A LEGEND of British aviation made an appearance over North Yorkshire as part of a special reunion and memorial.

Burn Gliding Club, near Selby, hosted the annual reunion of the 578 Squadron Association, which included a memorial to Philip Myers DFM and ex-chairman of the association.

Mr Myers, originally form North London, worked at RKO Radio Pictures in 1940, but joined the home guard while under age at 155, and was 17 when he signed up to the RAF. He trained as a navigator, and flew his first bombing raid with 578 Squadron - based at Burn near Selby - a week before his twentieth birthday.

He regularly attended reunions of the squadron, was twice elected chair of the 578 Squadron Burn Association, and in 2013 became its Life President.

Russell Walsh from Burn Gliding Club said: "During its brief fourteen months at RAF Burn, the Squadron flew 2,722 sorties against the strongly armed enemy, suffering grievous losses of 40 aircraft and 219 aircrew but making a substantial contribution to the final years of the war in Europe. Many of the operations carried out were against the V1 and V2 Rocket sites. Few operational Squadrons can have excelled the record of that of 578 in so short a period, during which its aircrews earned 79 Distinguished Flying Medals, 144 Distinguished Flying Crosses, 2 Distinguished Service Orders and the ultimate recognition for valour, the Victoria Cross, awarded posthumously to Pilot Officer C J Barton, the only Halifax Bomber pilot to be so honoured.

"The late Philip Myers DFM was twice Chairman and life President of 578 Squadron Burn Association for a number of years. And last August the French Government awarded him membership of the Legion d’Honneur for his 'steadfast commitment to the liberation of France'. He was honoured and overwhelmed. He sadly died just before Christmas last year. His daughter Judith Freedman attended the reunion on Saturday and the service at Selby Abbey on the Sunday."

The reunion included two Yorkshiremen Charles Beecher, radio Marconi engineer from Selby, and flight engineer Harry Dobson from Leeds, along with bomb aimer Richard Harder and the only female electrician at Burn, Joyce Greene WAAF.

The reunion and tribute also saw a visit from a Battle Of Britain Spitfire, which provided a flypast despite poor weather, in tribute to Mr Myers and the rest of 578 Squadron.