Service marks 81st anniversary of bomber crash

A memorial service has been held to commemorate the 81st anniversary of a plane crash in which 10 US airmen lost their lives.

The plane, known as Mi Amigo, crashed in Endcliffe Park in Sheffield on 22 February 1944 while returning from a bombing raid.

The pilot received a posthumous flying medal for sacrificing himself and the crew by swerving the stricken plane into trees to avoid crashing into houses below.

Members of the military from Britain and the United States joined family members of the airmen at 13:00 GMT on Sunday to pay their respects.

The service was held close to where the B-17 bomber came down, at the site of the memorial in the park.

It was there that television presenter Dan Walker met Tony Foulds, a man who visited the park regularly after seeing the plane come down as a boy.

Walker helped arrange a flypast over the site in 2019, to mark the 75th anniversary of the crash.

This time, a new bench was unveiled to mark the sacrifice made by the crew of Mi Amigo.

One of those at the service was Amy Priddy from Arkansas, whose great uncle Malcom Williams was killed in the crash.

She said: "I was raised knowing Malcom and so I feel like I've always known him.

"I'm happy because I am here for family who couldn't be.

"My great grandma Williams, his mother, she never came here, never had the opportunity to. So it's like I'm walking for her."

Sqn Ldr Barry Darwin was just four years old when the crash happened but can still remember it.

He said: "I went to the back of the house - because my two brothers and sisters and mum were talking about a crash in Endcliffe Park - and I saw a huge plume of black smoke stretching across the sky.

"Most bomber crashes were in open country. This flew over a city of 500,000 and every time I come to check on this memorial another person comes up to me and says 'I was there, I remember it'."

Col Justin Hodge, of the United States Space Force, said: "It's exceptionally important to be here paying tribute to the men who lost their lives, sacrificing themselves and their futures so that the children that were playing here that day could live and carry on with theirs."

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