National Affairs: Drowned in Air

One by one, the 36 paratroopers dropped from the hatch of the high-tailed C-123 troop carrier. Their static lines, the 15-ft.-long "ripcords" attached to the plane, automatically plucked open the parachutes, set them free to drift, like whitish blossoms, over "Drop Zone Salerno" at Fort Bragg, N.C. "All troops away," sang the crew engineer into the intercom, and then he began routinely pulling in the static lines, which were wind-plastered against the fuselage. Suddenly he realized that one was stuck fast, looked down and under the plane to see a sprawling jumper being dragged through space, belly up, eight feet beneath...

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