Every account in this series is true, drawn directly from an original application in our Caterpillar Club archive. To protect the privacy of the individual and their family, we withhold names, locations, and other identifying details unless we have express permission to share them.
The Caterpillar Club has one membership requirement: your life was saved by a parachute. Founded between the World Wars, it grew into a quiet fraternity of pilots and aircrew who owed their survival to silk and rigging lines. Switlik has built parachutes since 1920, and our archive holds original, handwritten membership applications — firsthand accounts of the moment someone had to jump.
This is one of them, transcribed exactly as it was written.
June 6, 1944.
"While on a mission over Ploesti, Rumania, anti-aircraft shot out No. 3 and No. 4 engines and hit No. 2, No. 3, and No. 4 main fuel tanks. With only two engines, we were soon far behind the formation and enemy fighters attacked.
After we had shot down three of them, the remaining fighters left us, but with added damage to our ship. A short time later a vapor lock in the cross-feed system caused our two remaining engines to cut out momentarily. When this happened, seven of the crew members bailed out.
In a few seconds the vapor lock was taken care of and the two engines were running again. About twenty minutes later No. 2 engines had to be feathered. With only one engine left we were losing altitude quite fast and with our gas supply practically gone — myself and the other three remaining crew members bailed out over Yugoslavia."
This is one of thousands of stories in our archive of people whose lives were saved by a parachute, told in their own words.
If you believe a family member may be behind this story, or any story in this series, we'd like to hear from you. Please email us at marketing@switlik.com.