# RUN OVER BY A B-36... AND LIVES TO TELL ABOUT IT!



## Matt308 (Nov 21, 2007)

BETWEEN THE WHEELS

Not many people can be run over by an automobile and live to tell about it. Most would say that if it was by a B-36, there would not be any chance. Thomas Holste is an exception. Holste was an Intelligence Specialist in the 436th BS and had been in the process of updating all of the map cases that were carried on each plane at all times. The crew navigators would normally return the cases to their plane, but Holste decided to take this one out since the plane was parked very close to the office.

The aircraft was being preflighted at the time, and while the crew chief was running the engines up to 1900 RPM, the brakes failed and the plane jumped the chocks. Holste was climbing the nose entrance ladder one hand at a time while carrying the heavy case of maps in the other. The plane lurched as he was reaching for the next step and he fell as the plane started to roll forward. He was able to position himself so that the nosewheels passed on either side of him. He received some abrasions and other minor injuries, but nothing serious. The USAF Aircraft Accident Review magazine of December 1950 carried this story.


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## timshatz (Nov 21, 2007)

Better to be lucky than good.


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## Gnomey (Nov 21, 2007)

Yeah, he certainly was very lucky - although he did have presence of mind to line himself up between the wheels.


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## DerAdlerIstGelandet (Nov 21, 2007)

Wow talk about fricken scary! One lucky SOB.


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## Matt308 (Nov 21, 2007)




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## ToughOmbre (Nov 21, 2007)

If I were him, I'd be goin' to church every day the rest of my life.

TO


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## Bf109_g (Nov 28, 2007)

I gotta agree with you on that one, TO


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## magnocain (Nov 28, 2007)

Not to be critical or anything, but if he had the time to postilion himself between the wheels, couldn't he just get out of the way entirely? Can you elaborate on this?

Very lucky...


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## FLYBOYJ (Nov 29, 2007)

magnocain said:


> Not to be critical or anything, but if he had the time to postilion himself between the wheels, couldn't he just get out of the way entirely? Can you elaborate on this?
> 
> Very lucky...




He was already on the ground as the plane approached him and did not have time to get up. I've seen the article many years ago.
The pic shows where he fell. If you ever seen a B-36 there's plenty of room between the NLG wheels.


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## Matt308 (Nov 30, 2007)

And keep in mind, those tires are bigger than life. Kinda like asking why you could not dodge an elephant when you are lying on your back right in front of him. Quick thinking I say. Or sheer bloody luck.


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## Gordy Ram (Mar 23, 2010)

Hi All, Tom Holste is my father-in-law and he is alive and well and has told me the story of him getting run over. He did have more then a few bruses but was none the less very lucky. I'll ask him to post something here to give some details of his adventure.

Nice to see someone thinks enough of the story to keep it going.


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## Thorlifter (Mar 23, 2010)

That would be cool Gordy. Thanks for posting...


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## wheelsup_cavu (Mar 24, 2010)

Welcome to the forum Gordy. 8)

I am looking forward to hearing your father in-laws side of the story.
It is always great to hear from someone involved in the _event._


Wheels


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## vikingBerserker (Mar 24, 2010)

Holy fricken gees!


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## syscom3 (Mar 24, 2010)

Gordy, ask him if he has any pics of the B36's at his airbase.


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## Aaron Brooks Wolters (Mar 24, 2010)

WOW!! He was fortunate. And now we might even get the rest of the story. This is so cool.


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## Amber (Mar 26, 2010)

I have heard this story many times all my life and it's still an amazing story!! I'll try to get him on here since he loves to tell the story!! : )


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## FLYBOYJ (Mar 26, 2010)

Amber said:


> I have heard this story many times all my life and it's still an amazing story!! I'll try to get him on here since he loves to tell the story!! : )



Thanks Amber, that would be great!!!!


