A FORMER RAF bomb aimer, whose plane was shot down during World War Two, has died aged 95.

Born in Bournemouth in 1921, Flying Officer Ronald Last was posted to the Royal Australian Air Force Squadron 466 from its beginnings in October 1942.

Based in Leconfield and Driffield in Yorkshire, he did 27 operations in a Halifax III aircraft and was shot down over Berlin in January 1944. Three of his fellow crewmen died. Five, including Ron, later became prisoners of war.

He was badly injured and had to spend six weeks in one of the city’s hospitals before being transferred to the Luftwaffe-run prisoner of war camp Stalag Luft III.

Weeks after his arrival, in March, one of the most famous prisoner escapes took place, which was later depicted in the film The Great Escape.

As the Russians advanced in January 1945, the PoWs were evacuated and sent on the ‘Long March’ from Poland to Hamburg in the north. Many on the march did not survive, but Ron eventually got home on VE Day, the day after his 24th birthday.

He had married Peggy, nee Dyer, before being reported missing and returned to live in Bournemouth after being released from military service.

He had two children, Margaret and Sheila and five grandchildren: Simon, Sam, Jessica, Joe and Amy.

Sheila said her father went on to live a “quiet life”, returning to his previous occupation with the gas board as a safety manager before his retirement.

After his wife died, he eventually moved to a nursing home in Sidmouth to be near his family. Sheila said he was “particularly proud” of his three great grandsons, Will, Zac and Beau.

She added: “Ron did not claim to be brave or a hero, he always said how lucky he was to have survived when thousands didn’t, including several members of his crew who died when their Halifax was shot down by a night fighter near Berlin.

“He always remembered his crew members and paid a poignant tribute to them when he laid a wreath in Driffield, where he had been based, on Anzac Day 2013. We then toured his old RAF station at Leconfield where he flew from on the night he was shot down and his memory was very clear.

“Despite all that Ron suffered during WWII, he was a funny, kind, generous man and was thankful to be loved by his family who were so proud of him.”