Even the Gestapo Were Impressed

This is my new all-time favorite story from WWII:

On March 24, 1944, RAF Flight Sergeant Nicholas Stephen Alkemade opted to jump to his death rather than burn up without a chute after his plane started spiraling in east of Schmallenberg, Germany. He did neither, though. After plummeting 18,000 feet, he crashed through some trees into a snowbank and survived with only a sprain.

That’s not the good part.

He was then captured, whereupon the Gestapo verified his story and, suitably impressed, gave him a certificate attesting to the fall.

Sweet.