Bit of a weird one this but bear with me.
19th September 1940. Ronald Dahl is flying across the Sahara as part of his duties as a WWII flying ace. His plane runs out of fuel. Making a forced landing, his undercarriage hits a boulder. The plane bursts into flames and whereas in this timeline he drags himself free of the wreckage just passing out and the plane exploding, he fails to do so and the timelines diverge...