Pilot says sorry for WWII bombing

The church of St Andrew, at Bolam, was damaged by the bomb

A German pilot is making a pilgrimage to a Northumberland village to say sorry for bombing a church during a World War II dogfight.

Willie Schludecker, who now lives near Cologne, made a split-second decision to jettison his bombs to save himself from nose-diving to the ground.

He recently discovered that this move had almost destroyed a Saxon church at Bolam, near Morpeth.

Mr Schludecker, now 82, is making his trip to the village on Monday.

Mr Schludecker had taken off from Holland on the evening of 30 April, 1942, on a mission to bomb Sunderland.

But his Dornier 217 bomber was intercepted by three British night fighters just north of Newcastle.

I want to see some of the people in Bolam and explain what I was doing and say sorry for the damage that was caused. Willie Schludecker

The German threw his plane into a steep dive to shake off his attackers but went too low and was forced to ditch some of his bombs.

Three landed near St Andrew's Church and a fourth punched a hole in a side wall before sliding across the floor.

It failed to detonate and the hole it made was turned into a memorial window. Another bomb created a 30ft crater nearby, which is now a duck pond.

For 60 years, Mr Schludecker did not know exactly what had happened until he was told recently by Cleveland historian Bill Norman.

Mr Schludecker said on Monday: "I wanted to jettison the bombs on the railway line, because the plane was damaged and I wanted to get rid of the bombs so it could fly back home.

"I want to see some of the people in Bolam from that time and explain what I was doing and say sorry for the damage that was caused. I am very happy that no one was hurt."