Assigned to 360BS, 303BG, 8AF USAAF. Failed to Return (FTR) Rottweil mission; only survivor of mid air collision from B-17 44-8137 21-Jan-45. Prisoner of War (POW) MACR 11759



Awards: POW, WWII Victory, EAME.



Most Unusual Mission Experiences as related by 1st. Lt. John Stephen Proffitt, Jr. (303rd Bomb Group, 359th Bomb Squadron ("BS")). For more information, see Mission Report No. 305 on the 303rd Bomb Group's website.

"...'the most unusual experience' was witnessing the collision of two B-17s on the January 21, 1945 mission to Aschaffenburg, Germany (described on pages 636-7 of the fine book "Might in Flight."). We were flying on Tasker's left wing, and I was consciously observing the situation before and at the time of the collision. Duffield, the squadron leader, let his IAS increase to about 160 mph in the left turn. Upon completion of the turn, he immediately reduced his air-speed, and Tasker was slow to react. Consequently, Tasker's plane moved forward until he was nose to nose directly under Duffield's plane. In an apparent effort to slow down, Tasker put down some flaps and the lift raised his plane into contact with Duffield's. While I had been watching this entire event develop right in front of me, the actual collision was unexpected. My first realization of the seriousness of the situation was when a landing gear wheel from one of the planes nearly hit my right wing; my instant reaction was to peel off to the left, so both planes were on their way down by the time I saw them again. Since we generally expected that everyone involved in the collision had perished, my tail gunner, Howard F. O'Neal, was surprised to encounter Tasker's tail gunner, A.H. Driver, on the ship when returning to the U.S. a few months later." 303rd BG Editor's note: "Actually, there were two survivors to the collision. Lt. J.C. Flemmons, a bombardier on Lt. Duffield's crew, also survived the collision and became a POW."