VILLAGERS and former-servicemen turned out in force to pay tribute to a Second World War bomber pilot who sacrificed his life averting a disaster.

Cyril Barton, 22, died of his injuries after he crash-landed his stricken Halifax, avoiding houses and a working pit.

The plane, which had taken off from Selby, North Yorkshire, had been damaged by Luftwaffe fighters during a bombing raid over Germany when two of the crew, including navigator Len Lambert, baled out and were captured.

Pilot Officer Barton, from Surrey, flew the plane back to Britain but it ran out of fuel and at Ryhope, near Sunderland, he was forced to bring it down near a row of terrace houses and the area's colliery.

The bomber hit a house at the end of a terrace next to the pit. Three of the crew survived but PO Barton was killed.

Yesterday, a ceremony was held to mark the 60th anniversary of the crash.

The service was led by Ryhope vicar the Reverend David Meakin, and attended by 82-year-old Mr Lambert, the only remaining survivor of the incident.

Alan Mitcheson, 71, who witnessed the bomber's last moments as an 11-year-old and campaigned for PO Barton to be commemorated, laid a wreath on behalf of the airman's sisters who live in the South of England.

Also at the ceremony was 77-year-old Tom Richardson, whose family had a remarkable escape when the Halifax flattened their home.

Mr Richardson, who was 16, was standing on the front step while his mother and eight-year-old brother were inside the house.

"I stepped forward because my friend across the way was going to lend me a book. I heard a sound like rushing wind and I didn't know what it was.

"At school, it was brayed into you that if you heard a sound and didn't know what it was, you dived to the ground.

"That's what I did and there was a big bang. When I got up, the house and the step were gone.''

His mother and brother emerged from the rubble with nothing more than bruises and even his dog survived.

Mr Richardson, of Silksworth, said PO Barton, who was awarded the Victoria Cross for gallantry, averted a tragedy.

"If the plane hadn't hit the house it would have hit the pit where there were 40 or 50 young lads working. A lot more people would have been killed."