Posted on 08/21/2023 1:54:10 PM PDT by Vermont Lt
That’s right in the center of Belchertown.
Get a load of this...
Beer cans and a fake ID were found in rhe remains of the perp’s vehicle.
Still more...
It was a fake Vermont ID.
WTG, Vermont!
JATO Story:
The Arizona Highway Patrol were mystified when they came upon a pile of smoldering wreckage embedded in the side of a cliff rising above the road at the apex of a curve. The metal debris resembled the site of an airplane crash, but it turned out to be the vaporized remains of an automobile. The make of the vehicle was unidentifiable at the scene.
The folks in the lab finally figured out what it was, and pieced together the events that led up to its demise.
It seems that a former Air Force sergeant had somehow got hold of a JATO (Jet Assisted Take-Off) unit. JATO units are solid fuel rockets used to give heavy military transport airplanes an extra push for take-off from short airfields.
Dried desert lakebeds are the location of choice for breaking the world ground vehicle speed record. The sergeant took the JATO unit into the Arizona desert and found a long, straight stretch of road. He attached the JATO unit to his car, jumped in, accelerated to a high speed, and fired off the rocket.
The facts, as best as could be determined, are as follows:
The operator was driving a 1967 Chevy Impala. He ignited the JATO unit approximately 3.9 miles from the crash site. This was established by the location of a prominently scorched and melted strip of asphalt. The vehicle quickly reached a speed of between 250 and 300 mph and continued at that speed, under full power, for an additional 20-25 seconds. The soon-to-be pilot experienced G-forces usually reserved for dog-fighting F-14 jocks under full afterburners.
The Chevy remained on the straight highway for approximately 2.6 miles (15-20 seconds) before the driver applied the brakes, completely melting them, blowing the tires, and leaving thick rubber marks on the road surface. The vehicle then became airborne for an additional 1.3 miles, impacted the cliff face at a height of 125 feet, and left a blackened crater 3 feet deep in the rock.
Most of the driver’s remains were not recovered; however, small fragments of bone, teeth, and hair were extracted from the crater, and fingernail and bone shards were removed from a piece of debris believed to be a portion of the steering wheel.
Ironically a still-legible bumper sticker was found, reading
“How do you like my driving? Dial 1-800-EAT-SHIT.”
(It’s a phony story but still fun!)
A car engine literally flying into a second storey brick wall? What are the odds? It sounds like a scene from an Exorcist movie, where that flying engine hits an intended target.
almost? too bad.
He was later quoted as saying damn shame, damn shame (mutterings).
I’m just here for the mother in law jokes.
Holy projectile moly, Batman.
Takeaway: the crashed car needed new engine mounts installed.
I’ve noticed the change with MassLive as well. Using this as a example, this story would hve been free, but say, a later more in-depth report on traffic in such as, particular dangerous intersections, etc. that required them to submit records requests, research stats for other towns, etc. would be behind a pay wall.
Now, almost everything is pay walled.
I’m thinkin’ p=mv !-)
You raise a good question, which I have not been remiss in investigating.
If you look at Google Maps, N Main St. north of the location, is heading due south, but makes a gentle bend to the east, just before it reaches there.
I would imagine that a head-on collision of the ( pesumably southbound ) car with a north bound car ( or other vehicle, ) taking place somewhere on that bend, would be required to create an oblique trajectory to the SSW to hit the wall of the house, which faces due west.
... best I can do! Anyway, an insane collision.
I should mention, that in the news photo of the building, showing the impact damage, you can see that there was apparently some damage to the window at top right, which could be interpreted as the initial contact of a “glancing” blow, which seems to be required by the context.
... well say it was, and say it was an engine block, then that raises the question of where the engine block ended up.
This evidence would indicate that the reaction force of the brick wall to this glancing blow would have deflected the trajectory outward, and the engine block did not “crash through” to the interior of the building, and must have landed on the ground somewhere “down range”.
Cue Mother in Law song
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