Reference David B’s comment: I believe David morns the loss of life first and foremost, as he should. But as airman, we can also mourn the loss of irreplaceable historic aircraft.
It does look like the Kingcobra was belly up into the B-17. That pilot was probably as blind as the B-17 crew. That’s as much opinion as I’ll venture. I’ll leave it to the experts to piece together the accident chain.