It began like any other May morning in California. The sky was blue, the sun hot. A slight breeze riffled the glistening waters of San Diego Bay. At the naval airbase on North Island, all was calm.
At 9:45 a.m., Walter Osipoff, a sandy-haired 23-year-old Marine second lieutenant from Akron, Ohio, boarded a DC-2 transport for a routine parachute jump. Lt. Bill Lowrey, a 34-year-old Navy test pilot from New Orleans, was already putting his observation plane through its paces. And John McCants, a husky 41-year-old aviation chief machinist’s mate from Jordan, Montana, was checking out the aircraft that he was scheduled to fly later. Before the sun was high in the noonday sky, these three men would be linked forever in one of history’s most spectacular midair rescues.
Osipoff was a seasoned parachutist, a former collegiate wrestling and gymnastics star. He had joined the National Guard and then the Marines in 1938. He had already made more than 20 jumps by May 15, 1941.
That morning, his DC-2 took off and headed for Kearney Mesa, where Osipoff would supervise practice jumps by 12 of his men. Three separate canvas cylinders, containing ammunition and rifles, were also to be parachuted overboard as part of the exercise.
Nine of the men had already jumped when Osipoff, standing a few inches from the plane’s door, started to toss out the last cargo container. Somehow the automatic-release cord of his backpack parachute became looped over the cylinder, and his chute was suddenly ripped open. He tried to grab hold of the quickly billowing silk, but the next thing he knew he had been jerked from the plane—sucked out with such force that the impact of his body ripped a 2.5-foot gash in the DC-2’s aluminum fuselage.
THE AUTOMATIC- RELEASE CORD ON HIS CHUTE WAS LOOPED OVER THE CYLINDER.
Esta historia es de la edición March 2020 de Reader's Digest US.
Comience su prueba gratuita de Magzter GOLD de 7 días para acceder a miles de historias premium seleccionadas y a más de 9,000 revistas y periódicos.
Ya eres suscriptor ? Conectar
Esta historia es de la edición March 2020 de Reader's Digest US.
Comience su prueba gratuita de Magzter GOLD de 7 días para acceder a miles de historias premium seleccionadas y a más de 9,000 revistas y periódicos.
Ya eres suscriptor? Conectar
Do You Kiss Your Dog? - Find out how gross your questionable habits really are, according to health experts
I admit it, when it comes to food, I have some eeew-inducing practices, like skimming mold off old cheddar and feeding the rest to my unsuspecting family. We're still alive, so how bad can it be? Because our gross human habits fall somewhere along the spectrum from mildly cringeworthy to full-on repulsive, I reached out to experts to find out where some common behaviors land on the gross-o-meter.
What's Ailing Our Doctors? - Today's physicians are burned out and battered by spreadsheets. We patients suffer too.
Today’s physicians are burned out and battered by spreadsheets. We patients suffer too. America's doctors are in crisis. Six in 10 physicians say they're burned out, with burnout rates for some specialties, such as primary care, reaching 70%. When polled by the American Medical Association, 40% of doctors said they were considering leaving their practices in the next two years. Another study, conducted by health-care industry publisher Elsevier, revealed concerns about mental health and burnout: 63% of med students in the United States reported that they had no intention of practicing clinical medicine after graduation and will instead work as lab researchers or academics. This is despite a predicted shortage of 124,000 physicians over the next 10 years.
Now Hear This
Losing your hearing suddenly, even if there is no pain, is always urgent
Go for the Gumbo
The soulful stew synonymous with Louisiana is delicious anywhere you eat it
BETWEEN A ROCK AND A HARD PLACE
Pinned by a giant boulder, a hiker had two choices: panic or gut it out. He did both.
Fathers of the Bride
A young woman finds a unique way to honor the many men who helped her survive her childhood
MY SMART PET
These clever critters are some smart C-O-O-K-I-E-S
How Hobbies Help Us
Far from a waste of time, pastimes are good for body, brain and spirit
1+1 = MORE (or LESS)
A math whiz encourages you to play with your numbers
That Kind of Time
A dressing-room encounter made me get real about aging