{"id":15418,"date":"2019-09-23T04:00:53","date_gmt":"2019-09-23T02:00:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/b17flyingfortress.de\/?post_type=b17database&p=15418"},"modified":"2023-09-04T11:00:35","modified_gmt":"2023-09-04T09:00:35","slug":"44-6757","status":"publish","type":"b17database","link":"https:\/\/b17flyingfortress.de\/en\/b17\/44-6757\/","title":{"rendered":"44-6757"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Mid-air-collision with\u00a0B-17 #42-102939<\/a>\u00a0on 16 March 1945.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Statement<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

We were approximately at 14000 feet, already on oxygen, climbing through soup. Sometimes I was unable to see the lead ship. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I had just finished putting my parachute pack on when we had a sharp bump that seemed to pull us to the left. Immediately before this, and at this moment I wasn\u2019t able to see any other ship. About two or three seconds later our ship took a steep bank to the left and someone shouted something over the inter phone. The ship seemed to be careening wildly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I was the first to reach the nose escape hatch. I immediately pulled the emergency release but the hatch failed to open. There was no handle on the door, so I was unable to turn the latch. I pounded on the hatch but was unable to open it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Finally, perhaps a minute after I had started, the bombardier shoved the hatch with his foot and it fell away. I jumped possibly at an altitude of from six to eight thousand feet. The plane seemed to be spinning while I was in it. Someone, possible the engineer started down from the flight deck while I was struggling with the hatch. He probably decided to go back toward the waist. I saw three parachutes open.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2Lt. Irvin A. Landa, Navigator<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Source: MACR 13051<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Delivered Hunter 4\/11\/44; Grenier 17\/11\/44; Assigned 342BS\/97BG Amendola 3\/12\/44; Missing in Action Vienna 16\/3\/45 with P: Paul D. Algeo – KIA; CP: Edward T. Cullen – KIA; NAV: Irving A. Landa – RTD; BOMB: William H. Vale – RTD; ENG\/TT: James E. Mellor – KIA; RO: Herbert P. Levinson – KIA; BT: James W. Alexander – KIA; WG: Richard J. Barlog – KIA; WG: Adolph E. Kokoefer – KIA; TG: William J. Tubb – KIA; PHOTO: Wilber P. Wolfe – KIA; mid air coll with 42-102939, ditched Adriatic; Missing Air Crew Report 13051.","protected":false},"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":[],"airplane-status":[133],"status-date":[823],"status-day":[1866],"status-month":[1872],"status-year":[1844],"production-block":[110],"manufacturer":[131],"delivered":[],"project-number":[],"bomb-group":[294],"bomb-squadron":[369],"raf-service":[],"b17tags":[],"class_list":["post-15418","b17database","type-b17database","status-publish","hentry","airplane-status-mid-air-collision","status-date-16-03-1945","status-day-1866","status-month-march","status-year-1844","production-block-b-17g-65-dl-44-6751-44-6875","manufacturer-douglas","bomb-group-97th-bomb-group","bomb-squadron-342nd-bomb-squadron"],"translation":{"provider":"WPGlobus","version":"3.0.0","language":"en","enabled_languages":["de","en"],"languages":{"de":{"title":true,"content":true,"excerpt":true},"en":{"title":true,"content":true,"excerpt":true}}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/b17flyingfortress.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/b17database\/15418","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/b17flyingfortress.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/b17database"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/b17flyingfortress.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/b17database"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/b17flyingfortress.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15418"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/b17flyingfortress.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15418"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"airplane-status","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/b17flyingfortress.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/airplane-status?post=15418"},{"taxonomy":"status-date","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/b17flyingfortress.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/status-date?post=15418"},{"taxonomy":"status-day","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/b17flyingfortress.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/status-day?post=15418"},{"taxonomy":"status-month","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/b17flyingfortress.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/status-month?post=15418"},{"taxonomy":"status-year","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/b17flyingfortress.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/status-year?post=15418"},{"taxonomy":"production-block","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/b17flyingfortress.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/production-block?post=15418"},{"taxonomy":"manufacturer","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/b17flyingfortress.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/manufacturer?post=15418"},{"taxonomy":"delivered","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/b17flyingfortress.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/delivered?post=15418"},{"taxonomy":"project-number","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/b17flyingfortress.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/project-number?post=15418"},{"taxonomy":"bomb-group","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/b17flyingfortress.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bomb-group?post=15418"},{"taxonomy":"bomb-squadron","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/b17flyingfortress.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bomb-squadron?post=15418"},{"taxonomy":"raf-service","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/b17flyingfortress.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/raf-service?post=15418"},{"taxonomy":"b17tags","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/b17flyingfortress.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/b17tags?post=15418"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}