Killing Field - Dick Coleman at the spot where the Flying Fortresses came

Dick Coleman was helping his boss Roland Newell deliver corn and meal to local farms one morning when they witnessed the horrific crash between two B-17s in poor weather.

Mr Coleman, then 17, said: "The wing of one plane sliced into the fuselage of another, chopping the tailplane off dead above us.

"As we got out of the lorry, the planes were falling into the fields on the left side of the road, more or less locked together. Aircrew were falling out of one plane and not all their chutes opened."

As the planes hit the ground near Stanwick Mill, there was an almighty explosion of fuel and bombs. Mr Coleman and Mr Newell spotted an injured airman on the far side of the field near where the Fortresses had come down.

Together they risked flying debris and exploding machine gun bullets as they made their way over the snow-covered ploughed field to get to him, the ground rumbling and shaking as they crawled up the furrows.

Minutes later they were joined by two other men from a passing van and between them they carried the semi­conscious airman, who had severe face and leg wounds, back to the road.

"It took some time as we were stopping and starting because of the debris blowing all around us," said Mr Coleman, who then ran to get help from a USAAF ambulance which had just arrived along the road.

When the men continued their deliveries in Stanwick, there was glass in the streets from windows which had been blown out by the blast.

Mr Coleman later learned that 17 men had died in the crash and three survived but never did know who the rescued airman was or what happened to him.

The planes, from Grafton Underwood and Molesworth, had been assembling for a joint mission to Germany when snow clouds affected visibility. A large crater can still be seen in a field near the River Nene, just off the A45.

Mr Newell, who ran a straw and corn merchants in Sharnbrook, died in the 1950s and Mr Colernan, now 64 and living in Rushden Road, Wymington, never knew the names of the men who stopped their van to assist.

"I have often wondered if the survivors lasted the war and are still alive today."

In 1993 Richard started researching the air crash, and he corresponded with several Americans, and he also got a copy of the accident report. It seems there was only one survivor, the man they had helped. He was the Right Waist Gunner Sgt. David I. Miller.