Dream comes true for the man who honoured his heroes: US B-17 Aircrew

Daily Mail Online ^ | 22 Feb 2019 | Mark Duell

[GreyFriar]

Dream comes true for the man who honoured his heroes: Pensioner weeps as thousands join him to watch fly-past to honour WWII airmen whose memorial he tended for decades - and BBC presenter Dan Walker who helped organise event even cries too. Thousands of people at Endcliffe Park in Sheffield to watch planes pay tribute to B-17 Flying Fortress crew Tony Foulds was eight in February 1944 when he witnessed the Mi Amigo crash and explode in the park. Pilot apparently tried to avoid him and his friends - and memorial has now been organised 75 years on. He has spent decades remembering the ten airmen, spending up to six days a week tending memorial.

[GreyFriar]

Many blessings and thanks to Mr. Foulks for his lifetime of dedication to the memory of the crew of Mi Amigo, whom he saw in their final moments of life. The B-17 was returning from a bombing mission to Aarlborg, Denmark, flying on one engine when it crashed just beyond the park where Mr. Foulks and his friends were playing on Feb 22, 1944.

[GreyFriar]

Ping on a Brit’s lifetime of tribute to the memory of a USAAF B-17 crew that didn’t make it back home.

[Alas Babylon!]

Nice guy. The don’t make ‘em like this too much any longer.

[Army Air Corps]

My stinkin’ screen has gone blurry. There must be some dust in the office.

[Army Air Corps]

Ping.

[Army Air Corps]

Ping.

[Eric in the Ozarks]

My uncle Lloyd made it over and back 21 times, I’m told.
He was a navigator on a B-17.

He came home after the war and started a plumbing business and carried the US mail in Toledo, OH for decades.

[Hieronymus]

Mine too.

Deep authentic gratitude is good to see, as is the memory of the heroism that spawned it.

[Army Air Corps]

Mi Amigo, in better days.

[Timocrat]

My uncle Lloyd made it over and back 21 times

He was lucky. The attrition rate for both the USAAF and RAF Bomber crews was horrendous.

[Eric in the Ozarks]

Back home in Toledo, he was used to getting up early. He reported to the post office to sort mail at 4:30 and was dropped off by the mail Jeep driver at the start of his route by 7 AM.
He walked the neighborhoods, gathering his sorted mail and putting it in residential mail boxes.
Done by 2:30 or 3pm, he'd head home and return calls for plumbing jobs, working till 6pm...
Six days a week !

[zot]

This is an excellent story.
Thanks for posting it, and thanks for the ping.

[Calvin Locke]

You do know that part of the US attrition was in the secondary purpose of attritting Luftwaffe pilots and aircraft in advance D-Day?

IOW, the bombers were also used as bait, so I'm guessing that the "less hazardous" round-trip routes weren't always utilized.

[colorado tanker]

The pilot maneuvered at the last moment to avoid the boys playing on the heath, the best place for an emergency landing.

Beautiful story. Thanks for the ping.

[jmacusa]

Coolest looking plane ever. The penultimate symbol of righteous American might. With beautiful and cheeky nose art of beautiful, scantily clad dames with names like "Miss Bea Haven''.

[Trumpnado2016]

Incredible story, thank you for posting.

[sport]

Thanks for posting. It is a reminder of what we once were. Unfortunately, it is also a reminder of how far down we have sank.

[xrmusn]

hmmm.... better come clean the dust off mine also....

Was wondering why it got so ‘hard’ to read...

[onedoug]

Beautiful picture.

God rest them all.

[Oatka]

The turnout. There's still some good ones left.