A MEMORIAL service will be held later this month to mark the 60th anniversary of a bomber pilot's sacrifice.

Pilot Officer Cyril Barton was awarded a posthumous Victoria Cross for guiding his crippled Halifax bomber away from homes in a North-East pit village.

The 22-year-old, from Surrey, paid with his life when the aircraft, which ran out of fuel, crashed at Ryhope, near Sunderland, during the Second World War.

The only other victim was a miner crossing a footbridge, who was struck by the plane.

Three of the crew had already bailed out over Germany after fighters damaged the plane, which had been on a bombing run over Nuremburg.

On Wednesday, March 31, an anniversary memorial service will be held on the village green, at 11am.

The man who campaigned for 20 years for Cyril Barton's feat to be officially recognised will lay a wreath on behalf of the pilot's elderly sisters.

As a 12-year-old schoolboy, Alan Mitcheson, saw the Halifax's last moments in the early hours of Friday, March 31, 1944, from his home in Hollycarrside, Ryhope.

Mr Mitcheson campaigned for a plaque in Cyril Barton's memory and a new housing estate has been called Barton Park after him.

The 71-year-old said he felt proud to be laying a wreath for the late airman's sisters, who live in the South.

Len Lambert, 82, of Ponteland, near Newcastle, the Halifax's navigator, who is thought to be the only crew member still alive, will attend the service along with fellow members of the Northumbria branch of the Aircrew Association.

All former service personnel are welcome at the service, which will be conducted by Ryhope's vicar, the Reverend David Meakin.