German WW2 vet crashes near city he bombed

BATH, England, Aug. 8 (UPI) -- A veteran of the World War II Luftwaffe crash-landed near Bath, the city he bombed during the war, witnesses said.

Willi Schludecker, 88, who visited Bath earlier this year to attend a memorial service for those killed during the raid, had come back because he promised the organizer of the service, Chris Kilminster, a plane ride, The Daily Telegraph reported. The plane, carrying four people, had just taken off from an airport north of Bath when the crash occurred last Friday.

Kilminster, 61, said he had never been in an airplane before and had been looking forward to the trip.

"But I never even got to see the city," he said. "It was such a shame -- no sooner was I up than I was coming back down again."

No one was injured in the crash. Those on board the single-engine Mooney M20T also included Richard Flohr-Swann, the official pilot, and Adam Koronda, a filmmaker working on a documentary about Schludecker.

After the crash, thieves stole $60,000 in equipment from the wreck.

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