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Nicholas Alkemade
Nicholas Stephen Alkemade (10 December 1922 – 22 June 1987) was a British tail gunner in the Royal Air Force during World War II who survived a freefall of without a parachute after abandoning his out-of-control, burning Avro Lancaster heavy bomber over Germany. War service On the night of 24 March 1944, 21-year-old Alkemade was one of seven crew members in Avro Lancaster B Mk. II, ''DS664'', of No. 115 Squadron RAF. Returning from a 300-bomber-raid on Berlin, east of Schmallenberg, ''DS664'' was attacked by a German Junkers Ju 88 night-fighter—flown by Heinz Rökker of , caught fire and began to spiral out of control. Because his parachute had caught fire and was unserviceable, Alkemade jumped from the aircraft without it, preferring to die on impact rather than burn to death. He fell to the ground below. His fall was broken by pine trees and a soft snow cover on the ground. He was able to move his arms and legs and suffered only a sprained leg. The Lancaster ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
North Walsham
North Walsham is a market town and civil parish in Norfolk, England, within the North Norfolk district. Demography The civil parish has an area of and in the 2011 census had a population of 12,634. For the purposes of local government, the parish falls within the district of North Norfolk. Transport The town is south of Cromer, and the same distance north of Wroxham. The county town and city of Norwich is south. The town is served by North Walsham railway station, on the Bittern Line between Norwich, Cromer and Sheringham. The main road through the town is the A149. The town is also located on the B1145, a route that runs between King's Lynn and Mundesley. The town is on the North Walsham & Dilham Canal (privately owned by the North Walsham Canal Company). The canal ran from Antingham Mill, largely following the course of the River Ant, to a point below Honing. A short branch canal leaves the main navigation near Honing and terminates at the village of Dilham. History ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nachtjagdgeschwader 2
''Nachtjagdgeschwader'' 2 (NJG 2) was a German Luftwaffe night fighter and night intruder wing during World War II. Background Night fighter operations did form part of Wehrmacht war games during 1935 and 1936. Luftwaffe Service Regulation No. 16 mentioned night fighting only in Section 253. The regulation stipulated in vague language, that night fighting zones should be established so that night fighters and anti-aircraft artillery did not interfere with each other's operations. The regulation foresaw the use of Search lights in cooperation with pilots. Any hindrance to offensive air forces caused by "restrictive measures" was to be avoided. The prevailing attitude to night fighting left commanders on the ground to carry out research on their own; the first occurred in Berlin, by ''Luftkreiskommando'' II from May to November 1936. The ''Oberkommando der Luftwaffe'' did order experiments with searchlights and aircraft from the summer, 1937. In 1939 several night fighter ''staffel ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
List Of Sole Survivors Of Aviation Accidents Or Incidents
This list includes sole survivors of aviation accidents and incidents that involved 10 or more onboard. Within this list, "sole survivor" refers to a person who survived an air accident in which all other aircraft occupants died as a direct consequence of the accident. This list does not include initial survivors who later died (possibly in another location) due to injuries sustained during the accident. Notable examples The earliest known sole survivor is Linda McDonald. On 5 September 1936, she survived a Skyways sightseeing plane crash near Pittsburgh that killed 9 other people, including her boyfriend. She was 17 at the time. The youngest sole survivor is Chanayuth Nim-anong, who on 3 September 1997, survived a crash when he was just 14 months old. He was the sole survivor of Vietnam Airlines Flight 815, which had 65 deaths in total. The oldest sole survivor is Alexander Sizov, who was 52 years old when YAK-Service Flight 9633 crashed on 7 September 2011, with 44 fatalities. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Freefall
In Newtonian physics, free fall is any motion of a body where gravity is the only force acting upon it. In the context of general relativity, where gravitation is reduced to a space-time curvature, a body in free fall has no force acting on it. An object in the technical sense of the term "free fall" may not necessarily be falling down in the usual sense of the term. An object moving upwards might not normally be considered to be falling, but if it is subject to only the force of gravity, it is said to be in free fall. The Moon is thus in free fall around the Earth, though its orbital speed keeps it in very far orbit from the Earth's surface. In a roughly uniform gravitational field gravity acts on each part of a body approximately equally. When there are no other forces, such as the normal force exerted between a body (e.g. an astronaut in orbit) and its surrounding objects, it will result in the sensation of weightlessness, a condition that also occurs when the gravitation ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Vesna Vulović
Vesna Vulović ( sr-Cyrl, Весна Вуловић, ; 3 January 1950 23 December 2016) was a Serbian flight attendant who holds the Guinness world record for surviving the highest fall without a parachute: . She was the sole survivor after a briefcase bomb exploded in the baggage compartment of JAT Flight 367 on 26 January 1972, causing it to crash near Srbská Kamenice, Czechoslovakia. Yugoslav authorities suspected that Croatian nationalists were to blame, but no one was ever arrested. Following the bombing, Vulović spent days in a coma and was hospitalised for several months. She suffered a fractured skull, three broken vertebrae, broken legs, broken ribs, and a fractured pelvis. These injuries resulted in her being temporarily paralyzed from the waist down. Vulović made an almost complete recovery but continued to walk with a limp. She had no memory of the incident and had no qualms about flying in the aftermath of the crash. Despite her willingness to resume work as ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Alan Magee
