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German WW2 vet crashes near city he bombed

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BATH, England, Aug. 8 (UPI) -- A veteran of the World War II Luftwaffe crash-landed near Bath, the city he bombed during the war, witnesses said.

Willi Schludecker, 88, who visited Bath earlier this year to attend a memorial service for those killed during the raid, had come back because he promised the organizer of the service, Chris Kilminster, a plane ride, The Daily Telegraph reported. The plane, carrying four people, had just taken off from an airport north of Bath when the crash occurred last Friday.

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Kilminster, 61, said he had never been in an airplane before and had been looking forward to the trip.

"But I never even got to see the city," he said. "It was such a shame -- no sooner was I up than I was coming back down again."

No one was injured in the crash. Those on board the single-engine Mooney M20T also included Richard Flohr-Swann, the official pilot, and Adam Koronda, a filmmaker working on a documentary about Schludecker.

After the crash, thieves stole $60,000 in equipment from the wreck.

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