[Marshall V. Daut]

If you have the original style pop-out ignition switch and armored cable, the answer is no. That nut has to come off first so that the cable housing clamp can be lifted off the stud. Then you have to spin the distributor off the cable end, not the other way around. Kind of a dumb design in retrospect, but it may have been part of Ford's idea to protect owners' cars from theft.
Some modern replacement cable housings are "dummy" housings that look like originals, but are used with replacement switches. They can be screwed out of the distributor while it is still in the head. But a clamp will still complicate matters.
Marshall