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## Amber (Mar 26, 2010)

Well, my Pop-Pop doesn't have much patience for the internet so he didn't seem too excited about getting on here but I thought maybe I could relate some of the story for him. Someone before asked if he had any pictures of the B36 and yes he does, I'll see if I can borrow it and scan it in. Funny, I got him talking about it today and he was telling me how fast this all happened (he said the whole event only took seconds) but it still felt like he had alot of time to decide what to do. He was going on adreneline, he said the first thing he thought was that he couldn't believe he didn't get the wind knocked out of him from the fall! He then saw the wheels coming at him fast and realized the only thing he could do was position himself in between them the best he could. The wheels rolled over his body and once he was clear he rolled over and got up and tapped a boy that was nearby on the shoulder and asked for help. He said the boy had seen the whole thing happen but had turned away because he couldn't watch him get crushed to death. The boy was amazed to see he was alive let alone standing up and tapping him on the shoulder!! He was taken to the hospital and amazingly the xrays didn't show any broken bones. Funny he had never broken a bone in his body and then just this past winter he slipped and fell on the ice and broke his foot! He's 80 years old and been run over by a pretty big airplane and he breaks his foot slipping on some ice, lol!! If anyone has any more questions I would be happy to ask him and relate it here! It's really neat that people have an interest in his story after all these years!! : )


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## Aaron Brooks Wolters (Mar 26, 2010)

That is amazing. Amber, if he does not mind it would be interesting to see a photo of him when you post the other photos. Thank you for sharing the story.


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## Amber (Mar 29, 2010)

This pic was taken by my grandfather from another B36 as they were flying, it's a pretty cool pic in my opinion!!


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## FLYBOYJ (Mar 29, 2010)

Very cool - thanks for posting!

"A" models....


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## ToughOmbre (Mar 29, 2010)

Nice photo! 8)

TO


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## Aaron Brooks Wolters (Mar 29, 2010)

Very cool pics!!!


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## Amber (Mar 30, 2010)

