Colin Bell: Bloody Dangerous: the 105 Year Life of a Wwii Pilot

Colin Bell was a member of the elite Pathfinder 608 squadron, part of the force that, arguably, did more than any other bombing unit to bring about the Nazis' final surrender.

Full of touching admiration for his RAF comrades - one in four of whom were killed - in his book Bloody Dangerous he paints an extraordinarily vivid picture of what it was like to fly a Mosquito, the wooden wonder.

Coned by searchlights, he experienced the terror of being tracked by devastatingly effective 88 mm radar-controlled anti-aircraft guns and being chased by night-fighting Messchersmitt 262s, the only aircraft in the German armoury capable of outrunning the Mosquito.

Bell suffering engine failures, fuel starvation, near fatal ice, numerous hits to his plane and, on one occasion, an explosion so close there was shrapnel in his parachute and burn marks on his navigator's flying suit.

In conversation with Alex Norman