A friend of mine has just posted me this link; sixty years and one day ago, ten young American airmen died when their B17 ‘Mi Amigo’ crashed in Sheffield while trying to avoid a group of children playing football.
The crew were remembered in a service on Sunday, as they are every year apparently.
This is the first I’ve heard of this incident, and I was wondering if anyone could help me to find out who the crew members were, and what unit ‘Mi Amigo’ came from.
May they rest in peace. 🙁
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/south_yorkshire/3511615.stm
By: Ray Pobgee - 25th February 2004 at 21:55
MI Amego and Sheffield
There is a small book published about this accident :-
MI Amego – The Story Of Sheffield’s Flying Fortress
By :- David Harvey
Publisher :- ALD Design & Print 1997
ISBN1 901587 00 2
Price when published :- £5.95
Sometimes this book is to be found in Publishers Remainders, thats where I found my copy !
By: Arabella-Cox - 24th February 2004 at 22:20
Thanks very much guys.
By a strange coincidence, the mate who emailed me the story is a fellow Sheffield Wednesday fan, and we were playing away at Rushden this weekend, just a few miles from Chelveston, where Mi Amigo took off on her final flight sixty years ago.
I feel the need to learn more about this aeroplane and her crew….
By: Arabella-Cox - 24th February 2004 at 09:33
Mi Amigo
Being a local, the site is very well known to me, and many Sheffielders.The aircraft crashed slap bang in the middle of a small park , in a wooded area that stopped the aircraft from careering through the rest of the area.
It is likely the crew had little time to think about where to put the aircraft down as it broke the cloud/ fog etc. as the area was (and is) well built up with housing and factories, so i reckon, as with so many, their airmanship and bravery stayed with them till the last.
The weather was quite poor with fog / smog, and because of this there were not many people around, thankfully.
My father was a teenager at the time , and was one of many children to arrive on the scene as local police / army personnel were taking control.
A recent local newspaper article confirms Mi Amigo’s fuselage was only moderately broken by the impact , and surprisingly little fire was apparent from the outside.
However my father recalls that there were service personnel clearly trying to save members of the crew from a serious internal fire.
The US Air Force have a military service each year at the site , and my father makes sure he’s there as long as his health allows it.
Brave men indeed.
By: Warhawk - 24th February 2004 at 01:17
I did a quick Google search and came up with the following information. “Mi Amigo” (B-17G 42-31322) of the 364 BS, 305 BG was returning from a raid on Aalborg when it crashed into a hillside near the park. An account of the crash and the ceremony can be found at:
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February 23, 2004 at 11:38 pm