John Bunyan Mitchell

Graduating Class
1949

Major
Electrical Engineering

Activities at Clemson
Transfer; Transfer; Private; Second Lieutenant, AIEE 4, Clemson Amateur Radio Club 4, Senior Platoon; Lexington-Saluda Clemson Club 3, 4; Air Force ROTC Summer Camp, Orlando Air Force Base, Florida

Hometown
Saluda, SC

Family
Parents - Mr. and Mrs. Whitt Mitchell

Service & Rank
Air Force, 1Lt

Unit
3505 Pilot Training Squadron at Greenville AFB, Mississippi.

Date of Birth
May 19, 1927

Date of Death
Jul 17, 1953

Details of Death
On July 17, 1953, while serving as an instructor pilot, LT Mitchell took a student officer (1LT Jacob Robinson) up in a T-28 A "Trojan" airplane. When executing a "Split S" maneuver, the aircraft began a rapid acceleration. The right wing smashed into the canopy following a loud explosion. LT Robinson was thrown clear of the aircraft after releasing his safety belt, and noticed that LT Mitchell had also bailed out and was below a deployed canopy. Both men landed in the Mississippi River, and LT Mitchell slipped beneath the surface of the water followed by his parachute. His body was recovered on August 12, 1953.

Burial Details
Good Hope Baptist Church Cemetery, Saluda, SC

Barrow Stone Location
NE