Despite numerous victories as an airman during World War One, it was Capt John Herbert Hedley's claim of surviving a bizarre flying mishap that really made his career. But could it be true?
John Herbert Hedley, born in North Shields in 1887, was an accounts clerk when he joined the Royal Flying Corps in 1914.
Promoted to captain whilst serving with the 20th Battalion Northumberland Fusiliers, he scored 11 aerial victories while flying a Bristol F2b Fighter.
But in the years after the war, it was not the flying ace's victories that dominated conversation, or held the attention of the audiences who heard him speak.
Captain Hedley was flying the two-seater Bristol Fighter over France in January 1918 with his pilot Lieutenant Jimmy Makepeace when near-disaster struck.
Makepeace put the plane into a steep dive and Hedley - so the story goes - fell out.
He claims to have fallen 700ft (213m) before landing back on the tail of the plane and crawling back into the cockpit as it came out of the dive.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-tyne-29703198
John Herbert Hedley, born in North Shields in 1887, was an accounts clerk when he joined the Royal Flying Corps in 1914.
Promoted to captain whilst serving with the 20th Battalion Northumberland Fusiliers, he scored 11 aerial victories while flying a Bristol F2b Fighter.
But in the years after the war, it was not the flying ace's victories that dominated conversation, or held the attention of the audiences who heard him speak.
Captain Hedley was flying the two-seater Bristol Fighter over France in January 1918 with his pilot Lieutenant Jimmy Makepeace when near-disaster struck.
Makepeace put the plane into a steep dive and Hedley - so the story goes - fell out.
He claims to have fallen 700ft (213m) before landing back on the tail of the plane and crawling back into the cockpit as it came out of the dive.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-tyne-29703198
