Search results
Lieutenant Colonel William Henry Rankin (October 16, 1920 – July 6, 2009) was the first person to survive a fall from the top of a cumulonimbus thunderstorm cloud. He was a pilot in the United States Marine Corps and a World War II and Korean War veteran.
Jul 26, 2020 · Lt. Col. William Rankin’s book, “The Man Who Rode The Thunder” (Pyramid Books/Prentice Hall; 1960) provides a time capsule insight into the details of aviation’s most remarkable bailout ...
Jul 17, 2023 · Lt. Col. William Henry Rankin was falling. Or, at least, he was trying to fall. A U.S. Marine pilot, Rankin was a veteran of both World War II and the Korean War. Yet it was on July 26, 1959, that he came closest to death.
Feb 12, 2015 · The story of William Rankin fall through a thunderstorm is one of impossible survival against incredible odds. Lieutenant Colonel William Rankin served as a pilot with the US Marine Corps and was a World War II and Korean War veteran.
Jul 18, 2023 · Lt. Col. William Henry Rankin was falling. Or, at least, he was trying to fall. A U.S. Marine pilot, Rankin was a veteran of both World War II and the Korean War. Yet it was on July 26, 1959,...
Sep 7, 2022 · In May 1957, Rankin became the commander of Marine Fighter Squadron 122 (VMP-122), the service’s first Vought F-8U Crusader squadron. It was a big moment not only for the aviator, but also for the Marine Corps, as the aircraft was its first supersonic fighter.
Oct 2, 2023 · Lieutenant Colonel William Henry Rankin gently pulled back the stick of his F-8 Crusader to put the single-engine supersonic fighter jet on a steady climb. His goal was to go over the ominous looking cumulonimbus thunderstorm cloud that was forming just ahead of him.
