Ken Flavell, now 82, was based at RAF Feltwell during the Second World War and remembers the exploits of Sgt Jimmy Ward who, at 11,000 ft, struggled to put out the flames on the wing of his Wellington bomber.

The story was featured in the Journal in July and deescribed how Sgt Ward's Wellington had been savaged by a German night fighter while it was on a bombing raid and the engine had caught fire.

Mr Flavell was with 75 Squadron RAF Feltwell as an instrument mechanic and said he remembers the squadron party after Sgt Ward got his medal.

"None of us knew what had happened until the morning," he said.

"Someone said one of the pilots had put out a fire on the engine at 11,000 feet and I remember the CO, Wing Cdr Sawrey-Cookson, telling us about it in the officers' mess.

"From his point of view, it put the squadron on the map.

"Sgt Ward was off duty for about a week-and-a-half afterwards while the RAF flew a new Handley Page (Wellington) in for him.

"After the event, I think he was made a Lieutenant and given command of his own aircraft."

Mr Flavell said he was saddened when he heard Sgt Ward had died just two months after his daring exploit – his plane burst into flames during a raid and came down over Germany.

As a young man, Mr Flavell's first posting was to RAF Feltwell but he later served at RAF Newmarket and also remembers secret aircraft testing in the town.

"One day when we were at the airfield we saw a lot of cars and barbed wire had been put up," he said.

"Our commanding officer said we mustn't tell anybody in town what we had seen. We saw a rather unusual plane coming out of one of the blister hangars. Nobody had seen anything like it before."

He said the plane turned out to be the prototype for Frank Whittle's Gloster Meteor, the first jet aircraft developed by the allied forces which was being secretly tested at Newmarket airfield.

A few days later, two fighter aircraft landed at the airfield and took of with the jet.

"I never saw it again," said Mr Flavell.

His tours of duty also took him to Africa before he was eventually discharged from the RAF in 1946.

He now enjoys playing bowls and socialising with members of the British Legion and, after he recovers from knee surgery, hopes to continue playing golf.