A former regional press sub-editor who evaded capture during the Second World War as a member of Bomber Command has died at the age of 89.

Arthur Rae, pictured left in his younger days, spent most of his working life at DC Thomson, where he held a number of roles, including being a district sub-editor of Dundee’s The Courier.

He initially joined the publisher at the age of 14 as an apprentice linotype operator and spent the rest of his career there apart from time serving in the war and three years living in Canada in the 1960s.

Arthur died at the age of 89 in Dundee earlier this month and his funeral has now been held.

He was 16 when the Second World War started and in 1941, he enlisted in the RAF, training in South Africa before being posted to Bomber Command as a bomb aimer.

Arthur was on his 18th mission in May 1944 when his plane was shot down over Nazi-occupied Belgium, with him parachuting out and landing in a tree.

He decided to seek help from a farmhouse, where luckily the farmer was a member of the Belgian resistance, which sheltered him for more than three months before he was flown home.

Arthur was then posted to India to take on a training role, where he spent the rest of the war, reaching the rank of flight lieutenant.

He then returned to Dundee and married his wife Kathleen in 1947, taking on his old role at DC Thomson as a linotype operator, until the couple emigrated to Canada in 1960 with their children.

Arthur worked with a printing firm for three years before they returned to Dundee and his job with the regional publisher.

In 1966, he joined the editorial staff of the People’s Journal and 11 years later, he moved to be a sub-editor for The Courier, until his retirement in 1988.

An obituary in The Scotsman by Alison Shaw said: “Having left school with no qualifications, he sat his Highers after returning from Canada and became an avid reader, devouring Punch, the Spectator and Daily Telegraph, and discovering his own talent with words.

“He also became something of a teacher and mentor to younger staff, often holding forth on the subs’ bench.”

Arthur is survived by his wife Kathleen, children Alan and Susan, five grandchildren, four great-grandchildren and his brother Douglas.