On the garden in front of the village hall near the entrance gate.

A freestanding Horton block bearing two plaques at the top. The plaques are laid onto the surface containing the crash info, the crew, and the commemoration message. The inscriptions are written in English in black lettering. The memorial was dedicated on April 30, 2017.

The Boeing B-17 (Flying Fortress) #43-38812 of the 749 Bomb Squadron, USAAF, had diverted to Portreath, Cornwall on 19th December 1944, following a raid on Koblenz. On 23rd December 1944, the aircraft was returning to its base at Glatton in Cambridgeshire but received orders to divert to an RAF Station, probably Moreton-in-Marsh, as Glatton was fogged in. In the darkness and fog and descending on instruments, it flew into the high ground two miles north of Great Rollright, near Ascott Farm. Eight of the crew members were killed in the crash. Only the tail gunner, Sgt Heinrich, was able to survive. He was badly injured in the crash and spent 14 months in hospital before returning to the United States in February 1946.

Source of information: www.warmemorialsonline.org.uk, aviation-safety.net

Source of images: www.warmemorialsonline.org.uk 

In Memoriam

This stone serves as a memorial to eight American Airmen who

died as a result of the plane crash at Great Rollright on

December 23^rd 1944.

The airmen, flying Boeing B-17G bomber serial 43-38812

of the 457th Bomb Group, 749th Bomb Sqdn, were on a flight

from RAF Portreath in Cornwall to their home base at

RAF Glatton, near Peterborough when their aircraft hit trees

and crashed 800 yds west of this memorial.

We remember them.

Placed and dedicated here on 30^th April 2017 by the parishioners of Great Rollright. This would not have 

been possible without the help and enthusiasm of the North Oxon and Cotswold Military Vehicle Trust

and a great many other dedicated people.