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Man Survived 22,000-Foot Fall Out of Bomber
Albuquerque Journal | 2/3/04 | Paul Logan

Posted on 02/03/2004 8:54:26 PM PST by woofie

Alan Magee of Angel Fire ranked among the luckiest of those who served in the Army-Air Force during World War II.

A B-17 ball turret gunner, Magee had no choice but to jump out of a disabled, spinning-out-of-control bomber from about 22,000 feet.

A drop of more than four miles. Without a parachute. And Magee miraculously lived.

His incredible story was featured in a 1981 Smithsonian Magazine on the 10 most amazing survivals during World War II.

Magee seldom spoke of that death-defying drop. He died nearly 61 years later on Dec. 20 of complications from a stroke and kidney failure in San Angelo, Texas, said a niece, Jill Greene of Albuquerque. Magee was 84.

"He didn't like to talk about it, and he wouldn't dwell on it," Greene said. "One of the guys who saw him come through the roof of the railroad station tracked Alan down (in 1978).

Before that, Alan wasn't interested in discussing this."

However, Greene recalled him saying, "God was certainly looking out (for me.)"

Alan E. Magee, who retired to northern New Mexico in 1979, was born in Plainfield, N.J. The youngest of six children, he enlisted after the attack on Pearl Harbor.

Greene described her uncle as "just a regular guy."

He was 5-foot-7, barely small enough to fit in the B-17's ball turret— a cramped, donut-shaped plastic glass and metal turret on the bomber's underside. It was such a tight fit— a gunner's knees were practically against his chest— that Magee had to leave his chute on the deck of the four-engine Flying Fortress.

The ball turret offered a panoramic view and also a precarious target for German fighter planes. B-17 gunners had a high casualty rate, said Don Jenkins of Albuquerque, Magee's friend of 38 years and a World War II Navy veteran.

"He was very easy to get along with— very cheerful, very talkative and a very, very sweet guy," Jenkins said. But, he said, Magee only spoke to him three times about the events on Jan. 3, 1943.

Sgt. Magee, 24, was one of the oldest of the 10-man crew who flew out of Molesworth, England, on a bomber nicknamed "Snap! Crackle! Pop!" The pilot was only 19.

His seventh mission was a daylight bombing run on St. Nazaire, France, called "Flack City" because of the anti-aircraft guns defending the German submarine port. The 360th Bomb Squadron of the 303rd Bomb Group sent 85 B-17s with a fighter escort.

Over the target area, flack damaged Magee's plane, and then German fighters shot off a section of the right wing.

Magee, who was wounded, scrambled back into the cabin, but his parachute was ruined.

"He saw a gap in the spinning plane and jumped out," said Jenkins, who explained that in the confusion Magee forgot he wasn't wearing a chute.

"He remembered tumbling," Jenkins said. But at that altitude, Magee quickly lost consciousness.

Eyewitnesses saw Magee crash through the Nazaire train station's glass skylight, breaking his fall. When he regained consciousness, Magee said to his captors: "Thank God I'm alive."

Magee's injuries included 28 shrapnel wounds. A lung and kidney were hit. His nose and an eye were ripped open. His broken bones included his right leg and ankle. A right arm was nearly severed.

Jenkins said the Germans decided that anyone who could miraculously survive deserved "real special attention."

With the German doctors' help, Magee fully recovered. Jenkins said Magee later hiked and backpacked and "led a pretty good life."

Two of his crewmen also survived. In all, 75 airmen died, seven U.S. planes were destroyed and 47 were damaged that day, he said.

Magee was a prisoner of war until May 1945. He received the Air Medal for meritorious conduct and the Purple Heart.

"Alan was never the type to look in the past," Greene said. "He always was looking forward, living for the moment."

Despite the harrowing experience, Magee loved to fly. He qualified for a private pilot's license. His career included the air freight business and airline reservations.

On Jan. 3, 1993, Magee and the other two crewmen were guests of the St. Nazaire townspeople. They hosted a banquet and erected a six-foot-tall memorial to salute the Snap! Crackle! Pop! crew.

"He was very excited and honored," Jenkins said.

Magee is survived by his wife, Helen; a sister, Adele; six nieces and three nephews. A celebration of his life will be held this spring.


