During a daytime raid by the American U.S. Army Air Forces on Mannheim on December 30, 1944, heavy bomber squadrons of B-17 Flying Fortress bombers flew over the airspace of Mudau/Buchen at an altitude of 8,000 m. During this operation, two of the bombers collided during a flight maneuver and crashed. The aircraft with the registration number 43-38473 was badly damaged and fell uncontrollably towards the ground, and was torn apart by an explosion while still in the air. The wreckage fell within a radius of about 2.0 km on the outskirts of the town and in the forest area of the Taubenfeld/Bannholz district and Streitwald in the then municipality of Steinbach, district of Stürzenhardt. All 9 crew members were killed. The second aircraft crashed into the city forest of Buchen and exploded along with its bomb load.