‘Incredibly lovely’ D-Day flyer who tricked enemy, dies aged 97

ONE of the last veterans of a crucial World War II mission to trick the Germans into thinking the D-Day landings were taking place in Calais, has died aged 97.

Bernard ‘Bernie’ How was a flight engineer on Stirling and Halifax bombers in 199 Squadron that flew over France ahead of the Allied invasion.

Aged 19, he was part of a plan to throw off German radar by dropping strips of aluminium around Calais to make the enemy think the invasion was heading further north than the real destination of Normandy.

During the gruelling tours, he flew more than 40 operations and had some near-misses, including one incident that saw the undercarriage of his aircraft collapse and a wing ripped off during take-off. After the war, Mr How (pictured) went back to the carpentry trade.

He and his wife Mary were married on Boxing Day 1951 and, for their honeymoon, he took her to see his beloved Ipswich Town take on Tottenham Hotspur in north London.

Mr How, the last surviving member of his flight crew of seven, died at his home in Worlington, Suffolk, on November 10 after a short illness. Two weeks before, he had a stroke on his 97th birthday. The greatgrandfather is survived by his sons, Leslie and Brian. This year he returned to RAF North Creake to cut a ribbon on a memorial to 73 comrades who never came home. The control tower at the disused airfield is now a B&B. Co-owner Nigel Morter, 54, said: ‘He was an incredibly lovely bloke.’