Malcolm J. MacGregor, Park City, Utah: an interview by Benjamin Bahlmann, January 3, 2002: Saving the legacy tape no. 476, 477, and 478

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Malcolm J. MacGregor Janu 2 2 MAL: I rolled out and then I watched the plane go up from over me because I didn t want t t tangled up. I didn't really want to do the delayed parachute thing which is the way you are supposed to do it. I didn't know where the undercast stopped down there. I didn't know whether it was down 50 feet from the ground or 1,000 feet. BEN: Did you see any other planes? MAL: Nope. As soon as I baled out ... BEN: Do you remember how your plane looked at all? MAL: It was going away from me. I don't think it was spinning, at least I was slowing up a lot faster than it was. BEN: Ok, so no fire or anything that you noticed? MAL: Nope. So, in almost nothing flat, the plane was gone, the group was gone, the fighters who were attacking were gone and I was up there in this parachute, about 20,000 feet. BEN: Did it work like it was supposed to? MAL: Yeah, there was a handle here and I pulled the handle and the chute opened. BEN: How about your shoes? Did you lose your shoes? MAL: Yeah, I lost my shoes. That was one of things that should have been done differently. The guys that were briefing us on combat never talked about baling out or that kind of stuff except to tell you to delay your fall as long as you can. But if they had given us a special chain or wiring system, probably chain would have worked best, and we could have fastened the shoes to the parachute so that they wouldn't come loose but I had them tied by the strings. So when the 'chute opened, of course, it just popped both the shoestrings and the shoes were gone. BEN: Where were your shoes? 55