{"id":7036875,"date":"2026-07-24T10:00:11","date_gmt":"2026-07-24T08:00:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/migflug.com\/jetflights\/william-rankin-fell-through-thunderstorm-1959\/"},"modified":"2026-10-13T19:59:03","modified_gmt":"2026-10-13T17:59:03","slug":"william-rankin-est-tombe-dans-un-orage-en-1959","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/fr\/william-rankin-fell-through-thunderstorm-1959\/","title":{"rendered":"L&#039;homme qui est tomb\u00e9 \u00e0 travers un orage"},"content":{"rendered":"<style>.et_pb_title_container h1.entry-title { padding-top: 40px !important; }<\/style>\n<!-- mfsh:top -->\n\n<style>\n.mfsh-trigger{display:inline-flex;align-items:center;gap:10px;height:44px;padding:0 18px;margin:0 0 26px;border:2px solid #0F1720;background:#fff;color:#0F1720;font-family:inherit;font-size:14px;font-weight:700;line-height:1;letter-spacing:0;text-transform:none;cursor:pointer;box-shadow:none;transition:background .15s,color 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Col. William Rankin was cruising at 47,000 feet when his fighter&rsquo;s single engine died with a grinding shudder. He reached up, pulled the ejection handles, and blew himself out of the cockpit into air about &minus;50 &deg;C (&minus;58 &deg;F) &mdash; with no pressure suit and a thunderstorm boiling directly beneath him.<\/p>\r\n<p>What happened next made him the first person known to have survived a fall from the top of a thunderstorm.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<div style=\"background:#f5f5f5;padding:20px;margin:24px 0\"><h3 style=\"padding-top:0;margin-top:0\">Quick Facts<\/h3><ul style=\"margin:0;line-height:1.8\"><li><strong>Pilot:<\/strong> Lt. Col. William H. Rankin, U.S. Marine Corps<\/li><li><strong>Date:<\/strong> 26 July 1959<\/li><li><strong>Aircraft:<\/strong> Vought F-8 Crusader (single-engine fighter)<\/li><li><strong>Ejection altitude:<\/strong> About 47,000 feet, with no pressure suit<\/li><li><strong>Time in the storm:<\/strong> Roughly 40 minutes &mdash; a normal descent takes under 10<\/li><li><strong>Landed:<\/strong> In trees near Ahoskie, North Carolina<\/li><\/ul><\/div>\r\n\r\n<div style=\"position:relative;padding-bottom:56.25%;height:0;overflow:hidden;margin:24px 0\"><iframe class=\"skip-lazy\" data-no-lazy=\"1\" loading=\"eager\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/LfcbYMVK5k0\" style=\"position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;border:0;\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div>\r\n<h2 style=\"padding-top:22px\">Out of the cockpit at 47,000 feet<\/h2>\r\n<p>Rankin was leading a pair of <a href=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/aircraft\/f-8-crusader\/\">F-8 Crusaders<\/a> up the Carolina coast, climbing over a wall of cumulonimbus, when the engine let go. At that altitude, ejecting without a pressure suit is its own emergency. The instant he hit the minus-58-degree air, his body began to fail: decompression swelled his stomach and started him bleeding from his ears, nose and mouth. His left glove was ripped away, and his bare hand froze.<\/p>\r\n<p>He fell. His parachute was set to open low, but the wild pressure swings inside the storm tripped its barometric release far too early &mdash; and instead of drifting down, Rankin was seized by the storm.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\" style=\"margin:0 0 24px;width:100%\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"skip-lazy\" data-no-lazy=\"1\" loading=\"eager\" width=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2026\/07\/f-8-crusader-in-flight.jpg\" alt=\"Vought F-8 Crusader in flight\" style=\"width:100%;height:auto;max-width:100%;display:block;\"><figcaption style=\"font-size:13px;color:#777;text-align:center;margin-top:6px;font-style:italic\">A Vought F-8 Crusader. Rankin&rsquo;s had a single engine &mdash; when it failed, there was no second one to bring him home. U.S. Navy photo<\/figcaption><\/figure>\r\n<h2 style=\"padding-top:22px\">Riding the thunder<\/h2>\r\n<p>A violent updraft filled his canopy and rocketed him thousands of feet back upward at close to 100 mph. Hailstones formed in the air around him. Lightning cracked so near that it lit the parachute like a flashbulb and, for a moment, convinced him he had died.