-- 400 p. - 2000 copies. - ISBN 978-5-9689-0088-3 .
Links
- W. Rankin. The Man Who Rode the Thunder (excerpt from the book ) . Date of appeal October 21, 2015.
- Rankin's F8U Crusader Date of treatment October 21, 2015.
- Alan Bellows. Rider on the storm . Date of treatment October 21, 2015.
- HEROES: The Nightmare Fall . Time (Aug. 17, 1959). Date of treatment October 21, 2015.