Alan Magee

Who was Alan Magee?

Alan Eugene Magee was an American airman during World War II who survived a 22,000-foot fall from his damaged B-17 Flying Fortress. He was featured in Smithsonian Magazine as one of the 10 most amazing survival stories of World War II.

Alan Magee was born in Plainfield, New Jersey, as the youngest of six children. Immediately after the Pearl Harbor attack Magee joined the United States Army Air Forces and was assigned as a ball turret gunner on a B-17 bomber nicknamed "snap! crackle! pop!".

On 3 January 1943, Magee's Flying Fortress, B-17F-27-BO, 41-24620, "snap! crackle! pop!", of the 360th Bomb Squadron, 303rd Bomb Group, was on a daylight bombing run over Saint-Nazaire, France when German fighters shot off a section of the right wing, causing the aircraft to enter a deadly spin. This was Magee's seventh mission.

Magee was wounded in the attack but managed to escape from the ball turret. His parachute had been damaged and rendered useless by the attack, so having no choice, he leapt from the plane without a parachute, rapidly losing consciousness due to the altitude.

By some accounts, Magee fell over four miles before crashing through the glass roof of the St.