Seeking image of high-altitude balloon jump emergency (NOT Baumgartner related)

Factual Questions
1

This question was inspired by today’s Baumgartner balloon jump, but it has no direct connection.

Many years ago I saw a stunning painting, probably created for National Geographic Magazine or Readers’ Digest, showing two high-altitude balloonists (sometime c. 1930s - 1960s) trying to escape the capsulelike gondola of their torn, falling balloon. It was an exterior view. As I remember it, one guy was stuck halfway in the escape hatch, trying to get out. The other guy, outside and on top of the gondola, was trying to dislodge his partner by, essentially, stepping one of his feet on the stuck man’s chest. I may have some of the finer details wrong, but that was the gist of it.

I remember seeing it one more time after my initial sighting, but never again afterwards. I would love to see it again. I’ve tried online searches, but turned up nothing.

Am I going crazy – does this image really exist? If so, is it online to look at? Also, what true (?) episode does the painting depict?

Thanks all, in advance.

2

I think I remember the image you’re talking about, and I think it was in one of the Time-Life Epic of Flight series. My guess is that it had to do with the flight of Explorer I in 1934. A lengthy explanation of the Explorer flights, along with pictures of the disintegrating balloon, can be found here.

3

Well GG, judging from the story you linked, it definitely sounds like the painting was of the Explorer I debacle. Thanks for that clue.

Now I’m hoping that someone will come through with a link to the painting!