Fait des Marnes history

On February 6, 1945, Lucky Lady III, a US Air Force B.17 bomber, crash-landed on the hill of Marnes d'Assigny upon returning from a bombing mission to the Marnes train station. Chemnitz yard in Germany. If the mission went smoothly until the bombs were dropped, the return was much more difficult. As the squadron flies over Frankfurt, the Flak (German DCA) is unleashed. Several aircraft are affected, notably Lucky Lady III which sees one of these engines and part of its electrical system taken out of service.
Added to this, tere are numerous other mechanical damages which force the pilot and co-pilot to try to reach the emergency base located in Brussels.
After having flown for a while, the two pilots, in desperation, decide to have visual contact with the ground... The fortress plunges into the thickness of the clouds to suddenly emerge under a cover of lead, less than 500 feet altitude: no runway is in sight except a few isolated farms which pass under the nose of the bomber now in distress... The fuel level also becoming critical, the two pilots are then forced to forced landing, not without first having lightened the aircraft as much as possible.
A field without hedges and sufficiently flat then appears which could be suitable. After having made a first pass, Lucky Lady makes a wide circle and gets into line: with a terrible noise, the aircraft hits the fortunately soggy ground roughly and begins a long slide on the mud. After a few interminable seconds, the enormous aircraft finally came to a halt. The 9 crew members were miraculously safe and sound. They decide to get out of the plane, which nevertheless appears intact despite the harshness of the impact, having no idea where they are: in Belgium or in hostile territory? Sure ! They are ready to fight because it is said that crews of crashed Allied bombers were massacred by German civilians... A group of men approaches running... They speak French. .. They are in France! The airmen are taken by the inhabitants to the nearest village, Assigny, where they will be able to contact the Orléans air base. The officers will then be invited to a wedding, the other members will return to the Fortress where they will sleep one or two nights. This was the case of William Roche, side machine gunner... The latter returned to the scene of the crash in the spring of 1998. A moving ceremony then took place in Assigny in front of a large crowd naturally bringing together some of the witnesses of the time.