You reminded me of another story of an early RFC pilot. Before Anton Fokker developed the interrupter gear, pilots couldn't fire through the propellor so machine guns were mounted on top of the upper wing. When the ammunition drum was empty, the pilot had to reach up, remove it, and replace it with a spare drum. This pilot, having expended all his ammunition, reached up to remove the empty drum only to find that it was jammed. In order to remove it, he had to stand up, holding the stick between his knees and grab the drum with both hands. The stick slipped out from between his knees, the airplane went inverted, and the pilot was thrown clear - now holding on desperately to the still-jammed ammunition drum! Of course, there were no parachutes in those days (at least, not for fighter pilots) - you either rode the plane down or you jumped to your death.

Somehow, he managed to swing his legs back up into the cockpit and kick the stick to bring the airplane back rightside up. Clambering back into the cockpit, he sat down on the metal seat (having lost his cushion, and anything else that wasn't bolted in) and flew back to base with his empty magazine still jammed firmly in the machine gun above his head. <img src="images/graemlins/shocked.gif" alt="" />

Those were desperate times. <img src="images/graemlins/frown.gif" alt="" />