Europe | 08.08.2008
Former German Luftwaffe Pilot Crashes in Light Plane
A former bomber pilot in Nazi Germany's Luftwaffe who survived being shot down nine times during World War II has crashed in a light aircraft he co-piloted on a pleasure flight to Britain.
Nobody was injured, but thieves later ransacked the plane, stealing £30,000 ($57,584) worth of equipment including an expensive GPS system, the Daily Telegraph reported on Friday, Aug. 8.
Willi Schludecker, 88, made headlines earlier this year when he visited the historic city of Bath, in western Britain, to offer a personal and public apology for his role in bombing missions in 1942.
Bath, a city famous for its Roman foundations, was targeted in Germany's so-called Baedecker raids, reputedly chosen by the Luftwaffen from the tourist guides of the same name.
War veteran commemorates World War II victims
Schludecker took part in a memorial service to commemorate the 400 victims of the Bath raids earlier this year.
Last week, he planned to return to the city to show its landmarks to a relative of one of the victims.
Schludecker, now too frail to fly alone, was in the co-pilot's seat when the four-seater Mooney M20T aircraft came down in a field just outside Bath, the paper said.
