 This is
the C-47 that transported the men from
Missoula, Montana to Mann Gulch on August
5, 1949. Several years ago it was returned to the
Museum of Mountain Flying in Missoula.
Maclean had these insights about the what
goes on in the mind of a man about to jump
out of a C-47 . . . They know they are about to live
or die on a man-made substitute for wings
furnished by the government. They start
saying to themselves, as if it never occurred to
them before, "What the hell does the
government know about making a parachute
that will open five seconds after it starts to fall?
Not a damn thing. They just farm it out to
some fly-by-night outfit that makes the lowest
bid." NOTE: One lucky smokejumper was
so sick from the turbulent flight that he was
unable to make the jump into Mann Gulch.
5. NEXT: August 5th, 1949
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