War hero pilot who came back from the dead

THE knock on the door brought the telegram every wartime mother dreaded.

It told Mabel Joll her pilot son Ian had been shot down and was presumed killed.

Yet 10 minutes later, after another knock, she opened the door again... to find him standing there.

The extraordinary story from the Second World War has emerged after 75 years because the wartime medals of Squadron Leader Ian are about to go on sale.

The collection, including his Distinguished Flying Cross, is being auctioned by Spinks in London for an estimated £ 9,000.

Mabel apparently fainted when she answered the door and saw Ian.

“She must have thought she had opened the door to a ghost,” said Oliver Pepys, of Spinks.

The telegram was sent after the flier crash- landed his Bristol Blenheim light bomber on a Dutch beach on May 10, 1940, following a dogfight with a German aircraft.

But Ian and his gunner had escaped unhurt and met members of the Dutch resistance, who arranged for RAF hero Ian Joll in uniform during the Second World War and, below, the medals he won, including the DFC, left them to board a ship for home. The vessel docked in Harwich, Essex, and Ian travelled to his parents’ house in Gravesend, Kent, to say hello and ask for a cup of tea.

After rejoining his squadron he went on to take part in the Battle of Britain and flew in the flight commanded by top RAF pilot John “Cats Eyes” Cunningham.

Ian became a fighter ace, claiming five “kills”. Despite several close calls he survived the war, dying aged 57 in 1977.

The medals are up for sale on April 23 following the death of his widow Eileen last year.