WARTIME RAF veterans remembered lost comrades during a flypast of fighter planes at the 60th anniversary ceremony of the Battle of Britain, near York.

Organised by the RAF Association(RAFA), the commemoration was attended by hundreds of spectators and airmen of past and present at the Yorkshire Air Museum, Elvington.

Spitfire and Hurricane fighter planes, which were used to great success in the Second World War air battles, thundered over the onlookers.

Standard-carrying veterans, accompanied by members of the Air Training Corps, then paraded into the Canadian memorial hangar for a special service taken by RAFA Padre, the Rev Philip Mortimer.

Air Vice-Marshall Barry Newton gave the salute.

Maurice Voase, president of the Yorkshire eastern region RAFA said: "It's the last major anniversary any of the Battle of Britain veterans will see unless they are like the Queen Mother. This has been a great day for all concerned.

"Everybody has their own feelings of what it means to them. It means an awful lot to me. We lost a lot of friends and this ceremony really brings it home."

Ralph Tailford, 78, flew in Halifax Bombers from Elvington airfield during the war.

He said: "We must keep teaching young people what it's all about so they don't make the same mistakes we did. War is no good to anybody."