A REMINDER of wartime horror and courage has taken pride of place in the region’s tourism capital.

A Hawker Hurricane fighter has been positioned in St Sampson’s Square, York, where it will remain until next Monday night.

The aircraft, from the Yorkshire Air Museum at Elvington, is paying its annual visit to mark the 73rd anniversary of the infamous Baedeker Raid on the city.

It was one of a series of raids by the Luftwaffe in retaliation for a raid on Lubeck, and the targets were cultural and historical sites – the name Baedeker came from a popular series of tourism guides.

The attack on York took place in the early hours of Wednesday, April 29, 1942, when 40 bombers rained down 84 tonnes of incendiary and high-explosive bombs over a period of 90 minutes.

They set the city ablaze. The medieval Guildhall was largely destroyed, along with St Martin le Grande Church in Coney Street.

The railway station, an obvious target, was hit and badly damaged, as was a King’s Cross bound train, carrying soldiers and other service personnel among its passengers.

In total some 95 people died, a further 212 were injured and 579 homes were destroyed.

The damage could have been worse but for the intervention of a lone French fighter pilot, 23-year-old Yves Mahé, in a Hurricane.

He dived in and set his sights on a Heinkel bomber, which crashed in flames into the River Ouse He then targeted a JU88, but it fled along with the rest of the attacking force with the smoke assisting their escape.