There's been several stories of crewman jumping out of shot up plane without a parachute.
Here's a story from MP.net although I have read of that story from different sources. One being a pretty reputable book on WW2.
STEPHEN ALKEMADE
Flight Sergeant Nicholas Stephen Alkemade (1923 – 1987) was a tail gunner for a Royal Air Force Avro Lancaster bomber during World War II who survived a fall of 18,000 feet (5500 m) without a parachute after his plane was shot down over Germany.
On 24 March 1944, 21 year old Alkemade was a member of No. 115 Squadron RAF and his Lancaster II "S for Sugar" was flying to the east of Schmallenberg, Germany on its return from a 300 bomber raid on Berlin, when it was attacked by a Luftwaffe Junkers Ju-88 night-fighter, caught fire and began to spiral out of control. Because his parachute was destroyed by the fire, Alkemade opted to jump from the aircraft without one, preferring his death to be quick, rather than being burnt to death. He fell 18,000 ft (5500 m) to the ground below. His fall was broken by pine trees and a soft snow cover on the ground. He was able to move his arms and legs and suffered only a sprained leg. The Lancaster crashed in flames and the pilot Jack Newman and three other members of the seven man crew did not survive and are buried in Hanover War Cemetery.
He was subsequently captured and interviewed by the Gestapo who were initially suspicious of his claim to have fallen without a parachute until the wreckage of the aircraft was examined. He was then a celebrated POW before being repatriated in May 1945. (Reportedly the orderly Germans were so impressed that Alkemade had bailed out without a parachute and lived that they gave him a certificate testifying to the fact.)
Heres the story about the Akland mans fall. It made world news.
Vhttp://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10891016
A young Briton who survived a fall from the 15th floor of an Auckland city apartment block is expected to make a full recovery.
Tom Stilwell, 20, who is in New Zealand on a working holiday, this morning remained in the intensive care unit at Auckland City Hospital. A spokeswoman said his condition had improved overnight and he was "satisfactory".
The 20-year-old fell while trying to get into his locked high-rise apartment.
His best mate and flatmate, Dave Thomas, said Mr Stilwell sustained neck and back fractures and broke a wrist, as well as having suspected internal injuries.
Mr Thomas, 22, said today he had spoken to Mr Stilwell, who was quite groggy and couldn't remember anything from the fall. He is still recovering from surgery but is expected to be moved from intensive care today.
"He's absolutely fine...He's a very lucky man," Mr Thomas said.
Mr Stilwell was on a night out with fellow travellers when he got separated from them and went home to the Volt apartment complex, on the corner of Queen St and Mayoral Dr in the central city.
He woke a neighbour and asked her if he could lower himself down from her top 15th-floor balcony to his own, directly underneath.
Geraldine Bautista, 28, said Mr Stilwell slipped from her grasp and plummeted "like a paper falling".
"He never said anything ... I grabbed his hand and then at that time ... he fell down. I thought I was dreaming. It happened so fast. It happened within seconds. I couldn't even scream for help. He was like a paper falling from here."
Mr Stilwell knocked on Ms Bautista's window about 2am. He was "a little bit tipsy".
"I wasn't scared of him - he just requested 'Can you please let me jump off from the balcony? I will not bother you just let me use your balcony ...'
"I never thought he would really do that. In my mind I thought 'Okay, I'll just let you see that it's really impossible [to gain access to his apartment]. I didn't think he'd jump, because it's really scary."
He walked quickly through the flat and onto the tiled balcony which is less than a metre wide. Before she could react he had one leg over the railing.
"I asked him 'Are you all right? It's unsafe to jump over the rail'."
Mr Stilwell plummeted about 13 storeys before landing on a roof of an adjacent building - something one medical expert believes could have saved his life.
Ms Bautista raced downstairs while others in the building called emergency services.
A flatmate slept through the drama but spent the rest of the night comforting her.
Mr Thomas, who said his friend had a "fair bit to drink", was only 10 to 15 minutes behind Mr Stilwell. When he and a third flatmate got to their front door, they were met by police searching for identification for the injured man.
He said the incident was not typical behaviour for his friend - "he's normally the sensible one out of all of us."
St John medical director Dr Tony Smith said surviving falls from such heights was "extraordinary", but a person's chances increased greatly if something broke their fall.
"We've seen patients in Auckland who have had their falls broken by awnings over windows, umbrellas, those sorts of things."
But the roof the man fell on to would not have prevented serious injury.
"From that sort of height you can have injuries to everything and anything. Survival from falls of that height are extraordinarily unusual."
And there was no evidence to support the belief that alcohol relaxed the body, making it less likely that a person who had been drinking would be injured in a serious fall.
"It's like being in car crash. If you're going to hit something at speed, relaxed or not is not going to make too much difference."
Mr Stilwell is from Brighton and works at Auckland Transport. Mr Thomas was unsure if Mr Stilwell's parents' were flying to Auckland to be with their son.
Fall survivors:
• July 2010: A 15-year-old falls 50m from a Manukau apartment block onto the roof of the car park building below.
• July 2011: A window cleaner falls six storeys from a building in Wellington landing on a car - and dislocates a toe.
• December 2011: Acrobat plunges six storeys from the Metro Centre in Auckland.
Haven't got time to look for any more but the other survivor from a fall from great height lead to speculation that some people can relax enough during a fall, that their insides don't look like "spaghetti bolagnaise"
So you see 'Marvel' books aren't lying when they suggest people with X Men like powers live amongst us.
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