Word: chuted
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Dates: during 1950-1959
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...Good Chute. As the Crusader lost altitude and sank into the clouds, .Rankin put his life in the hands of the ingenious engineers who had sweated for years to anticipate his problem. He pulled two overhead handles to trigger a fast sequence: 1) a canvas windscreen came down over his face, 2) the plane's canopy blew off, 3) an explosive charge sent seat and pilot into the thin, -65° air, and 4) in the air a cable from the plane yanked the metal seat off his rump, left Marine Rankin above 40,000 feet with...
...desire to pull the ripcord. I had to keep telling myself, 'If you do, you'll slow down and freeze to death or die from lack of oxygen.' Just as I was considering pulling the cord, I felt a shock. I looked up to see the chute. All I could see was cloud. But I could tell from pulling on the risers that I had a good chute...
...lightning. Boy, do I remember that lightning. I never exactly heard the thunder; I felt it. I remember falling through hail, and that worried me; I was afraid the hail would tear the chute. Sometimes I was falling through heavy water-I'd take a breath and breathe in a mouthful of water. Sometimes I had the sensation I was looping the chute. I was blown up and down as much as 6,000 feet at a time. It went on for a long time, like being on a very fast elevator, with strong blasts of compressed air hitting...
Getting Warmer. "At one point I got seasick and heaved. I went up and joined the chute. It draped over me like a sheet, and I was afraid that when I blossomed again, I'd be tangled in the shrouds and risers. But I wasn't, thank God. At last, I realized I was getting warmer. The air was smooth. And rain was falling on me. I figured I was down to 300 or 500 feet. I told myself, 'All I have to do now is make a good landing...
...Stapp, rocket-sledding holder of the world land speed record (632 m.p.h.), found himself in a jam when the plane's engine flamed out. No slouch in an emergency, Stapp ejected himself at "somewhere between 8,000 and 10,000 feet," back-somersaulted four times, then opened his chute to float to earth. His only memorable injury: a chipped ankle bone. His pilot, Captain Harry B. Davis, a Negro fighter-pilot veteran of the Korean war, was not so lucky, died after his parachute failed to bloom properly...