Surviving an airplane crash is actually more common than you’d think. The problem is, there’s often a post crash fire, which is often quite a bit harder to survive. A major portion of aviation safety engineering is geared toward providing survivors just a bit more time to exit the aircraft before it is consumed by flames.
Indeed, this has been a long standing goal of NASA and its predecessor NACA.
The C-82 Packet was not a terribly successful aircraft, and only about 223 were built. Redesigned and with the R-2800 swapped out for the more powerful R-4360, it would emerge as the C-119 Flying Boxcar, a far more successful design that would soldier on from the 1950s into the 1970s, with over 1100 built. According to NASA around 50 airframes, mostly C-82 but also a couple of C-46 Commandoes, were expended in the testing.
Poor Roamy doesn’t get to blow up airplanes.
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