TRIBUTES have been paid to a Second World War pilot from Whitchurch who has died at the age of 98.

Warrant Officer Donald Fraser, a well-known figure around the town, passed away on February 28.

He had been married to his wife Sylvia Fraser for more than 70 years, and Mrs Fraser paid tribute to her late husband.

She said: "We were extremely lucky.

"We had a lot of time together, 70 odd years.

"My son and I like to think about all the good times we had. We a trip with 101 and he was extremely proud of his war troop."

Mr Fraser had been a flight engineer in a Lancaster bomber during the war, and before he died spoke about his experiences to local photographer Kathryn Goddard.

He said: "We were the very first team to work on the Lancaster.

"Taking off and managing to get this huge aircraft in the air safely while carrying possibly two thousand gallons of fuel and a fully loaded bomb compartment was always the most exciting part of the operation and I was always amazed at how it was achieved.

"I loved being in the air, I was so happy there."

Strong teamwork was essential to their survival while conducting air raids over Germany, as many airmen in RAF Bomber Command perished.

Speaking with Kathryn, Donald added: "We were always a team of eight – well, nine if you count the pigeon.

"Out of the eight of us, we would always have one that could speak German.

"This would then give us a chance to give them the wrong coordinates to throw them off track."

Even after leaving the RAF, Donald remained fascinated by the development in aircraft technology and marvelled at air-to-air refuelling systems currently in RAF service. He would often go to airshows.

Mrs Fraser added: "They gave us a chance to be on a tanker that was fuelling the fighters.

"It was very interesting to see the fighters coming in.

"It really was an amazing skill by both the fighters and the tanker plane to see them finally getting hooks into that pipeline.

"If there was anything on at Cosford or these places, he'd find out about them and we would usually go and watch.

"And when there were only two Lancasters, we would go and watch them to.

"He would advise anyone to make the RAF a career, they were wonderful people whether they were flying or ground staff."

Donald was a guest of Whitchurch Air Cadets twice.

Donald went on to marry Sylvia in 1948 and went on to work for the Royal Botanic Gardens Edinburgh and the Forestry Commission.