B36 BETWEEN THE WHEELS STORY - 6.10.1950
I was taking a navigators map bag (approx 90lbs) out to the navigators station in the nose section of the aircraft. It was an early model of the B36 and had prop engines only. Access to the nose section was a ladder which hung some six to eight feet forward of the twin nose wheel landing gear tires. Climbing the ladder with the map case on my left shoulder forced me to take one rung at a time. I would get into a crouched position, let go of the rung and quickly reach for the next one. The third time I reached I thought I had missed the rung - - not so - - the plane was moving forward. Explanation: They were doing some checkout on the engines and all six were going at a 75% level. There is an electrical braking system and they always have a crew member sitting in the cockpit ready to use the brake pedal if the electrical system fails. The plane was parked facing the hangar. When the system failed the member in the cockpit immediately pressed the manual brake pedals but by the time the hydraulics reacted the plane had jumped the chocks and had rolled some seventy feet before braking. It did stop before getting to the hangar. The flight engineer had also cut all the power to the engines but I guess it takes time for them to shut down. Getting back to my story: As I was falling backward my eyes caught the “NO STEP” writing on the nose wheel doors and I was aware the plane was moving. Landed flat on my back but was already under the influence of adrenalin which took over all my thoughts and reactions. I believe I would definitely had the wind knocked out of me under normal conditions. I immediately looked for the wheels - they looked really close but I felt I had plenty of time to decide what I should do. I was laying crosswise to the tires which were to my left. I first thought about rolling forward and told myself that wouldn’t work -- I’d be in the sitting position when they got to me. Then I thought about flipping backwards - no, that would be the same problem in reverse. Then I saw a little patch of blue between the two wheels and decided to turn and get my head in line with them. As my head went between the tires I realized the nose strut was barely above me. Felt the tires hit both shoulders and the chest felt like it was being squeezed toward the center. Was feeling a lot of pressure but no pain. The center of the chest was forced upward and that nose gear caught hold of the one-piece fatigues and took them from me. Also did not get my arms pulled in and both were run over including the hands. When the hips went under the tires I felt the first real pain -- felt like someone was trying to turn me inside out -- when they cleared the hips the pain was gone and so was the feeling of pressure - I now fit between the wheels. I was waiting for the plane to clear me when I felt the right tire going over my right leg from below the knee. I did not have that leg straight. You would not want to hear all the profanity I used against myself at that moment. When the tires finally got past me I did a back-flip to my feet in a hunched position. It’s absolutely amazing what the body can do while under adrenalin. I was never athletic or even exercised much and I could never do these kind of things. However I was in pretty good shape, thin 32” waist line and an even six feet tall. Reason for the hunched position was the height of the fuselage in that area was less than four feet above the concrete. It got progressively higher as you went towards the rear as is probably near thirty feet at the tail. Also between me and the tail there are four sets of Bombay doors - all of which were open. They had been working in the last one and there was a metal scaffold in it that had punched thru the sides of the fuselage and was being drugged along. I thought about running to the right or left to get out from under the plane and realized there was the main gear and the props to worry about. Decided to face the rear and wait for that scaffolding - thought about grabbing it and swing myself clear -- just as it got to my hands everything came to a halt and it was over. Looking around I saw the guard who was at the front of the plane and I walked to him, tapped him on the arm and said something like “get me some help, I think I’m hurt.” He couldn’t believe it was me - - said the last he saw me I was crosswise to the wheels and he felt they were about to hit me. He turned away because he didn’t want to witness me being crushed and here I was standing next to and talking to him. He started to walk away from me and when I went to go after him my right leg collapsed and I went to the ground; the adrenalin rush was obviously over and I was beginning to feel hurt. Before I go on about the hospital let me say again how powerful our brains are when in a stressful situation. The entire incident from missing that ladder rung to tapping the guard was probably ten seconds or less. It seemed like I had all day to make decisions and react as shown above by asking questions, giving answers, making impossible physical moves etc. People say or believe that I was lucky - I feel it was not my time and that God took over control of my mind. Not once did I have any fear or have any doubts that I would get out of this situation ok - Thank God. When they got me to the Carswell base hospital they began to clean me up. They were wiping my back off with alcohol and I almost screamed from that pain; had hundreds of punctures in the skin from being pressed against the concrete. X-rays showed multiple problems and they ended up having both arms and all ten fingers in splints plus the right foot and ankle. This was a Saturday morning and the accident began shortly after eleven. It was near four when they got me in a bed. I was totally exhausted and wanted nothing but sleep. They woke me around five twenty putting a food tray across my body. Felt like I was starving and wanted nothing to do except eat - thought the orderly would come back and feed me. When he didn’t I realized my hands and fingers didn’t hurt and felt like I could move them. Took all the bandages and splints off both arms and ate my meal. When the doctor came in Monday he wanted to know who took the bandages off. He showed me the X-rays and all fingers looked totally flat - he said I must have rubber bones. Worst injury was a badly sprained right ankle. Was released from the hospital two weeks later. Could not straighten either arm but some six months of physical therapy cured that. 
Thomas P. Holste Sr.
USAF Retired E7
3.28.2010


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## Amber (Mar 30, 2010)

This is a picture my Grandfather, I believe he was about 20 when this was taken. Thanks again to everyone for your interest in his story!!


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## Aaron Brooks Wolters (Mar 30, 2010)




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## Matt308 (Mar 30, 2010)

That's flipping phenomenal. Glad to hear you came out okay, Mr. Holste. Wonderful story... in hindsight ofcourse.


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## RabidAlien (Mar 31, 2010)

Amen! Thanks for sharing!


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## syscom3 (Mar 31, 2010)

Great story!

Thanks for sharing!!!!


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## wheelsup_cavu (Apr 1, 2010)

Just amazing. 
Thanks for posting.


Wheels


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## Vic Balshaw (Apr 1, 2010)

Incredibly luck, someone was looking after him that day.


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## Airframes (Apr 15, 2010)

Incredible is right! Thanks for taking the time to post the account of such a lucky escape.


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