William Rankin

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William Henry Rankin (* 16th October 1920 ; † 6. July 2009 ) is next to Ewa Wiśnierska the only known person to a passage by a cumulonimbus - thundercloud survived. He was a pilot in the United States Marine Corps and a World War II and Korean War veteran . He flew an F-8 - fighter aircraft over a cumulonimbus cloud, precipitated as the engine, causing him to trigger his ejection seat forcibly, making it into the cloud jumped . Lieutenant Colonel Rankin wrote a book titled "The Man Who Rode the Thunder" ( German  The man on the Thunder ) about his experience.

The case

On July 26, 1959, Rankin, followed by Lieutenant Herbert Nolan as Rankin's wingman , flew from Naval Air Station South Weymouth , Massachusetts to Beaufort . The formation rose above a thundercloud, the ceiling of which was approximately 13,700 meters (45,000 feet). At about 14,300 meters (47,000 feet) and Mach 0.82, Rankin heard a loud thump and rumble of the engine. This failed and a fire warning light flashed. He pulled the lever to trigger the auxiliary turbines, but the lever broke off in his hand. Even though he wasn't wearing a pressure suit , Rankin released his ejector seat. Nolan, whose plane was unharmed, noted the time of disembarkation at 6:00 p.m. local time. After about ten seconds, Rankin reached the top of the storm cloud, the air temperature being about −50 ° C. He suffered instant frostbite and the pressure differences led to decompression sickness , which manifested itself in his eyes, ears, nose and mouth starting to bleed. His abdomen swelled so much that it appeared to be pregnant. He managed to use the emergency oxygen. The strong updrafts and downdrafts slowed Rankin's fall speed and threw him up and down, where he was hit by hailstones . Due to the lower pressure of the thunderstorm, the parachute's barometric switch was triggered before Rankin got into the breathable zone below about 3,000 meters (10,000 feet). The violent movements made him vomit. The rain made him hold his breath so as not to drown. A bolt of lightning flashed his parachute, causing Rankin to believe he had died. Conditions improved and he ended up in a forest. His watch read 6:40 p.m. local time. Rankin estimated the time he had spent in the thunderstorm to be 30 minutes. The height at which he found himself is also known as the death zone .

Rankin was looking for help in the street and was taken to hospital in Ahoskie ( North Carolina admitted). He suffered from frostbite, welts, bruises and severe decompression, spent several weeks in the hospital and then returned to active duty as a pilot.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e f Gavin Pretor-Pinney: The Cloudspotter's Guide . The Cloud Appreciation Society, 2007, ISBN 978-0-340-89589-4 , pp. 320 .
  2. ^ William H. Rankin: The Man Who Rode the Thunder . Prentice Hall, Englewood Cliffs 1960, ISBN 0-13-548271-2 , pp. 208 .
  3. ↑ HEROES: The Nightmare Fall. Time , August 17, 1959, accessed July 11, 2012 .
  4. ^ A b c Vince Johnson: Airman Relives 47,000-Foot Drop , Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Oct. 14, 1959, Archived on Google News , Retrieved July 11, 2012
  5. ↑ a b Alan Bellows: RIDER ON THE STORM , Damn Interesting, October 6, 2011, accessed July 11, 2012
  6. ↑ Cherie Bowser: Ejected from Jet Fighter at 47,000 Feet and Surviving a Free Fall and Thunderstorm, July 28, 2009, accessed July 29, 2018
  7. ^ Matt: Thunder Drop: Life Inside a Thunderstorm , dated May 3, 2012, accessed July 11, 2012
personal data
SURNAME Rankin, William
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Rankin, William Henry (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American pilot, survivor of a storm cloud fall
DATE OF BIRTH October 16, 1920
DATE OF DEATH July 6, 2009