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.
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.
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.
