Former Lancaster pilot Tony Bird has some remarkable tales to tell about his time with 61 Squadron during the Battle of Berlin in World War Two, including how, on two seperate occasions, he survived against all the odds.

The first incident involved a bizarre series of events that led to his being awarded a DFC after he had manged to fly his badly-damaged aircraft back to England following a night raid on Berlin, despite being badly injured himself and without a navigator or co-pilot.

He later survived his aircraft exploding in mid-air over Germany ~ almost certainly a victim of Schräge Musik ~ the deadly upward-firing cannon mounted in Luftwaffe nightfigters to take advantage of the 'blind spot' beneath aircraft such as the Lancaster.

Tony spent the remainder of the war as a POW at Stalag Luft III, about which he also has some interesting recollections.