Talk:Gary Connery

Errors

Hi. I see a couple of errors here. One, the article states that he is the first to jump and land without a parachute, "(from) a height of 2,400 metres (7,900 ft)" and on the Main Wikipedia page for March 4, 2013, it says, ""Did you know... ... that Gary Connery is the first skydiver in history to land from a 2,400-foot (730 m) jump without a parachute?" I grew up hearing about the first landing without a parachute in WWII. A British flyer was in a disabled plane in flames, and his parachute was damaged. He jumped from great height, the height of 30,000 feet sticks in my mind. He was picked up by the German forces, and treated with great respect. I read a short story based on his jump in the "Childcraft" series of books that accompanied our Worldbook Encyclopedias as a child. It told the story of him jumping from the plane, and plummeting towards the ground until he passed out from his speed, and recovering in a British hospital, and the officer who came to debrief him. Before he was debriefed, a nurse came in and bathed him. The water was very soft. He was all ready to relate how hard the water was as he was growing up, but said nothing. He crawled out of bed with great effort, and observed a sign outside. When the British officer came to debrief him, he gave name, rank, and serial number. He had observed a sign written in German. They had tried to appear as British in order to obtain secrets. Forgive my ignorance of how this post should be made, but I hope someone with better research skills and a better understanding of Wiki Form can do a better job.--User:Tom — Preceding unsigned comment added by 76.254.65.12 (talk) 20:39, 4 March 2013 (UTC) I found this:

[dead link as of 2016] http://www.militaryphotos.net/forums/showthread.php?173042-Amazing-Parachute-Survival-Falls-of-WWII

"STEPHEN ALKEMADE Flight Sergeant Nicholas Stephen Alkemade (1923 – 1987) was a tail gunner for a Royal Air Force Avro Lancaster bomber during World War II who survived a fall of 18,000 feet (5500 m) without a parachute after his plane was shot down over Germany.

On 24 March 1944, 21 year old Alkemade was a member of No. 115 Squadron RAF and his Lancaster II "S for Sugar" was flying to the east of Schmallenberg, Germany on its return from a 300 bomber raid on Berlin, when it was attacked by a Luftwaffe Junkers Ju-88 night-fighter, caught fire and began to spiral out of control. Because his parachute was destroyed by the fire, Alkemade opted to jump from the aircraft without one, preferring his death to be quick, rather than being burnt to death. He fell 18,000 ft (5500 m) to the ground below. His fall was broken by pine trees and a soft snow cover on the ground. He was able to move his arms and legs and suffered only a sprained leg. The Lancaster crashed in flames and the pilot Jack Newman and three other members of the seven man crew did not survive and are buried in Hanover War Cemetery.

He was subsequently captured and interviewed by the Gestapo who were initially suspicious of his claim to have fallen without a parachute until the wreckage of the aircraft was examined. He was then a celebrated POW before being repatriated in May 1945. (Reportedly the orderly Germans were so impressed that Alkemade had bailed out without a parachute and lived that they gave him a certificate testifying to the fact.)"--User:Tom — Preceding unsigned comment added by 76.254.65.12 (talk) 20:50, 4 March 2013 (UTC)

Thank you for the information. I fixed the conversion error in the article. As far as the rest of your message the operating word here is "skydiver". The flyer you are referring to was not a "skydiver" but became one by accident. He also did not "plan" to skydive without a parachute like Connery did. Finally that he survived by a miracle does not qualify as a "planned landing". Clearly Connery had planned the flight, the glide using a wingsuit and the landing strip made up of 18,600 boxes so that the stunt would be survivable and repeatable and not an one-off miracle. Δρ.Κ. ^{λόγοςπράξις} 21:28, 4 March 2013 (UTC)

If you look at the link I provided, you can see that it is not a, "one-off miracle," nor was 18,000 feet the highest fall. Your posting labels it as the, "World's first landing without a parachute."--User:Tom — Preceding unsigned comment added by 76.254.65.12 (talk) 16:19, 5 March 2013 (UTC)

In the context of the article the landing is understood to be the one following the wingsuit jump. But more specificity wouldn't hurt. I changed the section title to make it more clear. Thank you. Best regards. Δρ.Κ. ^{λόγοςπράξις} 17:14, 5 March 2013 (UTC)

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