The B-26B Marauder Bomber named ‘Hell’s Belle’ came down on what was then farmland behind The Bricklayers Arms on 26 January 1944.

The aircraft formed part of the US Army Air Force’s 386th Bomb Group, which was based at Great Dunmow in Essex and was returning from an aborted mission to destroy one of the launch sites of the German Luftwaffe’s flying bombs in France.

A total of 144 aircraft had taken off in formation and were enroute to France when the weather took a turn for the worse. The previous day, 150 aircraft had attempted the same sortie but had all turned back due to bad weather. On 26 January, ice began to form on the planes and visibility was near zero. The mission was aborted and all planes were ordered back to base.

The aircraft, piloted by Lt Homer R McClure, had taken on too much ice and at 9.58am crashed to the ground at Springhead Farm in Crowborough – now part of the housing estate behind The Bricklayers Arms. 

There were no survivors. Lt McClure came from Oklahoma and was flying his 30th combat mission. He never met his twins – a boy and a girl – who were born after he had left for England.

The other men on the bomber that day came from across the US and were:

1st Lt Jeff L Pearson – Co-Pilot 2nd Lt Charles Carrigan – Bombardier T/Sgt Albert V Strauss – Radioman S/Sgt Arthur C Depew – Engineer S/Sgt Charles M Morris – Tail Gunner