Pictured: Gerald's book on his father's incredible survival story The plane was blown to pieces on impact and another pilot - who saw the 'orange fireball which lit up the sky' - told his superiors no one could have lived. Their Lancaster was blasted by anti-aircraft guns, erupted in flames and plummeted to the ground. John and his crew dropped multiple direct hits on the Bavarian U-Boat diesel engine factory in the city but got caught in enemy fire.
He chugged across 600 miles of enemy territory at just 250ft in the heavy bomber and reached his target. The pilot had been set the daunting task of flying his Lancaster in a daylight raid on Augsburg without any fighter escorts. He also highlighted how the RAF hero was chucked in Stalag Luft III - the Luftwaffe-run prisoner of war camp made famous by the Great Escape. Gerald Sherwood, 80, from St Austell, Cornwall, told how Wing Commander John 'Flap' Sherwood took part in a daring mission before being captured in his new book. The son of a Bomber Command pilot whose plane exploded in a fireball in Nazi Germany has revealed his father's incredible story of survival during the war.
