After being submerged in his Mark 6 Mosquito aircraft cockpit for 60 years with his pilot, Flt Lt Ellis, Sgt Pat Reidy, the navigator, has been buried at Marham with full military honours.
In March 1945, two months before VE day, Sgt Reidy was engaged in air gunnery practice over the Wash, when his aircraft stalled and plummeted into the sea. There were no survivors.
In August last year the Kings Lynn Harbour Master spotted a propeller blade sticking out of the mud-flats. Royal Navy divers were asked to investigate and found the metal remains of a Mosquito, from No 85 Squadron, and the remains of the two crew still in the cockpit.
Sixty years on, Sgt Reidy was laid to rest in a Commonwealth grave at Marham after a Requiem Mass held at RAF Marham. His younger brother, Michael Reidy, said in his tribute to his brother:
"He was born to fly and died too young."
Flt Lt Ellis was cremated 3 weeks ago in Norwich following a private Service.
