Tony’s tribute to 10 WW2 hero airmen
A PENSIONER saw his dream come true yesterday as he finally got a fly-past honouring 10 World War Two plane crash victims.
Tony Foulds has spent 75 years tending the memorial of the B-17 Flying Fortress which crashed in Sheffield in 1944.
He was just eight when he and a group of friends spotted the plane returning to base from a bombing raid over Europe. The lads waved at the plane without realising it was trying to make an emergency landing in the field they were playing in.
In a bid to save the children’s lives the pilot veered away from them and the plane plunged into nearby woodland, killing all 10 men on board.
Tony, 82, has always blamed himself for their deaths and spends his days tending a memorial to them.
Yesterday he joined thousands at Endcliffe Park in Sheffield to watch warplanes from Britain and the United States pay tribute.
He said: “It’s more than bravery. It saved me. If they’d have thought of themselves, which they didn’t, they could have landed on me.
“It’s more than brave when somebody kills themselves rather than strangers. They put us first.”
People were so moved by Tony’s devotion when BBC presenter Dan Walker interviewed him that they launched a campaign to organise the fly-past. There was also enough cash for new steps and a flagpole at the crash memorial.