Years of hard work culminated in a flypast and doves of peace soaring above Moreton Hall on Monday as a long-awaited statue was unveiled.

East Anglian Daily Times: Flight of Peace sculpture unveiling on roundabout junction of Mount Road/Lady Miriam Way.Flight of Peace sculpture unveiling on roundabout junction of Mount Road/Lady Miriam Way.

The B17 Flying Fortress commemoration sculpture, with a dove of peace blossoming from it, was officially revealed in front of scores of schoolchildren, US airmen and Bury St Edmunds residents, commemorating the US Air Force’s arrival at Rougham Airfield in 1943.

“The sculpture you see before you today is a symbolic remembrance of the gallant American servicemen based at the Rougham airfield during the Second World War who, by preparing, maintaining and flying these B17 Flying Fortress bombers on 325 missions between June 1943 and April 1945, contributed to lasting peace in Europe,” Clive Springett told the assembled crowd. A town councillor for Moreton Hall, Mr Springett first had the idea back in 2005 for a sculpture on the Lady Miriam Way roundabout.

An initial proposal proved too expensive, but after reworking a new scheme, it was accepted and constructed.

“It’s absolutely amazing,” he said after eventually seeing it. “It’s the moment where it takes your breath away. To only see it as a drawing and then see it in its entirety is amazing, it really is.

East Anglian Daily Times: Flight of Peace sculpture unveiling on roundabout junction of Mount Road/Lady Miriam Way.Flight of Peace sculpture unveiling on roundabout junction of Mount Road/Lady Miriam Way.

“I think it’s a really good uplifting piece of artwork which brings the old and new together.”

He said the monument was meant to celebrate peace and not become a memorial.

“It’s taken a while to get here, as most things do, but it was well worth the wait,” he said.

White doves were released on Monday and there was also a flypast by a DHC-1 Chipmunk, which then landed at the airfield.

The aircraft from Rougham Airfield were identified by the letter A in a square background on the tailfin, which is captured in the new sculpture.

Bury Town Council and Bury in Bloom were both praised for the statue’s eventual creation, as well as St Edmundsbury Borough Council and Taylor Wimpey, which built the platform upon which the statue stands.

The 8th airforce, 94th bombardment group landed at Rougham in June, 1943.

“A relationship was created between our town and the US Airforce, which is still going strong today through the personnel based at RAF Mildenhall and RAF Lakenheath,” said Mr Springett.

Roy Proctor was praised for designing the revised sculpture after the previous design fell through, as was Nigel Kaines, of Designs on Metal, who built the sculpture and has also constructed other works found on Bury roundabouts.