A German wartime pilot was visiting a Northumbrian village today to apologise for inadvertently bombing its historic Saxon church.

Willie Schludecker was forced to jettison his bombs when he came under attack by British fighter planes during a 1942 raid on Sunderland, and one of them landed on St Andrew's Church in Bolam.

He knew nothing of the damage to the church until he was tracked down last year by local historian Bill Norman, who was researching the air war over the North East in the Second World War.

Now 82 and living near Cologne, Mr Schludecker decided to visit Bolam and apologise to the villagers.

It is the first time he has been to the area since the night of May 1, 1942, when he flew his Dornier 217 from Holland to bomb Sunderland and was intercepted north of Newcastle.

Speaking through an interpreter, he told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: ''I was attacked by night fighters and went into a steep dive and then recovered the plane.

''I wanted to jettison the bombs on the railway line, because the plane was damaged and I wanted to get rid of the bombs so it could fly back home.

''I want to see some of the people in Bolam from that time and explain what I was doing and say sorry for the damage that was caused. I am very happy that no one was hurt.''

Mr Norman, from Guisborough, Cleveland, explained how he had tracked Mr Schludecker down.

He told Today: ''I have been researching the air war over the north of England for 20 years and I have very extensive archives.

''I came into contact with Willie Schludecker's old unit and during a visit to their reunion last year, Willie told me about the difficulties he had had over Newcastle.

''What he told me rang a number of bells and I decided to go up to the area to see what I could find out.''

Mr Norman said he was confident that Mr Schludecker had no intention to target the church or the village of Bolam, which had no military significance.

''Bombs were often jettisoned if a plane was in extreme danger, as Willie was that night,'' he said.