The Man Who Rode the Thunder

by William H. Rankin

An account of a nine mile fall through space, thunder, lightning, rain, hail, made by the author in July, 1950. He reviews the years of professional military training, from joining the Marines in 1940, through boot training, war in the Pacific, graduation to wings, training in jets. It was the culmination of this that made possible his survival of a fantastic 35 minute ordeal, when forced to abandon his Crusader jet at almost 50,000 feet.

Genres: Nonfiction, History, Biography, Adventure, Aviation, Survival, Memoir

220 pages, Hardcover

First published June 1, 1960

About the author

Lieutenant Colonel William Henry Rankin was the only known person to survive a fall from the top of a cumulonimbus thunderstorm cloud. He was a pilot in the United States Marine Corps and a World War II and Korean War veteran. He was flying an F-8 Crusader jet fighter over a cumulonimbus cloud when the engine failed, forcing him to eject and parachute into the cloud. Lieutenant Colonel Rankin wrote a book about his experience, "The Man Who Rode the Thunder".

Reviews

[Dublin Von Cannon · Rating 5 out of 5]

I came across a brief sentence or two about this story while reading The cloudspotter's guide : the science, history, and culture of clouds by Gavin Pretor-Pinney.

Being a former military aviator, I had to read this book. I was mesmerized by the story of Bill Rankin’s journey to become an aviator and his descent through a storm. If you like anything related to the military then check out this book. If you like all things aviation, his descriptions of planes and flight from mid-century USA, you will appreciate so many of the chapters. It’s a walk back in history. And to hear of names we consider famous with regard to aviation written about before they became part of a wikipedia page was interesting. I checked it out through my library’s interlibrary loan request option.

[pianogal · Rating 3 out of 5]

I knew this book would be more about the Marines than the thunderstorm, and I wasn't wrong, but it was still decent read. Only about the last 50 pages are so dealt with the fact that this man parachuted into a severe thunderstorm (not on purpose mind you). It's really quite an incredible story - even with all the military history in the first half.

[Bill Rycraft · Rating 5 out of 5]

I found this book by accident after someone commented on it in a story of a woman who while trying to set a hang gliding record got caught in a storm and was lifted to over 26k feet and survived. After that story I found this book at my local library and it’s one of the best books I’ve read as I finished it in less than a day. I’ve thought how can a 40 min ordeal be turned into just over 200 pages of reading? In my opinion that’s the story within a story and is important to appreciate how rare it was that not only did he survive but was eventually cleared to fly again with no long term effects, as it help gives a better understanding of what physical changes and the incredible stresses on the body when it’s ejected near the speed of sound.
He discussed his military career and some history of military aviation and Marine Aviation to be specific. He talked about his personal ambition to dedicate his body to physical fitness which later you come to realize this also helped him survive where others would have perished, so I enjoyed the story within a story of how he came to the situation of ejecting in a storm. I enjoy reading true stories and I like to be able to come away having learned something from everything I read and I now have a better understanding of the role the marine pilots serve. There are some comments on where to start reading for the story if you have no interest in anything before it. This isn’t a TikTok book where you get what you want in 40 pages or 30 seconds. To just read the story of when he ejects to lands you are selling yourself way short of the complete story and trivialize his story and determination to survive and you just might learn something and if nothing else have a much greater appreciation for the incredibly low odds of his survival.
Some regard him as a hero for surviving this but I wouldn’t and he didn’t. Had he volunteered to do this so others could learn then yes that would be a hero. He had the training and the desire to survive and not just lay down and give in. I don’t think that’s what makes a hero, he did what anyone trained would do in the same situation but would all survive I don’t believe so. His service to the country, unit and core are what make him a hero. He just had the strength and desire to want to survive where weaker men might give in. He described more heroic actions to help other pilots go home that same night. This is by far not a hard book to read nor a long one. If you can’t bother to read the pages ahead of his horrific ordeal then I know there is a short version on YouTube you can watch. But to give this book nothing but 5 stars because there is a history lesson ahead of it isn’t fair. This was one of the better true story written books I’ve read that wasn’t difficult to follow as it all led up to where and why he had to eject. It’s a short history on marine aviation and a brief history on the career of the man who walked away literally that is incredible. The short story of the pilot who miraculously flew his bomber jet past a formation of 6 bombers on a clear sky at 30,000 feet without catastrophe collision and not a single pilot of those 6 bombers never even seen him or knew he flew right thru their formation is just incredible. This is all explained in his discussion of reaction time of flying near supersonic speeds and the seconds he has to make a decision. Again all a story within a story and in the end gives a complete clear picture of what he went thru. Seems like a TikTok version is all some people’s attention span is nowadays. This was a well written incredible story from beginning to end, don’t sell yourself short read it all and appreciate the miracle he walked away basically unharmed if you consider he flew again.

