Survival on One Foot

A student paratrooper stepped into space, 700 ft. over Britain. The plane zipped away at 80 m.p.h. The paratrooper counted, pulled the ripcord--continued to fall like a stone. His chute did not open properly. The 154 Ib. paratrooper plummeted the 700 ft. in 10 seconds, hit the earth at 50 m.p.h.

Surprised stretcher-bearers found him barely conscious, but showing no fractures or paralysis. Dumfounded doctors gave him morphine and atropine to ease his pain and keep him quiet. In a few minutes he was so restless that his arms and legs had to be strapped to the stretcher. X-rays showed that he had only a compression fracture of one vertebra in the middle of his spine.

Captain F. G. Neild and Flight Lieut. C. M. Mackenzie, who reported the case in the British Medical Journal, believe that the paratrooper survived because he landed on one foot and fell sideways--the landing technique which U.S. experts now warn against. Nevertheless, this prevented the full force of his landing from being transmitted through his legs and spine to the base of his skull.

After immobilization in a plaster cast, the paratrooper's progress was steady. He was mentally clear and cheerful.

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