A residents' campaign group continues to put pressure on a developer looking to build a massive solar farm on a site they describe as "sacred".
The Say No to Sunnica Community Action Group has spoken out again on plans by Sunnica to install solar panels on fields outside Isleham as part of a major scheme spread over four sites.
The scheme, which will have a generating capacity in excess of 50 megawatts of electricity, was deemed a major infrastructure project that needed, and got, government approval.
However, the action group remain angry at the decision as the project includes a field containing the crash site of an American bomber.
The B-50 Superfortress - the world's largest aircraft at the time - was packed with 8000lb of live bombs and fuel for a 10-hour training mission, when it took off on October 13, 1949, from nearby USAF Lakenheath.
Soon after take off, the aircraft started to encounter difficulties as it headed over Isleham village.
Instead of bailing out and likely surviving, the young men, who had their own families, recognised the huge destruction a crash could cause to the village, and so took the heroic decision to stay on board and steer the aircraft away from Isleham.
A huge crash and explosion ensued, which, according to news reports at the time, could be felt over 12 miles away.
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The 76th anniversary of the crash was last week and the action group took the opportunity to once again raise their voices against Sunnica's plans.
Last year at the 75th anniversary memorial service of the tragedy, Col Joshua Arki of RAF Lakenheath said: "We hear our politicians, we hear our military leaders speak about the UK-US relationship and the ties that we have and the alliance that we have, but its events like this, commemorations like this, stories such as the courage that these men displayed when they veered away from the town in order to save the lives of the people and give up their own lives, that’s what really cements the relationship between our two great nations."
Catherine Judkins, chair of the action group, said: "This special bond is respected locally...but is clearly not important to Sunnica Ltd or even Ed Miliband, as he pressed ahead with approving this damaging scheme against the recommendations of his own planning inspectors.
"Some of these airmen had young families; at least one had a baby who grew up never knowing her father.
"These brave airmen chose not to bail out and steered the aircraft away in order to save Isleham residents. Relatives still come out to the site to pay respects....what will they think when they find it so heartlessly drill-piled into and covered over with solar panels and inverters, fenced off and hidden?"
Sunnica has said they will install a no-build zone around the crash site, which they have identified using geophysics, and put up a plaque commemorating the bravery of the 12 airmen who died that day in 1949.
Catherine said: "Local residents are angry as they cannot understand why this one field, in a scheme the size of some 2500 acres, cannot be spared in honour of their brave sacrifice."
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