# Alan Magee
**Alan Eugene Magee** (January 13, 1919 – December 20, 2003) was an American airman of the [United States Army Air Forces](https://www.edgepedia.org/united-states-army-air-forces) who survived a free fall given by different accounts as 20,000 feet and about 22,000 feet, without a parachute from his B-17 Flying Fortress over [Saint-Nazaire](https://www.edgepedia.org/saint-nazaire), France, on January 3, 1943, during a World War II bombing raid. He was a staff sergeant and ball turret (small spherical gunner compartment under a bomber's belly) gunner with the 360th Bomb Squadron of the 303rd Bomb Group, and his fall through the glass roof of the Saint-Nazaire railroad station became known as the "miracle of Saint-Nazaire".[1](https://www.303rdbg.com/magee.html) • [2](https://www.warhistoryonline.com/instant-articles/airman-who-jumped-from-b-17.html) • [3](https://www.uswarmemorials.org/html/monument_details.php?MemID=4979&SiteID=3562)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Born / died | January 13, 1919, Plainfield, New Jersey; December 20, 2003, San Angelo, Texas, age 84[2](https://www.warhistoryonline.com/instant-articles/airman-who-jumped-from-b-17.html) • [4](https://freerepublic.com/focus/f-vetscor/2940395/posts) |
| Service | Staff sergeant, ball turret gunner, 360th Bomb Squadron, 303rd Bomb Group, B-17s from Molesworth, England[1](https://www.303rdbg.com/magee.html) • [5](https://sofrep.com/news/staff-sergeant-alan-e-magee-story) |
| The fall | January 3, 1943, from B-17F 41-24620 *Snap! Crackle! Pop!* without a parachute; accounts give 20,000 feet and about 22,000 feet[1](https://www.303rdbg.com/magee.html) • [6](https://www.wearethemighty.com/history/alan-magee-22000-feet-no-parachute/) |
| Landing | Crashed through the glass roof of the Saint-Nazaire railroad station and survived[1](https://www.303rdbg.com/magee.html) |
| Injuries | 28 shrapnel wounds, broken right leg and ankle, nearly severed right arm, punctured lung and kidney damage[4](https://freerepublic.com/focus/f-vetscor/2940395/posts) |
| Captivity | Prisoner of war, most accounts naming Stalag 17B, until the end of the war in 1945[7](https://vintageaviationnews.com/warbird-articles/the-gunner-who-fell-from-the-skywithout-a-parachute-the-story-of-sgt-alan-e-magee.html) |
| Decorations | Air Medal and Purple Heart[7](https://vintageaviationnews.com/warbird-articles/the-gunner-who-fell-from-the-skywithout-a-parachute-the-story-of-sgt-alan-e-magee.html) |
## Early life and service
Magee was born in Plainfield, New Jersey, on January 13, 1919.[2](https://www.warhistoryonline.com/instant-articles/airman-who-jumped-from-b-17.html) He enlisted in the Army Air Forces on January 7, 1942, in [Newark, New Jersey](https://www.edgepedia.org/newark-new-jersey), soon after the attack on [Pearl Harbor](https://www.edgepedia.org/pearl-harbor), and trained as a ball turret gunner.[5](https://sofrep.com/news/staff-sergeant-alan-e-magee-story) At about 5 feet 6 or 5 feet 7 inches tall, he fit the cramped spherical turret beneath the B-17's belly, a position armed with two heavy machine guns and among the most exposed on the aircraft.[2](https://www.warhistoryonline.com/instant-articles/airman-who-jumped-from-b-17.html) • [6](https://www.wearethemighty.com/history/alan-magee-22000-feet-no-parachute/) He was assigned to the 360th Bomb Squadron, 303rd Bomb Group, flying from Molesworth in England, and had completed six combat missions by early 1943.[5](https://sofrep.com/news/staff-sergeant-alan-e-magee-story)
## The fall
On January 3, 1943, Magee flew his seventh mission, a daylight raid on the German U-boat base and torpedo stores at Saint-Nazaire, a port the crews called "Flak City". The force of 85 B-17s was led by Colonel Curtis LeMay.[2](https://www.warhistoryonline.com/instant-articles/airman-who-jumped-from-b-17.html) • [6](https://www.wearethemighty.com/history/alan-magee-22000-feet-no-parachute/) His aircraft, B-17F 41-24620, was named *Snap! Crackle! Pop!* by Captain Jacob W. Fredericks, who had worked for the Kellogg Company before the war.[1](https://www.303rdbg.com/magee.html)
Over the target the bomber was hit by anti-aircraft fire and fighters; a strike tore part of the right wing and sent the plane into a spin. Magee, wounded and losing consciousness from lack of oxygen, found his parachute shredded and either jumped or was thrown through an opening in the fuselage without it.[6](https://www.wearethemighty.com/history/alan-magee-22000-feet-no-parachute/) • [2](https://www.warhistoryonline.com/instant-articles/airman-who-jumped-from-b-17.html) Accounts of the altitude differ: the 303rd Bomb Group Association's account says 20,000 feet,[1](https://www.303rdbg.com/magee.html) while several later retellings give about 22,000 feet, more than four miles.[6](https://www.wearethemighty.com/history/alan-magee-22000-feet-no-parachute/) • [7](https://vintageaviationnews.com/warbird-articles/the-gunner-who-fell-from-the-skywithout-a-parachute-the-story-of-sgt-alan-e-magee.html)
He lost consciousness during the fall and crashed through the glass roof of the Saint-Nazaire railroad station. He later recalled praying as he fell, "I don't wish to die because I know nothing of life".[1](https://www.303rdbg.com/magee.html) The glass roof broke much of the impact, and Magee credited the many layers of clothing he wore, including long johns, an electric flight suit, his uniform, jumpers, and a heavy flight jacket, with helping to save his life.[4](https://freerepublic.com/focus/f-vetscor/2940395/posts)
