{"id":2218,"date":"2017-07-30T02:00:24","date_gmt":"2017-07-30T00:00:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/b17flyingfortress.de\/?post_type=b17database&#038;p=2218"},"modified":"2026-03-15T11:10:09","modified_gmt":"2026-03-15T10:10:09","slug":"42-97441","status":"publish","type":"b17database","link":"https:\/\/b17flyingfortress.de\/en\/b17\/42-97441\/","title":{"rendered":"42-97441"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Mid air collision with B-17 #<a href=\"https:\/\/b17flyingfortress.de\/en\/b17\/42-30008-ready-teddy\/\">42-30008 &#8216;Ready Teddy&#8217;<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Eyewitness Statement<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>I was tail gunner on&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/b17flyingfortress.de\/en\/b17\/42-31494\/\" data-type=\"b17database\" data-id=\"3590\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">B-17G&nbsp;42-31494<\/a>, and we were flying Lead Ship, Second Element, Low Squadron, Lead Group. I first noticed the ships when a big burst of flame caught my eye. I saw the two ships, one on top of the other. The bottom ship was in flames. Suddenly the bottom ship exploded. The explosion of the lower&nbsp;ship tore the left wing of the upper ship and as it started to go down, it exploded too. The lower ball turret fell out from the lower ship. No parachutes were seen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-right\"><em>S\/Sgt. Alexander L. Phillips<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Source: MACR 2254<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Delivered Denver 17\/11\/43; Kearney 30\/11\/43; Bangor 13\/12\/43; Assigned 407BS\/92BG [PY-O] Podington 10\/1\/44; Missing in Action Brunswick 30\/1\/44 with Dave Russell, Co-pilot: Alex Xanthos, Navigator: Freeman Hawthorne, Bombardier: Theo Mathers, Flight engineer\/top turret gunner: Lonni Efird, Radio Operator: Elmer Spark, Waist gunner: Francis O\u2019Brien,Tail gunner: Claude Green (8 Killed in Action); Ball turret gunner: Ralph Chapman, Waist gunner: Curtis Wilheim (2 Prisoner of War); mid air coll with 42-30008, crashed between Ehlerhausen &#038; Ramlingen, five miles N of Burgdorf, 26 miles NW of Brunswick, Ger; Missing Air Crew Report 2254.","protected":false},"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":[],"airplane-status":[133],"status-date":[226],"status-day":[1848],"status-month":[1860],"status-year":[1892],"production-block":[89],"manufacturer":[144],"delivered":[1812],"project-number":[],"bomb-group":[301],"bomb-squadron":[375],"raf-service":[],"b17tags":[],"class_list":["post-2218","b17database","type-b17database","status-publish","hentry","airplane-status-mid-air-collision","status-date-30-01-1944","status-day-1848","status-month-january","status-year-1892","production-block-b-17g-15-ve-42-97436-42-97535","manufacturer-lockheed-vega","delivered-denver","bomb-group-92nd-bomb-group","bomb-squadron-407th-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\/2218","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=2218"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/b17flyingfortress.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2218"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"airplane-status","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/b17flyingfortress.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/airplane-status?post=2218"},{"taxonomy":"status-date","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/b17flyingfortress.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/status-date?post=2218"},{"taxonomy":"status-day","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/b17flyingfortress.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/status-day?post=2218"},{"taxonomy":"status-month","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/b17flyingfortress.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/status-month?post=2218"},{"taxonomy":"status-year","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/b17flyingfortress.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/status-year?post=2218"},{"taxonomy":"production-block","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/b17flyingfortress.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/production-block?post=2218"},{"taxonomy":"manufacturer","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/b17flyingfortress.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/manufacturer?post=2218"},{"taxonomy":"delivered","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/b17flyingfortress.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/delivered?post=2218"},{"taxonomy":"project-number","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/b17flyingfortress.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/project-number?post=2218"},{"taxonomy":"bomb-group","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/b17flyingfortress.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bomb-group?post=2218"},{"taxonomy":"bomb-squadron","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/b17flyingfortress.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bomb-squadron?post=2218"},{"taxonomy":"raf-service","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/b17flyingfortress.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/raf-service?post=2218"},{"taxonomy":"b17tags","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/b17flyingfortress.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/b17tags?post=2218"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}