I have seen the original print of this photo from the accident investigation. It stated "a failure or accidental brake application during take off from an airfield in Italy caused the B-24 crash". It went off the runway hit what appeared to be a small berm and nosed up into the position its in. "As of the time of this photo 6 crew members killed in the crash remained trapped in the nose section"

I did some research and I think you are right JS , my appologies.

Wasn't the plane taxiing in after landing when the nose wheel collapsed, and its inertial momentum then caused it to flip up into this headstand?

NOT! If what you wrote were true, then the plane would have been more likely to tip forward before the front of the plane had burned, when there would have been more mass ahead of the center of gravity acting to tip the plane nose downward...

The plane was taxing when a fire erupted in the nose, after the nose burned off there was no counter balance to the weight of the engines, thus the weight of the engines lifted the fuselage as they fell forward.

How can a loss of weight in the cockpit shift the center of gravity to the front?

"weight of engines took over after center of gravity shifted." Looks like it was on the ground at the time of the fire - I'm sure it would be more compact if it came straight down at that angle :o(

I dont know the complete history to it sorry!

great picture. any survivors?