Sheffield flypast: Thousands attend tribute to honour US airman organised by the pensioner he saved

An emotional pensioner has seen his lifelong dream fulfilled as a special flypast has taken place to honour 10 airmen who lost their lives 75 years ago.

Tony Foulds, who is now 82, was just a boy when he saw the B-17 Flying Fortress, nicknamed Mi Amigo, crash at Endcliffe Park, Sheffield, on February 22, 1944.

The pensioner believes that the pilot had deliberately steered away from him and his friends, and has dedicated decades of his life to looking after a memorial to the men at the park.

Mr Foulds said he and the other children were in the park 75 years ago because boys from two rival junior schools were fighting.

He said the Mi Amigo approached low from the Nether Edge area of the city in an obviously bad way, with only one engine, and the crew would have seen the large expanse of grass as a possible landing place.

But when the pilot, Lieutenant John Kriegshauser, saw the children, he decided to circle.

Mr Foulds said that when the bomber came round again, the pilot was waving his arms as a warning but, as they did know what he meant, they just waved back.

He said the bomber crashed after it came round for a third time, just missing the roofs of nearby houses.

After the flypast, which was attended by an es

Following a chance meeting with BBC Breakfast's Dan Walker, who was amazed by the story, a social media campaign started to hold a special flypast to remember the men on the 75th anniversary of the crash.

On Friday, thousands of people gathered in the park to see Mr Foulds, who has tended to the memorial six days a week and got his son to fill in whenever he has been away, watch the planes, including F-15E Strike Eagles from the USAF and a Typhoon from the RAF, fly over.

Mr Foulds said of the airmen during the BBC broadcast: "If it hadn't been for them, I wouldn't be here with my family.

"It's more than bravery, what they did. They saved me, and I mean saved me."

The pensioner, who broke down in tears after the names of the dead men were read out at the memorial, thanked the vast crowd for coming, and joked that he would like to receive £10 from all of them.

Speaking from Tanzania, Dan Walker told Mr Foulds: "The last six weeks have been remarkable from my point of view.

"From you and I meeting on a dog walk in the park in the first week of January to me asking how you were - that's how it all started - you telling me this unbelievable story and saying you'd love a flypast for the 75th anniversary, and here we are now.

"I know you jokingly asked everybody for a tenner who are there at the park today, but it's not about the money, it's never been about you.

"Tony, it's always been about those 10 men who you think saved your life 75 years ago."

Mr Foulds responded: "Well I know they saved my life, I didn't just think it.

"If it hadn't have been for them, I wouldn't be here with my family."

In the days before the flypast, Mr Foulds was also able to meet the families of the airmen that lost their lives as the plane returned from a bombing raid 75 years ago.

The pensioner described them as "lovely, lovely people".

The phrases Tony Got A Flypast and Remember The Ten were top trends on Twitter in the aftermath of the event.

Using the social media site to react to the flypast, Walker, who is preparing to climb Mount Kilimanjaro for Comic Relief, said: "I knew Sheffield wouldn't let us down. Wow!

"This is the most incredible thing I have ever been involved in."

He later added: "The next step is getting Tony an honour from the Queen. Please retweet and like this and I'll use this in the submission."