On the last flying day of the month - 27th August 1959 - Flight Lieutenant R. Rimington had engine failure in a Swift near Minden and had to abandon the aircraft [WN124].

The ejection was normal, but at the same time the parachute harness Quick Release (see picture above), came undone and allowed Roy to fall out of his parachute harness.   He was fortunate enough to be held upside down by one leg.   The loop that comes up between his legs, and through which the leg straps pass before being plugged into the Quick Release box, luckily snagged on the silver buckle at the end of the strap as it pulled free.

   That was all that was preventing him from falling completely out of his parachute harness and falling to a certain death.   Now he was falling head first and at the speed of the parachute descent he could have broken his neck when he hit the ground.   Once again he was fortunate - by great luck he fell headfirst into the River Weser and so was uninjured.   He attributes this lucky escape to it being his birthday on that day.
{Click to see F540 Report}.