Memorial

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2nd Lt John W. Adams was an actor before he joined the infantry of the Regular Army as a private at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas on 1 July 1941.

There are several versions of what happened with this airplane. In one version, it's believed that the airplane collided with another plane and exploded in the air. One of its crewmembers mentioned the airplane received two hits from German fighters. These shells exploded in the cockpit, starting a fire in front of the rudder pedals and causing flames. He couldn't remember much more because he lost consciousness and when he regained consciousness he had parachuted.

An eyewitness report confirmes this: A/C #817 was #3 in lead element, lead squadron. Near 5410 N 0910 E the leader flew into a dense layer of clouds. The leader of the second element pulled up above the overcast and his wing men peeled off right and left. None of these crews saw the leading element agaln. Crews in the 100th B group flying in the combat wing behind turned back before entering the cloud bank. Most of the crews observed a large explosion behind them and slightly above the formation. altitude. It is believed that A/C 970 and A/C 817 collided and exploded and that A/C 017 which is missing was damaged by explosion."

A somewhat clearer picture of events is given in a letter from Vollmer, the pilot to John Miller (1980/81). "Our element remained together and broke out on top of the clouds at 31,000 feet. For the next five or ten minutes it looked like the mighty 8th Air Forc., consisting now of only three B-17s, was going to try to make the first strike on Big B. It didn't last long. A bunch of FWs hit us from about 2 o'clock high and got all of us. Two shells exploded in the cockpit, starting a fire in front of the rudder pedals and causing flames to come through my oxygen mask. At that altitude, I was unable to secure the walk around bottle before losing conciousness. The plane then dived and climbed alternately until it finally broke up. I don't know how I got out, but I did parachute with debris falling all around me. Five of the men on my crew died that day."