25. The Indestructible Alkemade
An oft-repeated bit of gallows humor bandied about by paratroopers has it that it is not the fall from high up that will kill you. It is the sudden stop at the end that will do you in. The preceding is a good rule of thumb, but like most rules, it has some exceptions. One such was RAF Flight Sergeant Nicholas Stephen Alkemade (1922 – 1987), who served as a rear gunner in an Avro Lancaster heavy bomber on the night of March 24th, 1944.
Part of No. 115 Squadron RAF, Alkemade’s Lancaster was on its way back home from a nighttime bomber raid that had plastered Berlin, when it was attacked by a Junkers Ju 88 configured as a night fighter. The attack set Alkemade’s plane aflame, and it began to spiral out of control. Alkemade’s parachute was burned in the fire. As the flames licked their way towards him, Alkemade decided that he would rather die from a fall than get burned to death, and jumped out of the bomber. He fell 18,000 feet to the ground, but as seen below, somehow managed to escape the Grim Reaper.