Post by Dave Homewood on Apr 23, 2013 23:11:30 GMT 12
Here is a rather thrilling story that really would make a superb film plot! From Papers Past
Auckland Star, Volume LXXIV, Issue 125, 28 May 1943, Page 3
AMAZING ESCAPE
LOST IN HIMALAYAS
Airmen's Hazards After Crash On 14,000 ft Mountain
N.Z. Press Association—Copyright Rec. 11.30 a.m.
NEW DELHI, May 27
One of the war's most remarkable escape stories was told when two Americans, Captain Rosbert, of Seattle, and Captain Hammel, of Philadelphia, reached an air base in Assam after they had been given up as lost while flying supplies to China. They encountered a storm over the Himalayas and turned back when the windshield became coated with five inches of ice.
Buffeted by the gale, they flew blind through thick cloud and crashed into the mountainside. The Chinese radio operator was killed outright. Captain Rosbert broke an ankle and Captain Hammel's ankle was sprained.
"We were on top of a snowfield on a 14,000 ft mountain," said Captain Rosbert, "and for five days we sat wrapped in our parachutes until we felt well enough to move. It was below zero all the time. On the sixth day our food was running low, so we tore a plank from the plane, worked our way to the edge of the mountain and started to slide down the slope at 30 miles an hour.
"We reached the tree-line and huddled together in a cave, for the night. Next day we hobbled along gorges over precipitous rocks. We found some dead birds and ate them raw. On the eighth day we came to a mountain hut, where a native gave us maize. We lived there for three weeks, nursing our injuries.
"Then the head man told us that a British survey party was four days' journey away. We sent a note to the party and were picked up. For over a fortnight we went with the partj', sliding over gorges on cables and negotiating mountain shelves on the backs of natives." Captain Rosbert and Captain Hammel had been missing 46 days when they reached the air base.
Auckland Star, Volume LXXIV, Issue 125, 28 May 1943, Page 3
AMAZING ESCAPE
LOST IN HIMALAYAS
Airmen's Hazards After Crash On 14,000 ft Mountain
N.Z. Press Association—Copyright Rec. 11.30 a.m.
NEW DELHI, May 27
One of the war's most remarkable escape stories was told when two Americans, Captain Rosbert, of Seattle, and Captain Hammel, of Philadelphia, reached an air base in Assam after they had been given up as lost while flying supplies to China. They encountered a storm over the Himalayas and turned back when the windshield became coated with five inches of ice.
Buffeted by the gale, they flew blind through thick cloud and crashed into the mountainside. The Chinese radio operator was killed outright. Captain Rosbert broke an ankle and Captain Hammel's ankle was sprained.
"We were on top of a snowfield on a 14,000 ft mountain," said Captain Rosbert, "and for five days we sat wrapped in our parachutes until we felt well enough to move. It was below zero all the time. On the sixth day our food was running low, so we tore a plank from the plane, worked our way to the edge of the mountain and started to slide down the slope at 30 miles an hour.
"We reached the tree-line and huddled together in a cave, for the night. Next day we hobbled along gorges over precipitous rocks. We found some dead birds and ate them raw. On the eighth day we came to a mountain hut, where a native gave us maize. We lived there for three weeks, nursing our injuries.
"Then the head man told us that a British survey party was four days' journey away. We sent a note to the party and were picked up. For over a fortnight we went with the partj', sliding over gorges on cables and negotiating mountain shelves on the backs of natives." Captain Rosbert and Captain Hammel had been missing 46 days when they reached the air base.
