Douglas Bader, the Legless Ace

The Wikipedia page.

Bader joined the RAF in 1928, and was commissioned in 1930. In December 1931, while attempting some aerobatics, he crashed and lost both his legs. Having been on the brink of death, he recovered, retook flight training, passed his check flights and then requested reactivation as a pilot. Although there were no regulations applicable to his situation, he was retired against his will on medical grounds.[3]

After the outbreak of the Second World War in 1939, however, Douglas Bader returned to the RAF and was accepted as a pilot. He scored his first victories over Dunkirk during the Battle of France in 1940. He then took part in the Battle of Britain and became a friend and supporter of Air Vice Marshal Trafford Leigh-Mallory and his "Big Wing" experiments.

In August 1941, Bader baled out over German-occupied France and was captured. Soon afterward, he met and was befriended by Adolf Galland, a prominent German fighter ace.[4] Despite his disability, Bader made a number of escape attempts and was eventually sent to the prisoner of war camp at Colditz Castle. He remained there until April 1945 when the camp was liberated by the First United States Army.

He even featured in a comic. (Use link for readable copy of image below.)

Posted By: Paul - Mon Sep 16, 2019 - Comments (1)
Category: Accidents, War, Air Travel and Airlines, 1940s, Differently Abled, Handicapped, Challenged, and Otherwise Atypical

Follies of the Madmen #437

1) A bicycle tire confusingly has the same name as a razor blade company.

2) The mascot for the tire is a hyper-dimensional polar bear. These creatures apparently represent all that is desirable in a tire.

3) Even with its magic powers, the hyper-dimensional polar bear does not act to save the victim directly, but makes the human boy do all the work.

4) Moral: buy our tires to avoid snake bites?

Source (page 20).

Posted By: Paul - Sun Jul 28, 2019 - Comments (5)
Category: Accidents, Anthropomorphism, Bicycles and Other Human-powered Vehicles, Business, Advertising, Corporate Mascots, Icons and Spokesbeings, Comics

Flying Body Parts Lawsuit

Ruling in what it called a "tragically bizarre" case, an appeals court found that the estate of a man killed by a train while crossing the Edgebrook Metra station tracks can be held liable after a part of his body sent airborne by the collision struck and injured a bystander.

In 2008, Hiroyuki Joho, 18, was hurrying in pouring rain with an umbrella over his head, trying to catch an inbound Metra train due to arrive in about five minutes when he was struck by a southbound Amtrak train traveling more than 70 mph.

A large portion of his body was thrown about 100 feet on to the southbound platform, where it struck Gayane Zokhrabov, then 58, who was waiting to catch the 8:17 a.m. train to work. She was knocked to the ground, her leg and wrist broken and her shoulder injured.

More details at the source.

Posted By: Paul - Mon May 20, 2019 - Comments (1)
Category: Accidents, Body, Death, Lawsuits, Trains and Other Vehicles on Rails, Twenty-first Century

1968 Seatbelt PSA

Nice to see that despite being horribly scarred for life, she has maintained her mascara, eyeliner and lashes.

Source.

Posted By: Paul - Fri Mar 22, 2019 - Comments (2)
Category: Accidents, Beauty, Ugliness and Other Aesthetic Issues, Motor Vehicles, PSA’s, 1960s, Face and Facial Expressions

Workplace Accidents

Horrifying ways that people can get maimed at work, courtesy of Canada's Workplace Safety and Insurance Board's Prevent-It Campaign.

Warning: some gruesome content!

Posted By: Alex - Tue Mar 19, 2019 - Comments (1)
Category: Accidents, Movies, Work and Vocational Training

Falling Sheep

Yesterday, Paul mentioned the threat posed by cows. It's worth remembering that sheep can be pretty dangerous too. As this hiker in Ireland recently found out when, out of the blue, he was hit by a falling sheep. Both the hiker and the sheep seem to have survived the incident.

Posted By: Alex - Fri Aug 31, 2018 - Comments (3)
Category: Accidents, Animals

Attack of the Killer Umbrellas

In Ocean City, Maryland a woman was recently impaled in the chest by a wind-blown beach umbrella [6abc.com]. She's alive, but I assume in serious condition.

And just a week before another wind-blown umbrella stabbed a woman in the leg at the Jersey Shore.

The umbrellas are active this summer.

We've reported a number of other attacks by wind-blown umbrellas here on WU. In 1979, Paulette Fabre was killed by one on the French Riviera. And in 2010 a woman at Ocean City (again!) had an umbrella go straight through her thigh.

Forget the sharks in the water. It's the wind-blown umbrellas people need to worry about.

Posted By: Alex - Tue Jul 24, 2018 - Comments (2)
Category: Accidents, Death

When Havoc Struck

It's never news or entertainment when something goes right, only when it goes wrong. The 1978 TV series WHEN HAVOC STRUCK knew what people wanted. Glenn Ford must've needed a paycheck.

Other episodes on YouTube.

Posted By: Paul - Sat Dec 30, 2017 - Comments (0)
Category: Accidents, Goofs and Screw-ups, Death, Destruction, Engineering and Construction, 1970s

Doesn’t notice plane crash

If a plane crashes in your yard and you didn't heard it, did it make a sound?

Arizona Republic - Apr 24, 1993

Posted By: Alex - Mon Aug 07, 2017 - Comments (1)
Category: Accidents, Air Travel and Airlines, 1990s

Armed and Clumsy:  The Ancestors:  1

How far back do the roots of Chuck's "Armed and Clumsy" category extend? The Wikipedia entry on handguns says: "The first handheld firearms that might better be called "pistols" were made as early as the 15th century..." Could we find a report of some soldier of the era accidentally wounding himself? It's a challenge!

In any case, here is an incident from 1949.

Posted By: Paul - Fri Mar 10, 2017 - Comments (2)
Category: Accidents, Guns, 1940s