A HERO pilot from Keighley has been honoured by the RAF station from where he flew to his death.

Flying Officer Eric Wade is one of the first names recorded on the memorial at RAF Markham in Norfolk.

Members of Eric’s family, from Keighley and Silsden, along with Keighley war historian Ian Walkden, were present when the names were unveiled.

Ian, a leading light of the Men of Worth Project, was there to represent another man named on the memorial, Eric’s navigator Alfred Gerald Fleet from Bradford Moor.

At the ceremony last month (November), station commander Group Captain Rich Davies dedicated the memorial to all those lost from the airfield in times of war.

Ian said: “The memorial was in the form of a wall made from bricks salvaged from an old wartime hangar and individual plaques will be fastened to this.

“Eric was an old boy of Keighley Boys Grammar School in the 1920s and he also played for the Keighlians at rugby, and golf at Branshaw Golf Club.

“He joined the RAF in 1940 as a Leading Aircraftsman but was soon picked out for pilot training.

“In 1942 he left his own aircraft to rescue a crew man from another aircraft which had crashed on landing and was on fire.

“For this act of bravery he was awarded the British Empire Medal; referred to at the time in the Keighley News as ‘Keighley Sergeant’s Pluck’.”

Eric went on to fly Mosquitoes with the 105 Pathfinder Squadron, specialising in precision bombing.

Returning from a raid on a power station in Knapsack , Germany, Eric and Alfred’s aircraft crashed just short of the runway at Marham and they were both killed.

Eric is buried in the family grave at Utley and Alfred is buried at Bowling cemetery in Bradford.

Mr Walkden’s research proved to the Commonwealth War Graves Commission that Eric had been a pilot, and its records of recently corrected.

Eric is remembered in the Keighlian Magazine and the St John the Evangelist memorial at Ingrow, and Alfred is remembered on the war memorial in St Clement’s Church in Bradford.

The Men of Worth Project are now trying to find a good photograph of Alfred Fleet for RAF Markham.