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Veteran airman back in the cockpit thanks to Herald team

A reporter and photographer gave a decorated ex-WW2 pilot the chance to get back in the cockpit of his old bomber more than 60 years after he last flew.

Pete Le Riche and Simon Horn from Archant South West’s Midweek Herald met Gp Capt Hugh Everitt while he was at Exeter Airport to see at the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight’s Lancaster.

He was awarded the Distinguished Service Order and Distinguished Flying Cross for his services during two tours of duty with the RAF in 1942-3.

The bomber had stopped at the airport to fuel up for air displays in the South West, along with a Spitfire and Hurricane.

The veteran airman had been invited to see the aircraft after contacting the RAF earlier in the year, but until the newspaper men turned up, he had only been able to look around it from the outside.

During the interview about his wartime service record, Herald deputy editor Pete discovered the 87-year-old had not been inside a Lancaster since 1943.

He asked current pilot Flt Lt Mike Leckey if the old flyer could get back inside to reminisce on his wartime days.

Pete said: “I didn’t for a minute think they would allow Hugh, or Simon and myself into the airplane.

“It is the last airworthy Lancaster in Europe – I thought they would be too concerned about the three of us either damaging part of the plane, or injuring ourselves on it.”

Gp Capt Everitt said afterwards: “I can remember everything in this cockpit, it is very nostalgic, it is a real flashback.

“It is amazing how restricted it is, it is so full of equipment to get out in the case of an emergency, but it was still very difficult, that is why so many of our crews – my friends – lost their lives in these planes during the war.”

The article – complete with the flyer’s evocative memories – ran as a full page feature in both the Sidmouth Herald and Midweek Herald. It has also been supplied to Pilot magazine.