Donald N. Harris helped to save Herbert F. Brightwell from an impending explosion, Edwards Air Force Base, California, January l9, 1967. An F111-A airplane, its fuel tanks containing in excess of 1,000 gallons, crash-landed at the air base. One of the tanks was ruptured, and flames broke out. Brightwell, 37, Major, U.S. Air Force, and Donovan L. McCance were critically burned but managed to get out of the cockpit. Harris, 43, security officer, and James D. McMahan, Jr., civilian employees at the air base, drove to near the airplane on which flames six to eight feet high covered most of the forward section. Brightwell was lying 10 feet from the burning fuselage, his clothing completely burned away. His feet were at the edge of a large pool of burning fuel from which flames rose as much as 10 feet. Heat was blistering as Harris and McMahan ran to Brightwell and moved him 10 feet farther from the plane. Unable to stand the intense heat, they retreated briefly. Each covered his head with his coat, after which they moved Brightwell 10 feet farther. The cockpit then was ejected from the fuselage by rockets, and it crashed to the ground at the other side of the plane. Harris and McMahan, with Brightwell between them, were 10 feet from the tip of the wing when a fuel tank exploded. Flames enveloped the entire fuselage, rising as much as 50 feet. Metal fragments were hurled in all directions but struck none of the men. Harris and McMahan took Brightwell a safe distance from the airplane. Noticing McCance standing in a daze five feet from the tip of the wing, McMahan ran back to him and led him to Harris and Brightwell. Rescue units arrived. The burned men were removed to a hospital. Brightwell succumbed two days later. McCance recovered after hospitalization. Harris and McMahan sustained burns to their hands which healed. 49431-5348
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