First, for plausibility, bear in mind that terminal velocity and impact velocity are what matters here — altitude is actually irrelevant after a certain point. TV of human in the "skydiving" position is about 120mph, or around 80mph in a wing suit. Add in the fact that this gentlemen was likely wearing one of the large/baggy heated canvas flight suits as standard for higher-altitude bombers of the era, and potentially other items like flak jackets, it's feasible that his velocity upon impact could have conceivably in the 85-100 mph range, which starts to feel a bit more conceivable.

The FAA did formal studies of free-fall survivability in the 60s:

Over water, specifically: https://www.faa.gov/sites/faa.gov/files/data_research/research/med_humanfacs/oamtechreports/AM65-12.pdf


If interested, over land: https://www.faa.gov/sites/faa.gov/files/data_research/research/med_humanfacs/oamtechreports/AM63-15.pdf

And there have been several other studies since then that examine survivability factors for extreme impacts that could be informative.


That being said, I my skepticism diminishes a bit further when you consider the possibility that his own personal freefall may have been less than 10k ft due to other details that have been lost in the second hand accounts / retelling of the story. As a pilot, he may have been about the work of trying to manage the decent of a disable aircraft or guide to favorable terrain, etc. which makes him potentially the last person out after riding it down to a lower altitude/velocity. Or in a completely uncontrolled decent an object like a B-24 — if relatively intact — would potentially have a relatively low TV, and crewmen bouncing around inside - unable to fasten a chute, could have been finally ejected at more favorable and lower velocities/altitudes that presumed above.

All speculation, of course, but the point is that there could be several scenarios with mitigating details that contributed to the survivability.

Regardless, to survive any kind of significant high-speed free fall impact on water — and do so while remaining conscious and with few enough injuries to make your way back to land, is an example of extreme luck, perhaps crossing into the territory of miracle, which is something we as a group supposedly believe in, so I guess why not him?