Wartime heroes back in hot seat

TALES of heroism and bravery brought back the past as Lancaster bomber veterans were reunited with the aircraft for what will probably be the last time.

• Wing Commander Jim Flint is reunited with a wartime Lancaster bomber at RAF Coningsby in Lincolnshire yesterday. Picture:PA

With their medals pinned to their lapels, the eight veterans, who would have made up a full crew on the bomber, met at RAF Coningsby in Lincolnshire.

After posing for photographs in front of the four-engined bomber, the veterans stepped inside the plane where they spent night after night dodging enemy fire while flying sorties over Nazi-occupied Europe.

Flight Sergeant Jim McGillivay, 84, sat in his seat as a rear gunner for the first time in 65 years, while Flight Lieutenant Tom Payne, 86, took to the controls of the bomber.

Mr McGillivay, from Essex, said: "When you get in, it's feet first, like slipping a cork into a bottle. I am little bit fatter now because I was 18 then.

"Back then it was frightening but once the aircraft took off, you had to get on with it and do your job."