During World War II a man fell 5000 feet out of a plane and lived

Though this might seem unbelievable to you this actually happened. I read this in Reader's Digest likely in the 1950s or 1960s. A man was in a B-29 Bomber over Europe on a Bombing run for the U.S. It was during World War II. His plane was on fire and his parachute had already burned off him trying to rescue other crew members so he had no parachute. He had to decide whether to jump without a parachute or to die burning up in the plane. So, he realized it would be less painful to jump than to burn up and crash. So, he jumped (But he didn't die). The speed of the wind while his body was falling put out his flames in his clothing.

The reason he didn't die was that there was snow on the ground and he hit something like the side of a large pine tree or something like that. So, he took off all the limbs on one side of a tree and landed in the snow below. The snow was deep enough to break his fall. He broke his leg but fully recovered over time. Amazing!