THE son of a County Durham man who narrowly escaped death on a special operations mission during the Second World War will retrace his father's footsteps after a lifetime of research.

Harry Blackett, of Bishop Auckland, survived a "harrowing" ordeal in 1944 when he and his crewmates were forced to ditch a bomber plane mid-flight over France.

He and pal Eddie Jones searched in desperation for help for three days before stumbling into the headquarters of the French Resistance.

The rear gunner's extraordinary tale has been something his son, David Blackett, has been trying to get to the bottom of for almost half a century and it is thanks to the help of Suffolk-based historian Alan Latter that the 71-year-old has been able to put the final pieces of jigsaw together.

The pair, along with David's son Stuart, 47, will head to France next month to visit the sites of significance, meet some of the ancestors of those who played a role in Harry's story, and attend a ceremony in honour of the Maquis - the guerilla band of the French Resistance aided by Harry and his seven-strong 138 Squadron.

David, of Newton Aycliffe, said: "My dad would never talk about it or had to have a couple of pints before he even mentioned it.

"He died in August 1974 and at the time all we knew was my sister was named after a woman, named Janine, who saved his life.

"I went to France a few years ago to try and get some information but couldn't speak the language so it proved difficult.

"I knew he had had a harrowing time and he had fought with the French Resistance and was a rear gunner in the RAF."

Despite a short, first-hand account from Harry of the events of 1944, David had given up in his search for more details.

Then out of the blue at the beginning of the year he received an email from Mr Latter.

The email included a photograph of Harry and his crew, never before seen by David, and asked if he recognised his father in it.

Since then the two men have been able to fill in the blanks on what was known about 138 Squadron.

It emerged the squadron was one of five aircraft to set off on May 9, 1944, from RAF Tempsford, the Special Operations Executive, on Operation Percy 3 which required them to drop supplies to the French Resistance in the Brive-la-Gaillarde area of France.

Four aircraft returned successfully but Harry's squadron was shot at over the Forest of Rochechouart and crashed in the Groslaud area near Chabanais, in the south-west of the country.

After completing the drop the Halifax bomber lost the use of a second engine, the first having been previously rendered unusable.

Captain and pilot, Stanley Coldridge, was unable to reach the west coast to attempt to ditch at sea so gave the order to abandon the aircraft.

One of the crew, mid upper gunner Robert Clark, of West Auckland, injured his leg on landing and had to surrender to the local Gendarmerie and spent the remainder of the war as a prisoner of war.

Meanwhile Harry and bombardier Eddie Jones found each other on the ground.

In a bid to stop tracker dogs gaining their scent, they buried their gear under manure and travelled for four nights, sleeping by day.

After coming across farmhouses they hid behind a well of one until a girl, named Janine, spotted them and took them to what materialised was the Resistance HQ where they were interrogated.

It was only thanks to a crumpled bus ticket in Harry's trouser pocket from the former Bishop Auckland-based Eden Bus Company that their story was finally believed.

They spent three months with the Resistance - living rough in the woods, helping with arms and ammunition training and going on sabotage missions to aid the allies' preparations for D-Day.

Pilot and captain Coldridge along with crewmates navigator Harry Medland and Flight Officer Richard Evans also made contact with the Resistance after abandoning the plane.

The team was spared the fate of Flight Officer Donald Lennie who joined the Resistance but was captured and tortured by the Gestapo.

In late August 1944 the Resistance attacked and liberated the city of Limoges and Harry and Eddie were able to return to the UK on September 9.

"I'm very proud and I'm also grateful to those people who looked after my father because he could have ended up like F/O Lennie or it could have been worse - and I and my sister and then my son might not have been born," added David.

"This all happened before I was born and after all the time I've spent trying to get information and after giving up - it's a strange feeling to be going there 74 years on."

Bricklayer Harry was home for six months before completing another tour during WW2 - finishing up as a Warrant Officer.

He married wife Vera and the pair had two children, David and Janine.

He died aged 50 of cancer.

David and son Stuart will go to Saint-Saud-Lacoussière on October 5 and will meet the mayors from the area for a commemoration of the Maquis on October 9.