Miamigo Flypast At Endcliffe Park For 80th Anniversary

[SheffieldForum 961]

Good news from David Bocking's 'It's a bit black over Bill's mother's' substack blog:

 

"News from famed Endcliffe park runner Pierre Laubscher that he’s been in touch with the US Air Force over recent weeks and arranged a fly past from two fighter jets on the morning of Thursday 22nd February, the 80th anniversary of the crash of the "Mi Amigo" Flying Fortress bomber on its return from a bombing mission in Denmark, killing all the young airmen on board."

 

The flypast will coincide with the Parkrun on the day too.

 

More detail from David Bocking: https://abitblackoverbillsmothers.substack.com/p/round-at-bills-mothers-february-2024

 

Remember the previous Flypast five years ago? Here's a reminder:

 

 

[Brian Hardy 3]

Good to see that the 80th anniversary is not going unnoticed.Well done for arranging the fly past for Thursday 22nd February.

We will be there as I have a special interest as my Father was one of the first people on the scene after the bomber crashed in Endcliffe Park.My father and another man rescued the rear gunner who was still alive when they got him out but sadly died shortly after. The 75th anniversary was something really special and although the fly past will be two american fighters this anniversary still needs to be recognised.

Kind Regards Brian

[Runningman 148]

Park Runs don't happen on a Thursday ?

[happyaslarry 13]

As the 80th anniversary of the tragic crash of the US Flying Fortress approaches,  will the true story of Phony Tony, the old man who hijacked a monument, finally be told by the BBC and local newspapers? https://dawesindoors.wordpress.com/2024/02/15/will-there-be-tears-from-tony-again/

[SheffieldForum 961]

11 minutes ago, happyaslarry said:

As the 80th anniversary of the tragic crash of the US Flying Fortress approaches,  will the true story of Phony Tony, the old man who hijacked a monument, finally be told by the BBC and local newspapers? https://dawesindoors.wordpress.com/2024/02/15/will-there-be-tears-from-tony-again/

More background here: 

 

 

https://www.sheffieldguide.blog/2020/05/31/did-tony-foulds-lie-about-mi-amigo/

[davexl5 11]

Hi all. Been reading this story debunking Tony’s claims that the b17 crashed trying to avoid kids in the park. I along with everyone else will never know the whole truth and can only add this . The story that it only became folklore in the eighties and nineties is nonsense. My dad told me the story in the mid sixties when I was mad on aeroplanes and war stories. I Wes about 11 or twelve then. My dad died young in 1974 when I was 18 . My dad who would have been around 16 at the time of the crash got a piece of aluminium skin from the site. He didn’t see the crash happen so I don’t know where he got the story from . He told me it come in low over the park low on fuel desperately looking for a place to put down maybe saw people below or overshot the small area of available grass area pulled up to go around again only to stall at such a low approach and spun in to crash . He did also say that a couple of the first would be rescuers got one of the crew out but he died and rather strangely one of these rescuers was a cripple don’t know if he was on crutches or suchlike but as I say this was conveyed to me in the sixties an blows holes in the nineties folklore theory.

[Brian Hardy 3]

Hi davexl5.The first man on the scene was FLT/SNT Clem Payne.He ran past Dad as Dad was parking the car having seen the Fortress crash. Dad was a managing clerk in a solicitors office by day but was  an ambulance officer during the war. Obviously trained in first aid he rushed to see if there was anything he could do together with Clem Payne. I do not recall Dad speaking of another rescuer on crutches but these are things that were not really discussed in front of children.Father wrote a report of the rescue which I now have and this is what I base my first hand knowledge on. There are also some quite distressing facts that Father later recounted to me that I am not prepared to share on this forum.

There is a photograph of the crash scene where I believe  my Dad is shown in the foreground wearing a large light coloured coat.

Kind Regards Brian