On return from mission to Halberstadt on 11 Jan 1944, B-17G #42-31451 was involved in a mid-air collision and then attacked by fighters and crashed. Prisoner of War (POW). Enroute home his plane's right wing was struck by another plane in the formation, causing some damage. McCollum rang the alarm to bail out, but regained control. Almost immediately the plane was hit by three elements of FW-190s from head-on. Crabtree knew it was time to abandon ship. He turned around to see that the navigator 2nd. Lt. Daniel P. Jones had already inadvertently popped his chute in putting the chest pack in place, with the pilot chute lying on his desk. Crabtree tugged at Jones's jacket, motioning for him to come. But Jones just looked at Crabtree and did not budge. It was difficult to move about in the plunging plane, but Crabtree managed to pull the pins on the front escape hatch and just rolled out the hatch. An ME-109 circled him while he drifted down in his chute, but did not use him for target practice. Crabtree landed on the roof of a farmhouse near Appeldoorn and was captured immediately. He later learned that the remainder of the crew had been killed. He was a Prisoner of War (POW) in Stalag Luft I, Barth, Germany.



POW