Mount Road/Lady Miriam Way roundabout, Bury St Edmunds
The ‘Flight of Peace’ sculpture is a symbolic remembrance of the gallant American servicemen based at, the adjacent, Rougham airfield during World War II. These men prepared, maintained and flew B17 Flying Fortress Bombers on countless raids over enemy territory and contributed, in no small part, to eventual lasting peace in Europe.
These aircraft were part of the United States 8th Air Force, based in Europe. Their tail fin insignia was significant, and provided ready identification of the base location of each aircraft. Those that were part of the 4th Bombardment Wing had a square background to the insignia, and the aircraft of 94th Bomb Group, based at Rougham, had the letter ‘A’ in the centre of this square.
The sculpture represents this Rougham tail insignia. It comprises a double skin of Corten steel plate measuring 2 meters square. The letter ‘A’ is cut into each skin. One of the top corners of the square is peeled apart and from this aperture emerges a dove of peace. The dove is an open, minimalist structure of stainless steel rod. The sculpture is about 3.8M high, and is mounted on a one meter high brick plinth, measuring 2.5 by 1 meters.
The landscaping of the roundabout represents the United States five pointed white star in a blue circle. The star is planted with ‘white’ grasses together with white flowering plants, and is surrounded with loose ‘blue’ slate.
It is planned that the work on the roundabout will be completed during September 2016.
There will be an information board, explaining the significance of the sculpture on a foot path next to the roundabout, and the sculpture will be illuminated at night.
Roy Proctor
