He Fell Four Miles With No Parachute and Lived

Fact check

The facts and where they come from

1. He fell four miles without a parachute, and he lived. Wikipedia: he “survived a 22,000-foot (6,700-meter) fall”; “He fell over 4 miles (6.4 km).” 303rd Bomb Group Association: he “was tossed out of his burning aircraft at 20,000 feet. Unfortunately, he was not wearing a parachute.” Vintage Aviation News: “4 miles (More than 20,000 feet).” 214
2. His name was Alan Magee. 303rd Bomb Group Association: “S/Sgt. Alan Magee, from the 360th Sqdn.” 1
3. He was a ball turret gunner on the bomber Snap! Crackle! Pop! Wikipedia: he was “assigned as a ball turret gunner on a B-17F bomber”; “his Flying Fortress—B-17F-27-BO, 41-24620, nicknamed Snap! Crackle! Pop!—part of the 360th Bombardment Squadron, 303rd Bomb Group.” 303rd Bomb Group Association: “a gunner in B-17 #41-24620, aptly named Snap! Crackle! Pop!” 21
4. In January 1943, they bombed Saint-Nazaire. Wikipedia: “On January 3, 1943 … was on a daylight bombing run over Saint-Nazaire, France.” 303rd Bomb Group Association: “On January 3, 1943, in the midst of a bombing raid on German torpedo stores at St Nazaire, France.” A reconnaissance mosaic of that day in the US National Archives is labeled “St Nazaire smoke screen 3.1.43.” 215
5. German flak wrecked his turret and shredded his parachute. Wikipedia: “Magee left his ball turret when it became inoperative after German flak damaged it and discovered his parachute had been torn and rendered useless.” Business Insider: “Magee climbed into the fuselage to get his chute and bail out, but it had been shredded by the flak.” 23
6. The bomber spun and threw him out. Wikipedia: “Another flak hit then blew off a section of the right wing, causing the aircraft to enter a deadly spin. Magee … blacked out from lack of oxygen … and was thrown clear of the aircraft.” Business Insider: “Magee was knocked unconscious and thrown from the aircraft.” 303rd Bomb Group Association: “tossed out of his burning aircraft.” 231
7. Falling, he prayed, “I don’t wish to die because I know nothing of life.” 303rd Bomb Group Association: “As he fell from the plane, he asked God to save his life. ‘I don’t wish to die because I know nothing of life’ was his appeal to The Almighty.” Business Insider: Magee told God, “I don’t wish to die because I know nothing of life.” 13
8. He blacked out and smashed through the glass roof of the town’s railroad station. 303rd Bomb Group Association: “Then he lost consciousness and crashed through the glass roof of the St. Nazaire railroad station.” Wikipedia: “crashing through the glass roof of the Saint-Nazaire railroad station.” Business Insider: he “passed out again … fell into the town of St. Nazaire and through the glass roof of the train station.” 123
9. The glass broke his fall. Wikipedia: “The glass roof shattered, mitigating the force of Magee’s final impact.” 303rd Bomb Group Association: “the ancient railroad station with its glass roof that cushioned his fall.” Business Insider: “The glass had slowed his fall.” 213
10. He had 28 wounds, and his right arm was nearly cut off. Wikipedia: “He had 28 shrapnel wounds in addition to his injuries from the fall: several broken bones, severe damage to his nose and eye, lung and kidney damage, and a nearly severed right arm.” Business Insider: “he had 28 wounds from shrapnel and glass, and his right arm was cut nearly the whole way off.” 23
11. The Germans took him prisoner. Wikipedia: “Magee was taken as a prisoner of war and given medical treatment by his captors.” 2
12. But their doctor told him, “we are enemies, but I am first a doctor and I will do my best to save your arm.” 303rd Bomb Group Association, quoting Magee: “I owe the German military doctor who treated me a debt of gratitude”; “He told me, ‘we are enemies, but I am first a doctor and I will do my best to save your arm.’” Business Insider gives the same words. 13
13. He saved it. 303rd Bomb Group Association: “The doctor, whose name he never found out, saved his arm and also took care of his multitude of injuries.” 1
14. Decades later, Magee went back to the old station. 303rd Bomb Group Association: “On the 23rd of September 1995 Alan E. Magee, accompanied by his wife Helen, returned to St Nazaire”; “During his visit to St. Nazaire, Alan visited the Hermitage Hotel, where he was treated by the German doctor, also the harbor and the submarine pens and also the ancient railroad station.” Vintage Aviation News: he would “revisit France decades later to honor his fallen crew.” 14
15. “I thought it was much smaller,” he said. 303rd Bomb Group Association: “As he looked at the railroad station with its glass roof, he said, ‘I thought it was much smaller.’” Vintage Aviation News quotes the same words. 14
16. He had never seen it. 303rd Bomb Group Association: “Actually he had never seen the railroad station before because he was unconscious when he hit it on his fall from 20,000 feet.” 1

Sources

1. 20,000 Feet – Without a Chute: The Alan Magee Story (Hal Susskind, Hell’s Angels Newsletter, February 1996) 303rd Bomb Group Association
2. Alan Magee Wikipedia
3. The story of the World War II gunner who fell 22,000 feet without a parachute and lived (Logan Nye, 2016) Business Insider
4. The Gunner Who Fell From the Sky…Without a Parachute (Michael W. Michelsen Jr., 2026) Vintage Aviation News
5. Reconnaissance mosaic “C.I.U. Mosaic No 1091, St Nazaire smoke screen, 3.1.43” (U.S. Air Force Number 26342AC) US National Archives

Photo credits

The archive photos in this story

The photographs and illustrations in this story are in the public domain or shared under open licenses; each one is credited below with its license. Tap one to enlarge it, or follow the link to its Wikimedia Commons page for the full record. The narration, captions and graphics in the Short are our own; its music and sound effects are credited below.