It was shortly after 3pm on November 5, 1944, when US bomber Gypsy Queen appeared in the skies over the Waveney Valley.
The B24 Liberator was returning from a raid over railway marshalling yards in Karlsruhe, south west Germany, and was trying to get back to its base at Hardwick, in south Norfolk.
The mission was a brutal one. By the time they returned, three of the aircraft's four engines were damaged and it was almost out of fuel.
But airfield controllers at Hardwick instructed the young American crew to circle around before landing.
As the aircraft did so, it approached the village of Shipmeadow, on the Norfolk-Suffolk border, and started to lose height.
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Witnesses on the ground saw crew bailing out near the Waveney, some at extremely low altitude.
Moments later, the nose of the aircraft dug into the Suffolk soil at Church Farm, Shipmeadow. The fuselage broke up and the wreckage exploded.
Two of the crew, who had stayed in the aircraft to give the others a chance to get out, were killed in the crash. A third died while bailing out.
It was as close as some of those in the village came to the war. But the tragedy left a mark on the community.
And this week, on the 80th anniversary of the crash, a new memorial to the three young men - pilot 1st Lt. Leo F Baumann, from Illinois, co-pilot 2nd Lt. Edward T Dunne, from New York, and nose turret gunner S/Sgt. Leo L Henry, from Wisconsin - was unveiled in the village.
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More than 60 people attended the service at Barsham and Shipmeadow village hall, including Margaret Roe and Phillip Springhall, who both had family members present on the day of the crash.
Mr Springhall was eight at the time but remembers the tragedy and his father walking across to see if he could help.
Mrs Roe’s family owned Church Farm and it was her grandmother who poured tea for one of the surviving airmen.
The memorial, and Tuesday's service, was organised by Kerry Wilmot - who lives in St Margarets South Elmham, but works at Church Farm - who has spent five years researching the crash and its victims, including tracking down their families.
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"This has been a labour of love," she said.
She added: "It started out as a gentle interest but became a full project where I experienced every emotion possible; elation, pain, frustration and fear of not being able to finish the story.
"But here we are, honouring not only the young men who paid the ultimate price of war, but all who fought for our freedom."
Gypsy Queen's Story
The aircraft was assigned to the 409th Bomb Squadron, 93rd Bomb Group of the 8th US Army Air Force based at Hardwick.
It flew a total of 30 missions between May and November 1944, including one on D-Day, in support of the landings.
The 93rd Group concentrated on bombing targets across occupied Europe such as marshalling yards, aircraft factories, oil refineries and chemical plants.
By the close of the war, it had flown a total of 396 combat missions, but at a heavy cost, with the loss of 100 Liberators and 670 airmen killed or missing.
One of the aircraft's four engines was 'feathered' for most of the trip, meaning it was adjusted to reduce drag as it was not working.
On the return from Germany, two others began to splutter and smoke.
Despite this, as the crew neared Hardwick, they were ordered to 'go round again' to allow another aircraft to land, with the controllers apparently unaware of its low fuel levels.
As the fuel ran out over Shipmeadow, the order to bail out was given. Seven airmen managed to do so safely.
The last to leave the aircraft, Bombardier Marshall V Minister, did so at 410ft.
His parachute opened but he was dragged 50ft along the ground on his stomach until a tree deflated the chute.
He later recalled that he walked to a farmhouse "where the folks were gracious and poured tea".
The victims
Co-pilot Dunne's decision to stay behind to help the pilot try to control the aircraft saw him awarded a posthumous Silver Star, Air Medal and Purple Heart.
Pilot Baumann, who the crew said was trying to crash land the plane away from nearby residential areas, received the same honours.
The third victim, Henry, died while trying to jump to safety. He was the first to bail out but hit his head on the bomb bay door on the way out.
He was knocked unconscious and was unable to open his parachute.
Some of his crewmates who landed safely then retrieved his body from the farmland.
He was awarded the Air Medal and Purple Heart.
All three are buried at the Cambridge American Cemetery, which bears the names of 3,182 US war dead.
Other members of the crew suffered injuries in the crash.
The parachute of S/Sgt David Jones, a waist gunner, apparently did not open until he was 14 ft from the ground. He was in hospital for a year.
He later recalled a young boy coming over to him, as he lay on the ground, saying: "Don't worry yank. Help is coming!"
An elderly man from the farm lifted him up and carried him to the farmhouse.
Jones' injuries thwarted his ambitions to become a dancer but he sent up a dance school back in the US and made several television appearances, including on The Ed Sullivan and Frank Sinatra Shows.
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