RUN OVER BY A B-36... AND LIVES TO TELL ABOUT IT!
- Thread starter Matt308
- Start date
Ad: This forum contains affiliate links to products on Amazon and eBay. More information in Terms and rules
FLYBOYJ
"THE GREAT GAZOO"
Very cool - thanks for posting!
"A" models....
"A" models....
ToughOmbre
Senior Master Sergeant
Nice photo! 8)
TO
TO
Aaron Brooks Wolters
Brigadier General
Very cool pics!!!
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
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
Aaron Brooks Wolters
Brigadier General
- Thread starter
- #28
Matt308
Glock Perfection
That's flipping phenomenal. Glad to hear you came out okay, Mr. Holste. Wonderful story... in hindsight ofcourse.
RabidAlien
1st Lieutenant
Amen! Thanks for sharing!
syscom3
Pacific Historian
Great story!
Thanks for sharing!!!!
Thanks for sharing!!!!
wheelsup_cavu
1st Sergeant
Just amazing. 
Thanks for posting.
Wheels
Thanks for posting.
Wheels
Vic Balshaw
Major General
Incredibly luck, someone was looking after him that day.
Airframes
Benevolens Magister
Incredible is right! Thanks for taking the time to post the account of such a lucky escape.
