You would have thought that passing out the plane would have flown along until the fuel ran out at its programmed level?
The report states
A single-engine plane crashed into an Indiana field on Wednesday after the pilot, who was seen slumped over, lost consciousness and the aircraft started flying out of control, officials said. Military officials do not believe the crash was terrorism-related but said the pilot may have had a health problem or have been suffering from a lack of oxygen. After air traffic controllers lost contact with the pilot, F-16s from Indiana National Guard intercepted the plane and followed it for about an hour until it crashed.
which suggests he was on autopilot, otherwise the F16 would not have been having a look for long enough to see him slumped at the controls. A spiral dive will always take place pretty fast, in the absence of roll axis input. 1 hr is far too long.
Re the pilot in your 1943 report, I think this just proves that it can be done (20k without o2) but would you want to try it? That was a different era, when men were men, girls were girls, and life was real
And if something needed to be done, a real man was on hand to go and do it. And if he didn't come back, a telegram got sent to his last known address...