Kittinger's LONELY LEAP (1961) and Murphy's First Law of Physics
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Sun Apr 11 00:00:24 UTC 2004
THE LONG, LONELY LEAP
by Captain Joseph W. Kittinger, Jr., USAF
with Martin Caidin
with a foreword by Colonel John Paul Stapp, USAF
and an epilogue by Captain Marvin Feldstein, USAF
New York: E. P. Dutton & Co., Inc.
1961
I was going through some skydiving stuff when this showed up. It's well worth reading.
Murphy's First Law of Physics? He had others in 1961?
Pg. 77: I became a rabid and confirmed "balloonatic";...
Pg. 78: On one three-passenger flight we received a most practical demonstration of Murphy's First Law--"_What Can Go Wrong Will Go Wrong_." perhaps Murphy came along as an unseen fourth passenger.
(...)
To absorb the shock of another landing we stood up, knees flexed--only Murphy threw in a forward ground speed for which we failed to compensate.
Pg. 159: Next came a "bunjee," or winter-type cotton two-piece suit of long underwear.
Pg. 160: My next garment we called the "horse collar", a neck ring with a rubber gasket that slips down over the head and forms a gasket seal around the neck.
Pg. 161: Army arctic boots--insulated "Lil Abner" boots made of rubber--were tugged on, laced up and tied.
Pg. 183: Of one thing we were certain. Excelsior I provided a beautiful demonstration of the effects of Murphy's First Law of Physics--"Anything that can go wrong--will go wrong."
Pg. 184: If the teeth of the clamp slipped once, then they could slip again. Frank believed quite strongly in "Murphy" and his statutes.
Pg. 198: No--almost everything. I would soon be given, to my dismay, another lesson in the application of Murphy's Law.
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