[Jeffrey Williams · Rating 5 out of 5]

At the time of this review, this book has been on the market for 66 years. A lot of things have happened in the Marine Corps, aviation, politics, global affairs, culture, technology and in understanding weather phenomena. Reading this book is definitely a historical throwback to a much simpler era, which is the beauty of this book.

Contextually, this book traces the birth of Marine Corps aviation in the jet age very well. Rankin also gives his biography including his emphasis on physical fitness. That makes for the first 2/3 of the book.

The set up might be boring to non-historians, aviators or veterans, but you really can't appreciate Rankin's ordeal without the longer set up. Once he brings us into the cockpit descending down into the clouds over a thunderstorm, the writing is clear. He makes us feel like we're in the parachute rigging next to him. We are on a shared journey. We feel this.

At the end of the journey, we say prayers of thanks that such men like Rankin lived so we don't have to go through an ordeal such as this.

I was going to give this four-stars at first but the writing flowed so well that I couldn't put it down as I got sucked into the updrafts and down drafts of the story. At that point, I couldn't help but give it my highest ranking. It was well earned.

[Topher · Rating 3 out of 5]

Despite the summary here, the date of the actual event was July 1959, not July 1950.

I was amused to read Lt Col Rankin's take on the beatniks - probably for the best it wasn't written a decade later so we could have his take on the hippies and Vietnam as well.

Ejection happens on p 149 of 2008 in the version I read. If you want to read the account of free-falling into and then parachuting through a thunderstorm for approximately 40 minutes, I'd start on page 129 just to have some context before the ejection. Everything before that is a biography of the author's military career.

[Robert Flaxman · Rating 3 out of 5]

A fairly brisk read. Rankin is perhaps not a natural author and sixty years later a few of his comments haven’t aged the best, but the chapters on the bailout and fall through the thunderstorm remain intensely harrowing and evocative. Worth a look if you can get your hands on it (I had to use inter-library loan!).

[Will · Rating 5 out of 5]

this book is awesome!!! I better buy this :)

[Terry Meier · Rating 5 out of 5]

A good history of Marine Corps Aviation development from the end of WW2 to around 1960. The final few chapters are a "white knuckle" read of his harrowing ejection and survival.

[Gali · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thabk you so much "The cloud spotter's guide", for pointing this book out to me, I have just earned a new role model

[Julianne · Rating 5 out of 5]

The most compelling book I have ever read! Lt. Colonel Rankin shares the true story of his amazing experience bailing out of his plane, without a pressure suit at 47,000 feet. His harrowing fall to Earth included being caught in a major thunderstorm. This book is very hard to find, but It it definitely worth the effort to locate and read this fascinating story. My brother recommended this to me and I recommend this to everyone, especially those interested in weather, aviation, and the Marines.

[Mahria · Rating 4 out of 5]

I wasn't expecting much from this first hand account and ended up surprised by the quality of the writing. The first two thirds of the book detail Rankin's military career, providing a grounding for the type of person and pilot he is before laying into his account of emergency ejecting from his jet into a violent thunderstorm. For those of you non-weather dorks, Rankin is the only person known to have survived a fall through (*top to bottom*) a thunderstorm.

[Patrice · Rating 4 out of 5]

The beginning is a bit (more than a bit really) of technical flight information, but the tale of the actual ejection and fall through the storm was vivid and quite intense. If you ever wanted to know what rapid decompression at 50,000 feet and parachuting down through a powerful thunderstorm is like, this is the book for you.

[Jim Clearman · Rating 5 out of 5]

Possibly the worst day ever survived by an aviator. Simply captivating.