A former German bomber pilot has travelled to Sussex to meet the RAF airman who shot him down.

Willi Schludecker was on a raid on July 23/24, 1942, when his Bedford-bound Dornier was hit over the East Coast of England by cannon fire from a Beaufighter with 26-year-old Peter McMillan at the controls.

Mr Schludecker, then 21, managed to stay airborne and, after limping back across the Channel, crash-landed his wrecked bomber in Holland.

He was so badly injured he spent six months in hospital.

Yet despite the agonising pain and discomfort, the ex-Luftwaffe serviceman believed Mr McMillan, from Hove, saved his life.

He said: "The way I see it Peter actually saved my life because if I hadn't been put in hospital I would have been back up in the skies the next night, and who know what would have happened?"

The pair met each other for the second time at Shoreham Airport in 2000 and have kept in touch ever since.

They were reunited by Cleveland war historian Bill Norman, who put together the pieces of the puzzle by studying the pilots' flight logs.

Craig Wilmot, spokesman for the hospital-home, said: "We have many residents with remarkable stories to tell but none like this.

"The pair first met over the English skies nearly 65 years ago when Peter shot down Willi's bomber. After the attack, the German pilot put his plane into a steep dive to outrun his assailant and was forced to jettison his bomb load.

"Believing he had successfully shot down his enemy, Flt Lt McMillan, of 409 Squadron Royal Canadian Air Force, returned to base in his Beaufighter.

"Peter was unaware that although the German bomber had been badly damaged it was still airborne and making its way back across the Channel.

"On reaching Holland, Willi was forced to crash land as his plane was so badly damaged. It was a feat to have just been able to make it as far as he had.

"He crashed at more than three times the normal landing speed and ended up in hospital for six months, but he survived to tell the tale."

At their third meeting, Mr Schludeker presented Mr McMillan with a framed picture of the wrecked Dornier as a memento.

In 2000 Mr McMillan said: "There was never really any personal hatred between us. We were young men doing our duty. My memories are of excitement and adventure. We were doing the same job on different sides."

By the age of just 21 Mr Schludecker had flown 120 wartime missions and had to make 23 emergency landings - nine of them crash landings. He twice won an Iron Cross for bravery.