Plunge

It has always been believed that a person who falls through the air for any considerable distance loses consciousness before he reaches the ground. This theory, it is true, had never been verified, since persons so falling have always lost consciousness upon impact with the ground or street, never to regain it. Last week, two army aviators--Sergeant Randall L. Bose, Corporal Arthur Bergo--set themselves to disprove the belief. At Mitchel Field, L. I., they ascended to a height of 3,000 feet in a bombing plane, leaped out with closed parachutes. A large crowd had gathered below. This crowd saw the two begin their plunge, waited to see them open their parachutes. After descending a short distance, however, the men began to twist, whirl, somersault. Screams of horror went up from the onlookers. Rushing to the spot where the two would fall, these spectators found the courageous corporal, the intrepid sergeant. They were unhurt. When they had fallen 1,000 feet, they had pulled the ripcords of their parachutes, descended easily. Both said that at no time had they lost consciousness.