Stan Pierce was evacuated with his family to Canvey Island in 1943.



On 19 June 1944, he witnessed the mid-air collision of of B-17s 42-97942 nicknamed "Heavenly Body II" and B-17 44-6133 over the Thames Estuary, describing: 'Then as I stood gazing, right above my head, one bomber fell on top of another. No explosive sound but a crunch and a screeching, tearing noise. I was stunned. A wing floated away. A lot of black smoke. One plane fell away, and bits fell off. I have no further memory of it, but the other plane had a more lasting effect. It tipped over, and the nose was looking at me.



I was nine years of age, looking at this huge monster pouring smoke and with four propellers screaming straight at me. I kept staring for maybe three or four seconds and then panicked. I bolted…over the fence…don’t even remember touching it…then across the field next to the house. I can still feel the long grass snatching at my laces, and I must have been screaming because a lady, Mrs. Roberts, mowing her front lawn in the next road shouted at me to come to her.'



Stan later recalled seeing the survivors of the crash in the aftermath. He returned home, where his mother, unaware of the event, told him to remove the grass seeds from his socks before coming in for tea.