It was on 25th June 1944 that a lone American B17 Flying Fortress was struggling back from a bombing raid on Toulouse in France. The aircraft, badly damaged by German anti-aircraft fire over the target, had successfully flown 900 nautical miles on only three of its four engines, making landfall over Lyme Bay.
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Things got worse when one of its remaining engines began to malfunction. Following the Blackmore Vale it was losing altitude and the pilot frantically searched for a diversion airfield. Fate took a hand because he chose RAF Zeals, which is on high ground, and the aircraft was rapidly approaching the centre of Wincanton town.
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Eye witnesses could actually see the crew throwing heavy equipment including radios and machine guns out of the aircraft in a vain attempt to lighten the load. The B17 was perilously close to Wincanton when the pilot, 2nd Lt. Peter Mikonis, banked the aircraft away. A horrendous explosion occurred and the stricken plane blew up over Snag Farm on the edge of Wincanton, near Bayford.
