In 1977 a book entitled 'The War Dispatches. World War ll as it happened from the Pages of the Daily Mail' was published (15.5" x 11") consisting entirely of facsimile pages of the Daily Mail. On page for the Daily Mail, Wednesday June 7 1944 in 4th column (just above Newmarket Racing Results) is the following;
"Planes Collide over Town
Two planes collided over Gillingham, Kent early yesterday. One an American Aircraft, crashed on a row of houses killing three people. The other fell in an orchard, causing an explosion.
Mrs Fanny Whittingham, aged 60 and Miss Joan Taylor, aged 19, were killed in their beds and Mr George Gandon, aged 45, died later in hospital. Five of the planes crews were found dead"
We now know that all the crew members died. Strangely, there is no mention of the mid-air collision of another 2 planes, also from Boreham, Essex which crashed an hour later at Battle in East Sussex when only one airman survived.