## Wounds and treatment
Magee's injuries included 28 shrapnel wounds, a broken nose and eye damage, a punctured lung and kidney damage, a broken right leg and ankle, and a right arm nearly severed.[4](https://freerepublic.com/focus/f-vetscor/2940395/posts) • [6](https://www.wearethemighty.com/history/alan-magee-22000-feet-no-parachute/) He was taken to the Hermitage Hotel in La Baule, which served as a [Kriegsmarine](https://www.edgepedia.org/kriegsmarine) hospital, where a German military doctor told him, "We are enemies, but I am first a doctor and I will do my best to save your arm." The doctor saved the arm and treated his other injuries over a hospitalization of about two and a half months; Magee never learned his name.[1](https://www.303rdbg.com/magee.html) • [4](https://freerepublic.com/focus/f-vetscor/2940395/posts)
## Captivity and later life
After recovering, Magee was sent to a prisoner-of-war camp, most accounts naming [Stalag](https://www.edgepedia.org/stalag) 17B, where he remained until the war ended in 1945.[7](https://vintageaviationnews.com/warbird-articles/the-gunner-who-fell-from-the-skywithout-a-parachute-the-story-of-sgt-alan-e-magee.html) • [4](https://freerepublic.com/focus/f-vetscor/2940395/posts) He received the [Air Medal](https://www.edgepedia.org/air-medal) and the [Purple Heart](https://www.edgepedia.org/purple-heart), earned a pilot's license, and worked in the aviation industry, including air freight, retiring in 1979.[7](https://vintageaviationnews.com/warbird-articles/the-gunner-who-fell-from-the-skywithout-a-parachute-the-story-of-sgt-alan-e-magee.html)In 1981, *Smithsonian Magazine* listed his survival among the ten most amazing survival stories of World War II.[4](https://freerepublic.com/focus/f-vetscor/2940395/posts) He returned to Saint-Nazaire on January 3, 1993, the fiftieth anniversary of the raid, and on September 23, 1995, he and his wife Helen attended a ceremony dedicating a memorial to his seven crewmen killed in the crash at La Baule-Escoublac; he planted a "tree of peace" and was named a Citizen of Honor of the town.[1](https://www.303rdbg.com/magee.html) • [8](https://warstories.nl/en/side-story/the-human-bomb/)
Magee died on December 20, 2003, in [San Angelo, Texas](https://www.edgepedia.org/san-angelo-texas), at age 84, from a stroke and kidney failure.[4](https://freerepublic.com/focus/f-vetscor/2940395/posts)
## The mission's cost and comparable survivals
The January 3, 1943 raid was costly for the 303rd Bomb Group, which lost four aircraft to enemy action; of the 85 bombers on the mission, seven were shot down, including *Snap! Crackle! Pop!*, and 47 were permanently damaged.[1](https://www.303rdbg.com/magee.html) • [2](https://www.warhistoryonline.com/instant-articles/airman-who-jumped-from-b-17.html) Two of Magee's crewmates, navigator Lt. Glen M. Herrington and tail gunner S/Sgt. James Gordon, bailed out successfully and were captured; Herrington lost a leg and became one of the first Army Air Forces men to be repatriated.[1](https://www.303rdbg.com/magee.html) • [4](https://freerepublic.com/focus/f-vetscor/2940395/posts)
Magee's fall is often compared with that of [Nicholas Alkemade](https://www.edgepedia.org/nicholas-alkemade), a [Royal Air Force](https://www.edgepedia.org/royal-air-force) rear gunner who fell about 18,000 feet from his [Lancaster](https://www.edgepedia.org/lancaster) on the night of March 24–25, 1944, after his parachute burned, and survived by landing in a snow-covered pine forest. Unlike Magee, who was unconscious, Alkemade jumped deliberately and had to defend his account under German interrogation.[9](https://controltowers.co.uk/alan-eugene-magee-ww2-gunner-who-fell/)
## References
1. [The Alan Magee Story, 303rd Bomb Group Association](https://www.303rdbg.com/magee.html)
2. [The Human Bomb – The American Airman Who Jumped From Stricken B-17 Without A Parachute... And Survived, War History Online](https://www.warhistoryonline.com/instant-articles/airman-who-jumped-from-b-17.html)
3. [Monument Details, US War Memorials](https://www.uswarmemorials.org/html/monument_details.php?MemID=4979&SiteID=3562)
4. [The Free-Fall of Sergeant Magee, January 3rd, 1943 Over Saint-Nazaire, France, Free Republic](https://freerepublic.com/focus/f-vetscor/2940395/posts)
5. [Staff Sergeant Alan E. Magee: The Man Who Fell 22,000 Feet, SOFREP](https://sofrep.com/news/staff-sergeant-alan-e-magee-story)
6. [World War II airman Alan Magee survived a 22,000-foot fall without a parachute, We Are The Mighty](https://www.wearethemighty.com/history/alan-magee-22000-feet-no-parachute/)
7. [The Gunner Who Fell From the Sky...Without a Parachute, Vintage Aviation News](https://vintageaviationnews.com/warbird-articles/the-gunner-who-fell-from-the-skywithout-a-parachute-the-story-of-sgt-alan-e-magee.html)
8. [The human bomb, War Stories](https://warstories.nl/en/side-story/the-human-bomb/)
9. [Alan Eugene Magee: The WW2 Ball Turret Gunner Who Fell 20,000 Feet and Survived, Control Towers](https://controltowers.co.uk/alan-eugene-magee-ww2-gunner-who-fell/)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Society and history › Conflict and security › Military and security biographies › Air force officers and airmen*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
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