A WARTIME pilot who bombed a church by mistake is making a pilgrimage from Germany to say sorry.

Willy Schludecker made a split-second decision to jettison his bombs while in a dogfight over Northumberland. But he has only recently discovered that his decision to unload his cargo of four 500kg bombs and avoid nose-diving, almost destroyed a Saxon church at Bolam, near Morpeth.

Three of the bombs landed around St Andrew's Church and the fourth punched a hole in a side wall before sliding across the floor inside, but did not detonate.

Mr Schludecker was told the tale of Bolam Church by author and wartime air expert Bill Norman, of Guisborough, east Cleveland.

He took off from Holland on April 30, 1942 with the aim of bombing Sunderland. His Dornier 217, part of a Luftwaffe flight, was intercepted north of Newcastle by three British night fighters early on May 1.

Mr Norman heard the story when he met Mr Schludecker after working on a project to recover the remains of a bomber from the flight, at South Bank, London, in 1997.

Mr Schludecker, 82, will travel to England to speak to the Aviation Society on July 13 and will spend a few days with Mr Norman, during which he will visit Bolam.