Jimmie Wedell Standing Outside of a Wreck

Sometimes, testing the custom built planes had disastrous results. Wedell built and tested this plane for Roscoe Turner, and as he flew 300 mph at 100 feet above the ground, the wing buckled. Wedell managed to turn the plane upside down and climb to 300 feet before jumping out of the plane. Thanks to his parachute, he emerged miraculously unharmed.

Image Courtesy of the Wedell-Williams Memorial Foundation and the Louisiana State Museum