WWII Hero Celebrates 103rd Birthday By Meeting Female RAF Pilot

Picture: Frederick Samuel Vinecombe with Kerry Bennett (Image: Plymouth Herald / SWNS.com)

A Second World War RAF officer, celebrating his 103rd birthday, had his wish granted when he met a top female pilot.

Warrant Officer Frederick Samuel Vinecombe (rtd) served with the Bomber Command Air Crew Lancasters during the Second World War.

Whilst serving, he was shot down over France and captured by the Nazis, before being taken to a POW camp.

When a friend at his care home told him women are now able to fly with the RAF, he couldn't believe it and said he'd love to meet a female pilot.

His family then got in touch with local Flt Lt Kerry Bennet, who agreed to meet Frederick at the care home in Plymouth, Devon.

Kerry served in the RAF for 13 years as a pilot with 101 Squadron and is currently flying Voyager aircraft. Last year, she appeared in the BBC programme Astronaut.

Kerry was delighted to accept the invitation, and she met Fred last Friday.

More than 40 residents enjoyed an afternoon with Kerry who spent time meeting the veterans and sharing their stories.

Fred's daughter Denise said he had a wonderful afternoon and was incredibly happy to meet Kerry.

During the war, Fred flew the Lancaster KB727 which was shot down over France in 1944.

Enemy anti-aircraft fire resulted in one of the plane's engines catching fire and the crew were forced to bail out.

They parachuted out of the aircraft and landed near Chantainvillers.

The crew were first held in the overcrowded Frenes prison in France. It was described as "a hideous place where torture and executions took place".

In August of that year, Fred and 160 other allied airmen were shipped by boxcars made to hold less than half the number of men, bound for Buchenwald concentration camp in Germany.

James A Smith, a crew member alongside Fred described his time in Buchenwald as more of a work camp than a concentration camp, where the inmates were worked to death and constant executions took place.

The allied airmen were held there as spies, even though this was against the Geneva Convention.