During World War II, the sky was battleground as much as the ground below. When your plane was attacked and destroyed, you had to rely on your parachute to get you safety back to earth. But there was always the possibility that your parachute could be destroyed along with your plane, and you'd be out of luck. But three men on the Allied side- a Ukrainian, an American, and an Englishman, survived miles of freefall and survived! Two were picked up by German forces, but were given care for their injuries and survived the war as POWs.
Shown above is American Alan Magee, who was a ball turret gunner on a B-17 Flying Fortress in 1943. First his ball turret was wrecked, then he found his parachute shredded, and finally he was blown out of his plane completely. He fell four miles, unconscious, and crashed through the glass ceiling of a train station in France. He suffered horrific injuries, but came into the care of a compassionate German doctor. Read Magee's story and that of the two other survivors who made it back to earth without the aid of parachute at Military History Now. -via Strange Company
(Image source: American Air Museum in Britain)