Alan Eugene Magee (January 13, 1919 – December 20, 2003) was an American airman during World War II who survived a 22,000-foot (6,700 m) fall from his damaged B-17 Flying Fortress. He was featured in the 1981 ''Smithsonian Magazine'' as one of the 10 most amazing survival stories of World War II. Military career and fall Immediately after the Pearl Harbor attack, Magee joined the United States Army Air Forces and was assigned as a ball turret gunner on a B-17 bomber. On January 3, 1943, his Flying Fortress—B-17F-27-BO, ''41-24620'', nicknamed "Snap! Crackle! Pop!"B-17 #41-24620 "snap! crackle pop!" aircraft information from 303rdbg.com, Magee's unit.—part of the 360th Bomb Squadron, [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Juliane Koepcke
Juliane Koepcke (born 10 October 1954), also known by her married name Juliane Diller, is a German-Peruvian mammalogist and biologist. In 1971, when she was 17 years old, Koepcke survived the LANSA Flight 508 plane crash. After falling while strapped to her seat, the teen survived 11 days alone in the Amazon rainforest. Early life Koepcke was born in Lima, Peru, in 1954 to German parents who worked at the Museum of Natural History, Lima. She was the only child of biologist Hans-Wilhelm Koepcke and ornithologist Maria Koepcke. When Koepcke was 14, her parents left Lima to establish Panguana, a research station in the Amazon rainforest. She became a "jungle child" and learned survival techniques. Educational authorities disapproved and Koepcke was required to return to the Deutsche Schule Lima Alexander von Humboldt to take her examinations. She graduated on 23 December 1971. Crash On Christmas Eve 1971, Koepcke flew on LANSA Flight 508. Koepcke had just graduated from h ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ivan Chisov
Ivan Mikhailovich Chisov (russian: Иван Михайлович Чисов, uk, Іван Михайлович Чиссов; 1916–1986) was a Soviet Air Force lieutenant who survived a fall of approximately 7,000 meters (23,000 feet). Biography Lieutenant Colonel Chisov was a navigator on a Soviet Air Force Ilyushin Il-4 bomber. In January 1942, ''Luftwaffe'' fighters attacked his bomber, forcing him to bail out. Nikolai Zhugan, a crewman on Chisov's flight, later said that Chisov leapt from the plane at an altitude of approximately 7,000 meters (23,000 feet), though other references list Chisov's fall at 6,700 meters (Zhugan himself waited until the plane was at about 5000 meters before also bailing out). With the air battle still raging around him, Chisov intentionally did not open his parachute, since he feared that he would be an easy target for an angry German pilot while he was dangling from his parachute harness. He planned to drop below the level of the battle, and ope ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
RAF Wittering
Royal Air Force Wittering or more simply RAF Wittering is a Royal Air Force station within the unitary authority area of Peterborough, Cambridgeshire and the unitary authority area of North Northamptonshire. Although Stamford, Lincolnshire, Stamford in Lincolnshire is the nearest town, the runways of RAF Wittering cross the boundary between Cambridgeshire and Northamptonshire. History First World War Wittering's use as a military airfield dates back to 5 May 1916 when it began as Royal Flying Corps, RFC Stamford. The aerodrome was initially created for A Flight of No. 38 Squadron RAF, No. 38 (Home Defence) Squadron. In common with other Home Defence squadrons at the time it was used for training during the day and for air defence at night. From the flight's operational declaration in December 1916 until it deployed to France in November 1917, its Royal Aircraft Factory B.E.2, BE2cs, Royal Aircraft Factory R.E.7, RE7s, and Royal Aircraft Factory F.E.2, FE2bs were involved in an ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Barry Sheene
Barry Steven Frank Sheene (11 September 1950 – 10 March 2003) was a British professional motorcycle racer. He competed in Grand Prix motorcycle racing Grand Prix motorcycle racing is the premier class of motorcycle road racing events held on road circuits sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de Motocyclisme (FIM). Independent motorcycle racing events have been held since the start ... and was a two-time List of Grand Prix motorcycle racing World Champions by year, world champion, winning consecutive 500cc titles in 1976 Grand Prix motorcycle racing season, 1976 and 1977 Grand Prix motorcycle racing season, 1977. Sheene's 1977 title remained as Britain's last solo motorcycle world championship until Danny Kent in 2015 Moto3 season, 2015 in the Moto3 category. After a racing career stretching from 1968 to 1984 he retired from competition and relocated to Australia, working as a Sports commentator, motorsport commentator and property developer. Early life ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Prisoner Of War
A prisoner of war (POW) is a person who is held captive by a belligerent power during or immediately after an armed conflict. The earliest recorded usage of the phrase "prisoner of war" dates back to 1610. Belligerents hold prisoners of war in custody for a range of legitimate and illegitimate reasons, such as isolating them from the enemy combatants still in the field (releasing and repatriating them in an orderly manner after hostilities), demonstrating military victory, punishing them, prosecuting them for war crimes, exploiting them for their labour, recruiting or even conscripting them as their own combatants, collecting military and political intelligence from them, or indoctrinating them in new political or religious beliefs. Ancient times For most of human history, depending on the culture of the victors, enemy fighters on the losing side in a battle who had surrendered and been taken as prisoners of war could expect to be either slaughtered or enslaved. Ear ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gestapo
The (), abbreviated Gestapo (; ), was the official secret police of Nazi Germany and in German-occupied Europe. The force was created by Hermann Göring in 1933 by combining the various political police agencies of Prussia into one organisation. On 20 April 1934, oversight of the Gestapo passed to the head of the ''Schutzstaffel'' (SS), Heinrich Himmler, who was also appointed Chief of German Police by Hitler in 1936. Instead of being exclusively a Prussian state agency, the Gestapo became a national one as a sub-office of the (SiPo; Security Police). From 27 September 1939, it was administered by the Reich Security Main Office (RSHA). It became known as (Dept) 4 of the RSHA and was considered a sister organisation to the (SD; Security Service). During World War II, the Gestapo played a key role in the Holocaust. After the war ended, the Gestapo was declared a criminal organisation by the International Military Tribunal (IMT) at the Nuremberg trials. History After Adol ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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