During World War II, Edgar Pask was a member in Great Britain’s Royal Air Force. But he never flew an aircraft, saw a dogfight, or took part in any combat, for that matter. Regardless, today many consider him to be one of the bravest men of the Great War for developing one critical lifesaving item: the flotation device for downed airmen.

His technique? Using himself as an unconscious dummy.

Insane? Yes. Effective? Absolutely. Also, in a roundabout way, heroic. He was admitted to the hospital after each and every experiment.

The number of lives his refined invention saved? Innumerable.

Here’s a short film on Pask’s “flotation experiments”:

Oh, he also did this (taken from the British blog Deviate Spire):

Pask also helped design a protective suit to save pilots from dying of the cold in icy northern waters. In typical Pask fashion, he tested it on himself by being parachuted into the sea off the Shetland Islands.