In the park. Behind the memorial garden sign.

A rustic bench carved from a large trunk of wood with a black American eagle carved in relief on the back seat. A memorial plaque is nearby. The bench marks the area where 20 young men lost their lives after two US Air Force bombers collided above the fields around West Horndon.

As the aircraft were approaching the field for a landing at about 5300 feet, Keeley’s plane was hit from the rear by Yanello who was blinded by frost on his windshield. Dorsal Queen lost its tail and Raunchy Wolf lost its left wing. They crashed in England at Thornton and Bulphen, respectively. There was only one survivor, John J. Adams, the Tail Gunner on Yanello’s crew, who bailed out. All bodies were recovered. There is no MACR as neither crew was missing.

More info:

It was believed that the "Raunchy Wolf" was flying high out of formation, then dropped altitude too quicky to clear icing from its windows and lost control colliding with "The Dorsal Queen". The "Raunchy Wolf" was feathering two engines and was too heavy (with bomb load) not being able to pull out of the sudden downward dive headed into "The Dorsal Queen" flying underneath. "The Ranchy Wolf's wing sliced into "The Dorsal Queen" cutting it's fuselage in half and causing it to go into an immediate stall and resulted in a flat crash into the ditch, straddling the side of banks with its wings. Arriving witnesses saw the surviving crew of the "Dorsal Queen" moving around inside trying get out of the immobilized aircraft. As the aircraft pancaked crashed, only a few seconds remained until a violent explosion and fire broke out which engulfed the airframe with the remaining crew still trapped inside, burned to death to the horror of numerous witnesses gathering around the downed aircraft. Sgt. John J. Adams the tail gunner was found still at his rear battle station in the tail unit which landed 300 yards away with a cut on his leg, in shock, and no other apparent injuries. Once unstrapped from his seat, John ran to a nearby house at Blankets Farm to ask for help, knocking on the back door and asking the family to get a message over to the airbase for an ambulance. This family had just returned home from witnessing the crash, fire, and graphic death of the remaining crew inside of the wreckage.

Source of information: Imperial War Museum War Memorials Register, www.385thbga.com, www.flickr.com

Source of images: Imperial War Museum War Memorials Register

Left side of the back seat:

Eighth Air Force

Right side of the back seat:

Dorsal Queen

Raunchy Wolf