ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½

Born just after the War I read all the usual Comics that abounded at the time and one of the stories that appeared more than once was of the Lancaster tailgunner who fell out at 10,000ft and survived. In 1970 I was an engineer in Bristol and my companion on this job just so happened to be THE man.
Until that time I had taken the story as a good read, apocryphal, 'Boys Own' stuff. (Even today people have heard of it - one of those stories that get passed down.)
His name was Arthur MacXXXXXX ('Mac' to everybody)
He fell out of the stricken Lancaster over Southern Germany, plummetted 10,000ft into pine forest and snow.
This cushioned the fall enough for him to survive with badly smashed lower limbs and ankles. He spent the rest of the war in hospital where he met Max Schmelling, the gentle giant who was World Heavyweight Champion 1930-32 and later beat Joe Louis. Schmelling was by then a Physio. having been a paratrooper earlier.
Although noticeably walking still awkwardly even in 1970 Mac was only too willing to climb upto 17 floors to work and descend for teabreak! He was a very quiet, unassuming man who had to be coaxed to tell his story. He also drove a succession of Volkswagens!

© Copyright of content contributed to this Archive rests with the author. Find out how you can use this.