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Miscellaneous; News/Current Events; US: New Mexico
KEYWORDS: fall; lucky; survivor; veteran; wwii
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To: Johnny Gage
Amazing. Simply amazing.
61 posted on 02/04/2004 9:44:15 AM PST by stainlessbanner
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To: SamAdams76
I know of four cases like this counting this one. The other was a British guy and there were two different Navy pilots that ejected over water in the 60's both of them had ruptured spleens. One had a cigarette roll in his chute that slowed him some the other a total malfunction.
62 posted on 02/04/2004 9:48:19 AM PST by U S Army EOD (Volunteer for EOD and you will never have to worry about getting wounded.)
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To: COEXERJ145
I remember that one also plus there was another German girl whose airplane disintergrated in the air and she rode her seat down into the Brazilian rain forest. She was able to walk out to get help.
63 posted on 02/04/2004 9:50:06 AM PST by U S Army EOD (Volunteer for EOD and you will never have to worry about getting wounded.)
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To: SamAdams76
This guy doesn't win the Guinness record, though. It officially goes to the stewardess who was sucked out at 35,000 feet and landed on the downslope of a snow covered hill. Everybody else on that plane died.
64 posted on 02/04/2004 9:52:36 AM PST by Flightdeck (Death is only a horizon)
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To: stand watie
Do you think it would be possible to get him back in a B17?
65 posted on 02/04/2004 9:56:04 AM PST by U S Army EOD (Volunteer for EOD and you will never have to worry about getting wounded.)
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To: All
I once fell off a barstool and immediately passed out.
66 posted on 02/04/2004 9:57:24 AM PST by U S Army EOD (Volunteer for EOD and you will never have to worry about getting wounded.)
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To: SamAdams76
A glass skylight "breaking" his fall? C'mon.

I am sure it was more than a glass skylight breaking the fall. My guess would be Devine intervention.

67 posted on 02/04/2004 10:02:18 AM PST by Orange1998
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To: U S Army EOD
don't know. he's a little ancient for being a bombardier now i think!

free dixie,sw

68 posted on 02/04/2004 10:03:55 AM PST by stand watie (Resistance to tyrants is obedience to God. -T. Jefferson)
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To: woofie
I thought the gunners could not get out of the ball turrents until the mission was over. The stories about them say that gunners were crushed when planes had to belly land because of an inability to get out.
69 posted on 02/04/2004 10:05:24 AM PST by justshutupandtakeit (America's Enemies foreign and domestic agree: Bush must be destroyed.)
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To: U S Army EOD
fyi, my dad was a B17 guy.

he said it was NOT uncommon for guys to fall out the bomb bay doors-they would "jump up & down" on "stuck" bombs, until they were freed from the racks. sometimes the bombardier fell out too!

free dixie,sw

70 posted on 02/04/2004 10:07:49 AM PST by stand watie (Resistance to tyrants is obedience to God. -T. Jefferson)
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To: woofie
I recall that there was one person (a woman) who jumped from the WTC on 9/11. She was still alive when rescuers found her and was able to ask for family members. However her injuries were severe and she did not live much longer.
71 posted on 02/04/2004 10:11:12 AM PST by kidd
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To: stand watie
As in Dr. Strangelove.
72 posted on 02/04/2004 10:11:25 AM PST by U S Army EOD (Volunteer for EOD and you will never have to worry about getting wounded.)
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To: U S Army EOD
fyi, my dad said the fellow who fell out twice said,

"the preacher didn't want to hear what i said EITHER time!"

free dixie,sw

73 posted on 02/04/2004 10:11:25 AM PST by stand watie (Resistance to tyrants is obedience to God. -T. Jefferson)
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To: U S Army EOD
YEP!

usually with the same results!

free dixie,sw

74 posted on 02/04/2004 10:12:02 AM PST by stand watie (Resistance to tyrants is obedience to God. -T. Jefferson)
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To: U S Army EOD
I once fell off a barstool and immediately passed out.

LMAO

75 posted on 02/04/2004 10:16:28 AM PST by MassExodus (The Massachusetts Supreme Court ruled my tagline Un-Constitutional)
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To: U S Army EOD
LOL
76 posted on 02/04/2004 10:17:30 AM PST by woofie
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To: justshutupandtakeit
You could get in and out of a ball turret in flight...The guns had to be pointed straight down so that the hatch was inside the plane...If the turret got jammed so it could not rotate the gunner was trapped...If the Fort had to belly land the gunner was toast.......

.....Westy....

77 posted on 02/04/2004 12:16:33 PM PST by westmex
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To: Travis McGee
Actually, about 400 feet or higher.
78 posted on 02/04/2004 12:38:28 PM PST by Old Professer
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To: westmex
Thanks for the clarification. Perhaps that was brought out in the story I saw but given the fog in my head I didn't get it straight. Then again I don't know if the ball turrents were the same on all the types of planes.
79 posted on 02/04/2004 1:16:14 PM PST by justshutupandtakeit (America's Enemies foreign and domestic agree: Bush must be destroyed.)
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To: Old Professer
Actually, about 400 feet or higher.

There was a videotape on TV the other night of a skydiver who forgot to open his chute and lived to tell about it. I don't know what height beginners jump from, but he looked like he had reached terminal velocity. Same survivor story: hit some pine trees, couple of broken bones, etc. While pine trees work well, I imagine oak would be like hitting the desert floor.

80 posted on 02/04/2004 1:32:59 PM PST by Snerfling
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