VETERANS of the Second World War converged on RAF Church Fenton at the weekend to relive old times.

The 27 members of Sherburn Aero Club Bomber Barons all flew in a variety of aircraft during the war and were shown how the base has developed since it opened in 1937 and the planes which currently fly from it.

Former Lancaster Bomber navigator William Bill' Bell, of South Milford, was one of them.

He said virtually all the visitors were taken up for a flight in a Grob Tutor airplane, which is used by the Church Fenton-based Yorkshire Universities Air Squadron.

Mr Bell said: "I enjoyed it.

"It is a couple of years since I had flown.

"I didn't think they would take me. I am 93 now and I was afraid they might not trust me getting in and out of the plane."

Mr Bell's own wartime experiences were with 103 Squadron.

He and the crew completed 20 successful missions before being shot down over Germany with Mr Bell incarcerated in Stalag IV B on the east side of the River Elbe, north of Dresden.

He said: "I didn't like the camp life, so I thought I would make the best of it and try to get out."

Mr Bell was eventually able to go out of the camp working under a false name and made a break for it, but was recaptured.

He made another couple of attempts, but was caught by German patrols. In April 1945, a month before the war in Europe ended he and a friend again changed names, this time with two British soldiers, and made it out of the camp under the pretext of working.

They made a break for it and eventually came across two Russian soldiers.

They acquired a boat and Mr Bell and his friend rowed it across the Elbe while the Russians baled water out of the leaky vessel.

The two British airmen made it through no-man's land, and eventually met some American soldiers.

He made it back to England on May 6, 1945, two days before Victory In Europe Day.