A Remarkable Story

Recently I came across a remarkable wartime story of an RAF man from Loughborough who jumped from a Lancaster bomber at 18,000 feet without a parachute, and lived to tell the tale.

Flight Sergeant Nicholas Alkemade was 21 years old and a rear gunner on his 13^th bombing mission, on this occasion to Frankfurt, on 24^th March, 1944.

The rear gunner in a Lancaster bomber sat in a perspex bubble with so little room that even his parachute has to be stowed in the fuselage behind him.

After the bombing run had been completed and the pilot turned for home the plane came under attack from a Junkers 88 which caused an explosion and a fire in the Lancaster.

Flt. Sgt. Alkemade did manage to shoot down the enemy plane before he realised  he would have to bail out. But to his horror he discovered that he could not reach is parachute.

Faced with the prospect of being burned to death, he made the decision to jump from the plane as a more preferable death. He said that he felt so resigned and calm during his fall that he even calculated that falling from 18,000 feet to the ground would take about 90 seconds – then he passed out.

He awoke to see stars shining through the trees and was amazed to realise he was still alive; he had a twisted knee and some bruising. It was apparent that the trees had broken his fall and a fall of fresh snow some 18 inches deep made a final softer landing.

The local Volksturm arrested him. He was taken to hospital and then to Dulac Luft P.o.W camp, where nobody would believe his story and he was treated as a spy.

A Lieutenant of the Luftwaffe examined the wreck of a Lancaster which was found not far from where Flt. Sgt. Alkemade was found and discovered a badly burned parachute, with the lift webbings still tied down near the rear of the plane. The evidence supported his story and the camp commandant stated that the sergeant’s survival was a miracle.

But Nicholas Alkemade’s story of a gifted life did not end there.

After the war he went to work at a chemical factory in Loughborough, where a 224 lb. girder fell on his head. He was pulled out from underneath it for dead – but he walked away with just a bruised scalp! On another occasion he was drenched with sulphuric acid. He then had an electric shock which threw him into a hole in which he lay  breathing in chlorine gas for a quarter of an hour – and again walked away.

Click here to Continue in original sequence or select from menu left

Return to Main menu