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<div style=\"background:#f8f9fa;border-left:4px solid #5C91FF;padding:20px 22px;margin:18px 0 24px;font-size:16px;line-height:1.7\"><em>&ldquo;Blue blades several feet thick.&rdquo;<\/em><div style=\"margin-top:10px;font-size:14px;color:#555\"><strong>Lt. Col. William Rankin<\/strong> &mdash; describing the lightning around him<\/div><\/div>\r\n<p>The thunder did not so much sound as hit him. Then came the rain &mdash; so dense it fell from every direction at once.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<div style=\"background:#f8f9fa;border-left:4px solid #5C91FF;padding:20px 22px;margin:18px 0 24px;font-size:16px;line-height:1.7\"><em>&ldquo;At times the rain was so intense that he had to hold his breath for fear of drowning.&rdquo;<\/em><div style=\"margin-top:10px;font-size:14px;color:#555\"><strong>From Rankin&rsquo;s account<\/strong> &mdash; &ldquo;The Man Who Rode the Thunder&rdquo;<\/div><\/div>\r\n\r\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\" style=\"margin:0 0 24px;width:100%\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"skip-lazy\" data-no-lazy=\"1\" loading=\"eager\" width=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2026\/07\/thunderstorm-lightning.jpg\" alt=\"Lightning inside a thunderstorm\" style=\"width:100%;height:auto;max-width:100%;display:block;\"><figcaption style=\"font-size:13px;color:#777;text-align:center;margin-top:6px;font-style:italic\">Inside a mature thunderstorm, updrafts and downdrafts can exceed 100 mph. Rankin was thrown up and down through them for 40 minutes. CC BY-SA 3.0<\/figcaption><\/figure>\r\n<p>Each updraft was followed by a downdraft that collapsed his parachute like a wet blanket and dropped him into free fall. Somehow, again and again, the canopy re-inflated. The storm tossed him up and down for some forty minutes &mdash; a descent that should have lasted less than ten.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<div style=\"position:relative;padding-bottom:56.25%;height:0;overflow:hidden;margin:24px 0\"><iframe class=\"skip-lazy\" data-no-lazy=\"1\" loading=\"eager\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/ebgDbB8PdJU\" style=\"position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;border:0;\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div>\r\n<h2 style=\"padding-top:22px\">Ejected at 6:00, Down at 6:40<\/h2>\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The details come from Rankin&rsquo;s own account. He was flying from Naval Air Station South Weymouth, Massachusetts, to Marine Corps Air Station Beaufort, South Carolina, and had climbed over a thunderhead that topped out at about 45,000 feet. At 47,000 feet and Mach 0.82 the engine stopped with a bump and a rumble and a fire warning light came on. The handle for the emergency power broke off in his hand. At 6:00 p.m. he ejected, without a pressure suit, and decompression made his eyes, ears, nose and mouth bleed. He managed to use his emergency oxygen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">His parachute was meant to open automatically at 10,000 feet. Five minutes after ejecting, it still had not. Then the pressure changes inside the storm fooled the barometric switch and it opened far too high, leaving him hanging in the cloud. He described the lightning as huge bluish sheets, several feet thick. When he finally came down through the trees, his watch read 6:40 p.m.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"instagram-media\" data-instgrm-permalink=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/p\/DecMkLHEUC2\/\" data-instgrm-version=\"14\" style=\"background:#fff;border:0;margin:24px auto;max-width:540px;min-width:280px;width:100%\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/p\/DecMkLHEUC2\/\">View this post on Instagram<\/a><\/blockquote><script async src=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/embed.js\"><\/script><h2 style=\"padding-top:22px\">Down in Ahoskie<\/h2>\r\n<p>At last the storm spat him out. He came down through trees near the small town of Ahoskie, North Carolina, battered, frostbitten and bleeding, and staggered to a road. A passing driver stopped, took one look at him, and drove him to a country store to call for an ambulance.<\/p>\r\n<p>Rankin recovered from the frostbite, welts and decompression and went back to flying. He wrote a book about the day, <em>The Man Who Rode the Thunder<\/em>, and lived until 2009. He is regarded as the first person to survive a fall from the top of a cumulonimbus cloud. A few people have since survived being caught inside storm clouds, most famously paragliders, but Rankin&rsquo;s fall from 47,000 feet remains in a class of its own.