ARMED FORCES: Abandon Ship

The big B-36 southbound from Alaska was on its last flight. Three of its engines were ablaze and it was settling fast. At 5,000 feet, Captain Harold L. Barry passed the order over the intercom: "Abandon ship." Then he cut in the automatic pilot. In the radio compartment just abaft the pilots' seats, Staff Sergeant Vitale Trippodi tied down his radio key to keep a signal on the air as long as the aircraft was 'aloft, and dove for the escape hatch. Within seconds, all 17 aboard had leaped into a 55-mile gale, drifted down into the wilderness of...

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