FORMER RAF bomber command flight navigator, Reginald Charles Wilson of Christchurch, has died at the age of 93.

Born in Hackney, London as the third of five children on January 26, 1923, the family later moved to Essex where Reginald, known as Reg to loved ones, attended Beal Modern School.

His education came to an abrupt end in 1939 with the outbreak of the Second World War. After briefly working for Unilever in London, Reg signed up for the RAF Volunteer Reserve in 1941 at the age of 18.

Reg hoped to become a Spitfire pilot in Fighter Command but did not pass the test and instead qualified as a navigator following his training in Canada and the USA.

He returned to the UK in late 1942 and was assigned to Bomber Command the following year.

He survived 10 operational flights before being shot down over Berlin on January 20, 1944 resulting in the deaths of four of the eight crew. Two men who died were buried in Berlin while the other two were registered as Missing in Action.

Reg became a prisoner of war in Stalag IV-B in Germany and was later transferred to an officer’s camp, where he wrote an extremely detailed account of everything which had happened to him, which became his most treasured possession.

In 1950, Reg met his beloved wife, Barbara, at a holiday camp on the Isle of Wight. Reg had to return early from this holiday, as his father had died unexpectedly.

The couple went on to marry in March 1954 and set up home in Chigwell, Essex, where they lived for 60 years and raised three children including Robert, Janet and Helen.

After the war, Reg had returned to work at Unilever, eventually becoming an international management consultant. He retired in the mid-1980s.

In 2005, Reg embarked on an ambitious research project to try to discover the fate of his Halifax bomber, which had crashed 61 years previously. Not only was this project successful, but it also led to the military burial in Berlin of John Bremner, his flight engineer, nearly 65 years after his death.

Reg and Barbara moved to Dorset in Dorset in 2014 to be nearer to his three children and eight grandchildren.

Following his great achievement, Reg's biography, Into The Dark, was published in 2015.

Reginald died on Friday, November 11, which was Armistice Day. His funeral will take place at Bournemouth Crematorium on Friday, December 2 at 11am.