B17 Flying Fortress Crew Memorial May 2015 Essex

I have been contacted for advice by the leader of a group who want to research a bomber collision which occurred 10th May 1945. Nine airmen died as a result of the collision, all from the same aircraft.

Tony the researcher already has quite a lot of information to hand regarding the actual aircraft and where it was based. His next step is to attempt to trace relatives.

He will be visiting a 8th Air Force historian in Suffolk soon but in the meantime if anyone wants to contribute to finding out information then feel free to post as I'm sure any information would be welcome by him and his group.

If anyone wants his contact details then please PM me.

www.braintreeandwithamtimes.co.uk/news/b...plane_crash/?ref=arc

The newspaper article says the plaque will be unveiled next year but in fact this will be 10th May 2015.

Many thanks for that information STAN11. The newspaper article says that two airmen were killed. Either way a tragic loss especially as the war was over. At least now they are going to be remembered by the plaque.

On reading the article it sounds like an incident that was investigated on Time Team. They dug up some B17 aircraft remains which were in or near a large drainage ditch. One of the props found was feathered.
For the TT episode the reconstruction from what they found was as follows :- one aircraft had lost an engine and feathered it so falling behind the others in cloud close to the ground. It then accelerated to catch up and was below the others when it pulled up very sharply. The presumption being that first the feathering had caused confusion and then they saw the ground and felt they were too low. The result of this was the collision with one of the aircraft above.

Not sure it's the same incident because of the reference to prop wash etc but it seems similar. I think the article is somewhat confused in talking about 2 airmen killed because it also talks of an entire crew being lost.

These tragedies bring home the kind of dangers faced all the time by aircrew in war at that time. My understanding is that many aircrew (who were largely young and inexperienced) were lost in training accidents. Possibly more were lost this way than on ops.

Would this link be the one you are referring too? forum.armyairforces.com/IN-MEMORY-B17G-4...63-22144-m72983.aspx

I recorded this on tape when it was shown.
A part of one of these B17s was at Bungay Museum also a replica painted section with some Nose Art. I photographed this and posted it up somewhere...can't find it now.

Thanks for the replies. The press were inaccurate with the date of the unveiling which as I said above is 10th May 2015 and not next year. Plus there were nine men killed from one aircraft and not two.

The historian chap at Haverhill: Gordon Richards (Eighth Air Force Historical Society) quotes on that date 10.5.45; serial serial 48198 of 379th BG crashed into serial 48813 of same BG. Both aircraft were based at 'Kimbolton' airfield. The nine killed were in serial 48813.

The actual crash site was near 'Convent Hill' Braintree if anyone knows that area.

Since posting on here I also put a post onto 'Rootschat' and Tony has had help and information forthcoming from someone on there.

www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php?topic=673440.0

He has also just sent me this link to an American newspaper article which members on here might find interesting:

www.lakewyliepilot.com/2014/02/03/227952...d-memorializing.html

I have recently spoken to Tony and he has now traced ten sets of relatives out of the eleven he was looking for.

His memorial plans are taking shape quite nicely and several American relatives will be coming to Braintree next May for the unveiling.

A small fragment of the wrecked aircraft has come to light and is hoped to be displayed at the ceremony next year.

The search for the last airmans' family continues, that of Irving Nussbaum who came from Brooklyn, New York.

I'm pleased to post here that over the weekend we have managed to trace family of the last airman we were looking for.

We found his brother who is now aged 92 and is thrilled to learn of the memorial. The first point of contact was through his daughter who also is very pleased to hear of the memorial.

There had been a surname change at some time which made the search extremely difficult.

1st. Lt. Irving Nussbaum had been a pilot himself but on the day of the collision it seems he was a passenger on the downed aircraft.

I think there will more information coming from the family in the days ahead.

Thanks for the update, that's great news. Look forward to the new information....

When Irving Nussbaum was being flown to the UK from the USA at the beginning of his service, his aircraft encountered some kind of problem and had to make a forced landing in Iceland. Not a good start.

His brother recounted that he excelled at school and later on studied at college for two years with the intention of becoming a Lawyer.

In our search, we found Irving Nussbaums' name was included on the Brooklyn War Memorial and we were kindly sent some images of this. The memorial represents about 11,000 US service personnel lost during WW2.

Another development in recent days is that Tony, the principal researcher, has had a member of the emergency services who attended the crash site in 1945 contact him.

Attached files [IMG]/community/152252=18582-Brooklyn War Memorial, #177, honor roll detail (includes Irving Nusbaum), 9.22.14, photo by J. K.jpg[/img] [IMG]/community/152252=18583-Brooklyn War Memorial, #177, Honor Rolls, 9.22.14, photo by J. Kuhn (1024x768).jpg[/img]