Remains of British bomber pilot to be buried in Berlin

Remains of British bomber pilot to be buried in BerlinBerlin - Fondly known to wartime squadron members in England as "Old Flo," the Halifax bomber met a violent end on January 20, 1944 when it was shot down by a German Messerschmidt fighter over Berlin.

The 102 Halifax squadron based at Pockington in Yorkshire had 15 aircraft taking part in raids on the German capital that night, of which seven were lost. It was the squadron's greatest single loss in bombing raids carried out in both world wars.

"Old Flo" was bagged by the German ace, Captain L. Fellerer, who shot down four other British aircaft that night. By war's end he'd destroyed 44 "enemy" planes, for which he was awarded the German Knight's Cross.

Of the Halifax's crew of eight, four managed to bail out, spending the rest of the war in German prisoner-of-camps, and four were killed.

The body of Flight Engineer J. Bremner was found only recently when experts working at the woodland site where the bomber crashed in south-east Berlin finally identified his remains.

Now, 64 years after his death, Sergeant Bremner is to be laid to rest with full Royal Air Force honours at the site, where the grave of the aircraft's 2nd pilot, Sergeant Kenneth Standbridge, is also located.

The burial, following a church service in Berlin on October 16, will be witnessed by relatives of Bremner and other crew members, as well as by two crash survivors - London-born pilot officer and navigator Reg Wilson and Sergeant John Bushell from Oakley in Bedforshire.

Wilson, now in his late 80s, described recently the final moments of the doomed Halifax. "Her days ended on the night of January 20, 1944 after we had dropped our bombs from 18,000 feet 
(5,485 metres) above the centre of the city," he said.

German fighter pilot Fellerer had flown beneath the bomber, "firing cannon upward into our starboard wing fuel tanks, causing 'Old Flo' to catch fire from wing to wing, at 17,000 feet she went into a spiral dive. Then there was an explosion," he said.

Wilson claimed the crash site wasn't discovered until May 2006. "Of our crew of eight, four survived, all of us having had remarkable escapes, sustaining just a few cuts and sprains," he said.

Just seconds before the Halifax went into a dive he and bomb aimer Laurie Underwood, had succeeded in kicking out the jammed escape hatch, and bailing out.

"A minute or so later, the pilot George Griffiths and rear gunner John Bushell were blown out with the explosion of fuel. Both were unconscious and in free fall, but regained consciousness enough to be able to open their parachutes fully, only a few hundred feet (metres) before they hit the ground," he said.

Of those killed, Standbridge and wireless operator Eric Church are buried in Berlin, and warrant officer Charles Dupueis is remembered at the RAF War Memorial at Runneymede in Kent, England. Only Bremner was unaccounted for. (dpa)