AS Remembrance Day approaches, tributes have been paid to a Second World War pilot who died when his plane crashed into the North Sea during a daring mission to Germany.

Yesterday, was the 75th anniversary of the deaths of Flight Lieutenant Walter Nicholls and his crew on board the ill-fated Short Stirling I BF387 MG-U.

The 30-year-old, from Willington, County Durham, set off from RAF Oakington in Cambridgeshire shortly after 5pm on Tuesday, November 10, 1942, but tragically poor weather conditions prevented the crew from reaching their target. The aircraft, part of the 7 squadron Royal Air Force, crashed into the North Sea. The body of one crew member was washed up on the island of Sylt in northern Germany, but the other airmen were never found.

Keith Finley, whose father was Flight Lt. Nicholls’ cousin, remembers the pilot visiting his family home in Wallsend when he was a boy.

“I vividly remember him showing my parents his Distinguished Flying Cross,” said the 82-year-old, who now lives in Ushaw Moor, near Durham.

“I was introduced to him as Uncle Walter, although he was actually my father’s cousin. I was only a child so I didn’t get to know him very well but I remember he was very friendly, a true gentleman. I thought he was a hero and I was in awe of him.”

Mr Finley served in the RAF between 1953 and 1958 and was also based at RAF Oakington.

“I never realised at the time that he had been there too,” he said. “I’ve been thinking a lot about him this year, with it being the 75th anniversary of his death. It’s so important we remember the sacrifices they made.”

Flight Lt. Nicholls is honoured at the RAF Runnymede Memorial in Englefield Green, near Egham, Surrey. This is a memorial to 20,456 men and women of the British Empire air force who were lost in the air and other operations during the Second World War and have no graves. He is also commemorated on cenotaphs in Willington and Bishop Auckland.

After the war, the Finley family lost touch with the Nicholls family and Mr Finley is keen to reconnect with them. He understands Flight Lt. Nicholls married a woman called Jenny, and the couple may have had one child.

  • Relatives of Flight Lt Nicholls can get his details from Lizzie Anderson on 01388-602232 or lizzie.anderson@nne.co.uk