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<div style=\"position:relative;padding-bottom:56.25%;height:0;overflow:hidden;margin:24px 0\"><iframe class=\"skip-lazy\" data-no-lazy=\"1\" loading=\"eager\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/24Qrjvct3yU\" style=\"position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;border:0;\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div>\r\n\n<style>.mfq{margin:34px 0 8px}.mfq h2{font:26px\/1.3 \"Gilroy semiBold\",Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;color:#0d1117;padding-top:22px;margin:0 0 6px}.mfq .qa details{border-top:1px solid #5C91FF;margin:0;padding:0}.mfq .qa details:last-of-type{border-bottom:1px solid #e2e7ee}.mfq .qa summary{cursor:pointer;list-style:none;display:flex;justify-content:space-between;align-items:center;gap:16px;padding:22px 26px;font:18px\/1.7 \"Gilroy semiBold\",Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;color:#0d1117}.mfq .qa summary::-webkit-details-marker{display:none}.mfq .qa summary::after{content:\"+\";font:24px Helvetica,sans-serif;color:#3568e0;flex:0 0 auto}.mfq .qa details[open] summary::after{content:\"\\2013\"}.mfq .qa details:hover summary{color:#3568e0}.mfq .qa .a{font:16px\/1.7 \"Gilroy regular\",Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;color:#454e5e;padding:0 26px 24px}.mfq .qa .a a{color:#3568e0}@media(max-width:680px){.mfq .qa summary{padding:18px 14px;font-size:17px}.mfq .qa .a{padding:0 14px 20px}}<\/style>\n\n\n<section class=\"mfq\"><h2>Frequently Asked Questions<\/h2><div class=\"qa\"><details open><summary>Who was William Rankin?<\/summary><div class=\"a\">Lt. Col. William H. Rankin (1920&ndash;2009) was a US Marine Corps pilot and veteran of the Second World War and Korea. On 26 July 1959 he ejected from his F-8 Crusader at 47,000 feet over a thunderstorm and fell through the storm for about 40 minutes before landing near Ahoskie, North Carolina. He described the ordeal in his book <em>The Man Who Rode the Thunder<\/em>.<\/div><\/details><details><summary>How long was William Rankin in the thunderstorm?<\/summary><div class=\"a\">About 40 minutes. William Rankin ejected at 6:00 p.m. on 26 July 1959, and when he came down through the trees near Ahoskie, North Carolina, his watch read 6:40 p.m. A normal parachute descent from that height would have taken a fraction of that time.<\/div><\/details><details><summary>Why did William Rankin&rsquo;s parachute open too early?<\/summary><div class=\"a\">William Rankin&rsquo;s parachute had a barometric switch set to open it at 10,000 feet. The extreme pressure changes inside the thunderstorm fooled the switch, so the canopy opened high inside the cloud, where updrafts repeatedly carried him back up.<\/div><\/details><details><summary>Why did William Rankin eject from his F-8 Crusader?<\/summary><div class=\"a\">The single engine of William Rankin&rsquo;s F-8 Crusader failed at 47,000 feet and Mach 0.82 while he was climbing over a thunderstorm on a flight from South Weymouth, Massachusetts, to Beaufort, South Carolina. A fire warning light came on and the emergency power handle broke off, so he ejected without a pressure suit.<\/div><\/details><details><summary>How cold was it when William Rankin ejected?<\/summary><div class=\"a\">The air at 47,000 feet where William Rankin ejected was about &minus;50 &deg;C (&minus;58 &deg;F). He suffered immediate frostbite, and because he had no pressure suit, decompression made his eyes, ears, nose and mouth bleed.<\/div><\/details><details><summary>Is William Rankin the only person to survive falling through a thunderstorm?<\/summary><div class=\"a\">William Rankin is regarded as the first person to survive a fall from the top of a cumulonimbus thunderstorm. A few people, mainly paragliders, have since survived being caught inside storm clouds, but his fall from 47,000 feet remains exceptional.<\/div><\/details><\/div><\/section>\n\n\n\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@type\":\"FAQPage\",\"mainEntity\":[{\"@type\":\"Question\",\"name\":\"Who was William Rankin?