Flypast honors U.S. airmen who crash-landed and died rather than endanger British children during WWII

Thousands have gathered in Sheffield to watch the US air force stage a flypast to commemorate 10 plane crew who died during the second world war.

People travelled from around the world for the flypast, including military veterans and family members of personnel killed on the B-17 Flying Fortress aircraft, known as Mi Amigo.

The event was watched by Tony Foulds, 82, who saw the Mi Amigo crash while he was playing with friends in the park as a child.

He later learned the aircraft had been attempting a crash landing in the park – the only green space for miles – but diverted course for fear of harming Foulds and his friends. Since 1944 he has quietly tended to a memorial for the US airmen.

On Friday, British and US military aircraft were dispatched from the UK’s largest US air force base in Suffolk, before flying over Endcliffe Park in Sheffield at 8.45am.

Four USAF F-15 Strike Eagle jets fly over the graves of three US aircrew buried in Coton, Cambridgeshire, who perished when the Mi Amigo crashed in Sheffield’s Endcliffe Park in 1944
Facebook Twitter Pinterest Four USAF F-15 Strike Eagle jets fly over the graves of three US aircrew buried in Coton, Cambridgeshire, who perished when the Mi Amigo crashed in Sheffield’s Endcliffe Park in 1944. Photograph: Joe Giddens/PA
It was an important day for locals, who travelled to the public event on free buses and trams. One woman in the crowd turned to her daughter and said: “We’ve made history today, haven’t we?”

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Foulds said he could not believe the flypast was finally happening. But he had something bigger on his mind. “I just can’t wait to see them planes go past now,” he said.

Foulds, who has Parkinson’s disease, became an internet sensation when the BBC journalist Dan Walker stumbled across him one morning while out walking his dog.

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Dan Walker

@mrdanwalker
Just met an amazing man in Endcliffe Park, Sheffield. Tony Foulds was an 8-yr-old playing in the park when a US plane crashed in Feb 1944. He has diligently maintained the memorial ever since. He was planting new flowers. Almost 75 yrs of service. What a man. I’m in bits