A VETERAN American airman who was shot down during the war has returned to the Essex airfield where he was based.

Casey Bukowski was a Flying Fortress waist gunner with the 381st Bomb Group during the Second World War.

He was based at Ridgewell Airfield, in north Essex, between 1943 and 1944.

His B-17 was shot down during a raid over Germany on February 22, 1944.

Casey was badly wounded and lost an eye but managed to bail out from the stricken bomber and survived.

He was taken prisoner of war by the Germans.

After being held for 14 months in two POW camps, he was force-marched across Germany for 82 days, before being liberated by George Patton's advancing Third Army.

Casey, now aged 99, made an emotional return to the UK to mark the 80th anniversary of being stationed in Essex.

Halstead Gazette: Casey Bukowski in an Essex Gliding Club glider waiting for take-off over his former baseCasey Bukowski in an Essex Gliding Club glider waiting for take-off over his former base (Image: Ridgewell Airfield Commemorative Museum)

After visiting Imperial War Museum Duxford and Normandy, he spent the weekend at the Ridgewell Airfield Commemorative Museum, where he laid a wreath commemorating the 80th anniversary of the arrival of his bomb group - the Eighth Air Force’s 381st.

Essex Gliding Club flew the veteran airman over his old base in a glider.

Casey has returned to the US, where he lives in Buffalo, New York.

He is planning to return to Ridgewell next year to celebrate his 100th birthday.

Part of Casey’s story appears in a book published by Casemate Publishers called Bomb Group: The Eighth Air Force’s 381st and the Allied Air Offensive over Europe, written by Mike Peters and Ridgewell Airfield Commemorative Museum chairman Paul Bingley.

The book is available from Amazon.