The story of how young 10 Americans lost their lives in Belfast air crash

American bomber B-17G Flying Fortress (42-97862), which was crewed by 10 young men from the US Army Air Force, had set out from Newfoundland on May 31, 1944.

Their destination had been Valley airfield in Wales, but they were diverted to Nutts Corner airfield due to bad weather. During the holding procedure, the crew became disorientated and lost their bearings, ending up over the city of Belfast, and coming down at Cavehill on June 1, killing all 10 men.

The crew were buried initially at Lisnabreeny American Military Cemetery in Castlereagh, though there were all later disinterred and return to Cambridge American Cemetery in the USA.

In 1993, one of the new book’s authors, Alfie Montgomery, recovered a wedding ring from one of the crew on board the aircraft. With help from the News Letter’s Steven Moore in 1996 he returned the ring to the airman’s widow in Kentucky, USA.

That story formed the basis for the Hollywood movie Closing The Ring.

Today, Alfie and Will Lindsay will launch their book at the Ulster Aviation Society museum at the former Maze site in Lisburn at 1pm.

Will, who is a security guard at Langford Lodge, a former RAF station near Belfast, has been researching the American wartime presence in Northern Ireland since the early 2000s.

He said: “Primarily my main focus of interest was American aircraft accidents, relating to the huge American airfield at Langford Lodge. Over the years, this interest has expanded to the history of Langford Lodge and other American aircraft accidents in Northern Ireland during the war years.”

The 34-year-old, who has written two books about Langford Lodge, said of the new joint effort with Will on the Cavehill crash: “The book is the culmination of 30 years’ combined research into the crash and the crew on-board.

“We have endeavoured to leave no stone unturned in our search for the truth, delving deep into American archives, examining the crashed remains of the aircraft, contacting family members of the crew and interviewing eye-witnesses to the crash.

“We believe this to be the only documented work on this lesser known tragic incident, in which 10 young American men lost their lives in the pursuit of freedom.”