A NORTH-East airman has played a key role in honouring the crew of a Second World War Lancaster bomber at a military funeral in Germany.

Sergeant Andrew Henderson, 31, was a member of the bearer party at the funeral for the crew of Lancaster ED 867, which was shot down while on a bombing mission over Germany.

All the bomber crew who died together have now been buried together.

Sgt Henderson, a member of the Queen's Colour Squadron of the Royal Air Force, helped carry the single coffin of the six airmen, who had been missing since the aircraft was brought down on January 29, 1944.

The full military funeral was conducted at the Berlin War Cemetery in Berlin.

Lancaster ED 867 took off from RAF Waddington in Lincolnshire to carry out a bombing raid over Berlin.

Its crew of four Australians and three British airmen were killed.

One of them, Pilot Officer Sidney John Griffiths, from Cardiff, was found at the time and buried in a local cemetery. His remains were later moved to the Berlin 1939-1945 War Cemetery.

The remaining crew, missing since the crash, have now been buried near to his grave.

Sgt Henderson, whose mother, Annie, lives in Middlesbrough, is a former pupil of Keldholme School. He has served with the RAF for 13 years and is stationed at RAF Uxbridge, Middlesex.

"I'm very proud to be involved and feel honoured to have been a part of such a moving ceremony," he said.

"What the RAF and the RAAF have done for the families of these brave airmen is magnificent, helping them to close a chapter."