SIXTY years after two American bombers crashed over Greenham Common, an award-winning film-maker is to screen a new documentary about the tragedy.
Relatives of some of the sixteen airmen who died in the collision are expected to visit Newbury next month for the première of Shadows on the 64th anniversary of the crash.
Thick fog covered much of southern England on December 15, 1944.
Somewhere over the English channel, a single-engine bush plane carrying big band leader Glenn Miller disappeared, never to be seen again.
And, unreported at the time, two B-17 bombers collided above Greenham Common.
Both planes burst into flames, crashing near the Swan pub in Newtown. Sixteen crew men died instantly. Two survived.
Newbury was already in mourning when the crash happened. Just three days earlier, 30 airmen had been killed when their Horsa glider crashed on take off at the Greenham airbase.
But while the lives lost in that tragedy are still mourned at an annual remembrance service, no memorial or commemoration has ever been held for the 16 victims of the bombers' collision.
Even the barest details of the accident had been forgotten until a Newbury Weekly News appeal for information in 2003, which brought forwards several eyewitnesses.
In 1948, three schoolboys found the wreckage of one of the bombers sticking out of boggy land at Bishop's Green.
Now two of the 76-year-old pensioners, Pat Painting and John Smith, returned to the site to be interviewed by independent film-maker Sean Caveille for a new documentary about the collision.
Mr Caveille said: “The story totally fascinated me. What I didn't realise was that several men who were boys at the time, had seen all this going on.
“It went from being a short little feature about the parts of the crashed bombers, into a proper documentary about these men, who found it as boys, and return to the scene 40 years later.
“And for me, the most amazing thing, is that we've got in contact with several of the relatives of the dead airmen.”
Mr Caveille, from Bristol, hopes the film will trigger moves to build a memorial to the crash victims, and lead to a greater awareness of Greenham Common's role in the Second World War.
The film may be toured to local schools, and Mr Caveille is hoping it could eventually be broadcast on television.
The public première will be held at Newbury's Royal British Legion club in Pelican Lane on Sunday, December 14. Tickets are available from Tourist Information and Newbury Town Hall.