Mosquito pilot Flt Lt Colin Bell returns to WW2 Norfolk base

Hundreds of aircrew who took off from a Norfolk airbase that was the home of the some of the RAF's elite bomber squadrons never returned.

Flt Lt Colin Bell, then 23, flew a twin-engined Mosquito fighter bomber from RAF Downham Market, completing 50 missions.

Flt Lt Colin Bell's Mosquito takes off from RAF Downham Market (Image: Supplied by Colin Bell)

He returned to the village church at Bexwell this week, near where its runways once stood, to lay a wreath at a new memorial to those who did not live to tell the tale.

"We recognised that we were in a war, people would be lost and it's the price you have to pay for fighting a war," said Flt Lt Bell, after he saluted fallen comrades.

The 102-year-old - who is performing a charity abseil next month - said: "There were so many of them but we had to stay focussed on the primary objective, which was destroying the Germans' manufacturing capacity.

Flt Lt Colin Bell salutes his fallen comrades from RAF Downham Market (Image: Chris Bishop)

"That was the objective of Bomber Command, to prevent the Germans from waging war and killing our men, women and children. It was a war we had to win."

Lancaster and Stirling bombers also took off from its sprawling wartime runways, including the RAF's elite Pathfinders.

Their crews paid a heavy price as they ran the gauntlet of night fighters and anti-aircraft batteries.

Lancaster bombers also flew from RAF Downham Market (Image: Chris Bishop)

A new memorial to the 773 who lost their lives, including two pilots awarded Victoria Crosses, was unveiled at Bexwell last month.

Little else of the base remains today apart from a few buildings and a fragment of runway, the remainder of which were broken up in the 1970s and used for the foundations of the A10 bypass.

Barely a handful who served at the station in the three years it was operational, from 1942, are still alive today. 

Soon after Flt Lt Bell joined 608 Squadron at Downham, in August 1944, he and his Canadian navigator Doug Redmond, then 27, had a close call on a raid on Berlin which was their fifth operation.

Mosquito pilot Flt Lt Colin Bell pictured in his wartime RAF uniform (Image: Supplied by Colin Bell)

"We got caught by anti-aircraft fire," he said. "A shell exploded under the aircraft, lifting it up and interfering with the fuel supply, causing both engines to lose power.

"After a brief period, the engines re-started. We were at 25,000 feet - four miles up.

"I turned to my navigator and said: 'You weren't frightened were you?

"And he said: 'No, I wasn't frightened. I was bl**dy terrified."

Some of the few surviving buildings at the former RAF Downham Market (Image: Ian Burt)

Somehow the pair survived a further 45 missions as part of the Light Night Striking Force of Mosquitos, which carried out nuisance raids and spoof attacks, to confuse German night fighters and buy time for the main bomber force.

"Doug was with me through the whole 50 operations," said Flt Lt Bell.

"It was his expertise that must have saved my life on many occasions."

B for Baker - Flt Lt Colin Bell's Mosquito bomber (Image: Supplied by Colin Bell)

The Wooden Wonder, as aircrews called the 400mph Mosquito, also helped tip the odds in their favour.

Flt Lt Bell trained to fly the 'Mossie' in 1943, at RAF Wyton in Cambridgeshire.

"I was in love with the Mosquito from the first time I flew it," he said. 

"It was so fast, so manoeuvrable, it could out fly any German propellor-driven aircraft."

Flt Lt Colin Bell with Jonathan Horton, the engineer who made the new memorial at Bexwell (Image: Chris Bishop)

Flt Lt Bell was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross (DFC) in March, 1945, for persistent courage in the face of sustained enemy engagement over a number of months.

Two months later, the war in Europe was over. Flt Lt Bell left the RAF the following year and pursued a career as a surveyor, eventually retiring at the age of 98.

He was married to wife Kathlyn, who passed away in 2016, for 73 years.

The couple had two children, three grandchildren and five great grandchildren.

Flt Lt Bell, who lives in London, still has a head for heights.

Flt Lt Colin Bell, seen through one of the silhouettes of aircraft which flew from RAF Downham Market on the new memorial (Image: Chris Bishop)

He plans to abseil down 17 storeys from the helipad at the Royal London Hospital on Thursday, September 14. 

The descent is in aid of London's Air Ambulance, the Royal College of Nursing Foundation and the RAF Benevolent Fund.

He has set up three pages where people can donate on justgiving.com.