Colin Paget Blair was a student pilot at the 15 Flying Service Training School in Kidlington, UK, when he was shot down by a German fighter bomber during a night flying exercise.

Leading Aircraftman (LAC) Blair took off from his base in the Airspeed Oxford II - registration W6629 - shortly before midnight on 12 August 1941 to test its night-time capabilities. Fifteen minutes after midnight the plane was shot down by a Luftwaffe JU-88 night fighter commanded by Oberfeldwebel Rolf Bussmann based in the Netherlands.

The German shot down two more planes on that night's raid, one of them also an Oxford from the same base as Blair. All the Allied crew members were killed.

Blair is buried at the Kidlington Burial Ground in the UK.

Colin Blair lived in Carcavelos - on the outskirts of Lisbon, Portugal - where his parents resided during the war.

Carlos Guerreiro

Note: We thank Richard Flagg/ UK Airfields for providing the photography and information for this article.