This story reminds me a lot of a book I read many years ago: "The Man Who Rode the Thunder" http://www.amazon.com/The-Man-Who-Rode-Thunder/dp/0135482712 "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."