\",\"acceptedAnswer\":{\"@type\":\"Answer\",\"text\":\"Lt. Col. William H. Rankin (1920\u20132009) was a US Marine Corps pilot and veteran of the Second World War and Korea. On 26 July 1959 he ejected from his F-8 Crusader at 47,000 feet over a thunderstorm and fell through the storm for about 40 minutes before landing near Ahoskie, North Carolina. He described the ordeal in his book The Man Who Rode the Thunder.\"}},{\"@type\":\"Question\",\"name\":\"How long was William Rankin in the thunderstorm?\",\"acceptedAnswer\":{\"@type\":\"Answer\",\"text\":\"About 40 minutes. William Rankin ejected at 6:00 p.m. on 26 July 1959, and when he came down through the trees near Ahoskie, North Carolina, his watch read 6:40 p.m. A normal parachute descent from that height would have taken a fraction of that time.\"}},{\"@type\":\"Question\",\"name\":\"Why did William Rankin\u2019s parachute open too early?\",\"acceptedAnswer\":{\"@type\":\"Answer\",\"text\":\"William Rankin\u2019s parachute had a barometric switch set to open it at 10,000 feet. The extreme pressure changes inside the thunderstorm fooled the switch, so the canopy opened high inside the cloud, where updrafts repeatedly carried him back up.\"}},{\"@type\":\"Question\",\"name\":\"Why did William Rankin eject from his F-8 Crusader?\",\"acceptedAnswer\":{\"@type\":\"Answer\",\"text\":\"The single engine of William Rankin\u2019s F-8 Crusader failed at 47,000 feet and Mach 0.82 while he was climbing over a thunderstorm on a flight from South Weymouth, Massachusetts, to Beaufort, South Carolina. A fire warning light came on and the emergency power handle broke off, so he ejected without a pressure suit.\"}},{\"@type\":\"Question\",\"name\":\"How cold was it when William Rankin ejected?\",\"acceptedAnswer\":{\"@type\":\"Answer\",\"text\":\"The air at 47,000 feet where William Rankin ejected was about &minus;50 \u00b0C (&minus;58 \u00b0F). He suffered immediate frostbite, and because he had no pressure suit, decompression made his eyes, ears, nose and mouth bleed.\"}},{\"@type\":\"Question\",\"name\":\"Is William Rankin the only person to survive falling through a thunderstorm?\",\"acceptedAnswer\":{\"@type\":\"Answer\",\"text\":\"William Rankin is regarded as the first person to survive a fall from the top of a cumulonimbus thunderstorm. A few people, mainly paragliders, have since survived being caught inside storm clouds, but his fall from 47,000 feet remains exceptional.\"}}]}<\/script><p><em>Sources: William Rankin, &ldquo;The Man Who Rode the Thunder&rdquo;; Task &amp; Purpose; Damn Interesting; kottke.org; Wikipedia.<\/em><\/p>\n<!-- mfsh:bottom -->\n\n<button type=\"button\" class=\"mfsh-trigger mfsh-bottom\" data-mfsh-placement=\"bottom\" aria-haspopup=\"dialog\"><svg><use href=\"#mfsh-i-share\"\/><\/svg>Share this story<\/button>\n\n<!-- \/mfsh:bottom -->\n\r\n\r\n<div style=\"background:#f0f4ff;border-left:4px solid #5C91FF;padding:16px 20px;margin:32px 0 8px;\"><p style=\"margin:0 0 8px;font-weight:600;color:#333\">Related Posts<\/p><p style=\"margin:4px 0\"><a href=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/harold-harris-first-emergency-parachute-jump-1922\/\">The First Man Saved by a Parachute<\/a><\/p><p style=\"margin:4px 0\"><a href=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/how-ejection-seats-work-martin-baker-sequence-physics\/\">How Ejection Seats Actually Work<\/a><\/p><\/div>\r\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Share this story On the afternoon of 26 July 1959, Marine Lt. Col. William Rankin was cruising at 47,000 feet when his fighter&rsquo;s single engine died with a grinding shudder. He reached up, pulled the ejection handles, and blew himself out of the cockpit into air about &minus;50 &deg;C (&minus;58 &deg;F) &mdash; with no pressure [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":7036793,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"editor_notices":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[665,666,664],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7036875","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-aviation-world","category-history-and-legends","category-military-aviation"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>William Rankin: The Man Who Fell Through a Thunderstorm<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"In 1959, Marine pilot William Rankin ejected at 47,000 feet into a thunderstorm and was thrown up and down for 40 minutes &mdash; and survived.\" 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