A POIGNANT documentary remembering one of RAF Ridgewell’s most celebrated airmen is set to be shown at Halstead’s Empire Theatre.

The Ridgewell Air Field Commemorative Museum have teamed up with a group of enthusiasts who have filmed a documentary about Francis ‘Bud’ Owens.

Bud was a combat crew member who was decorated for bravery following an explosion on the airfield in June 1943.

Sadly, he lost his life in the Pyrenees while evading the Germans after his bomber was shot down in July 1943.

In his memory, his great niece, together with the great grandson of a French Resistance worker who helped him escape, became the subjects a the documentary, which traced Bud's journey through France.

He was a waist gunner when his plane was shot down over the Norman countryside in 1943.

The aircraft was taking part in a raid on the Gnome-Rhone plant in le Mans on July 4 when it was attacked and finally crashed near the small village of la Coulonche.

Three of the crew of ten perished when the ‘plane hit the ground, two of those who baled out were quickly captured.

With local help, the remaining five attempted to make their way down to neutral Spain with a view to rejoining the fight against Nazism.

Four of them made it to Spain but ‘Bud’ Owens, a man who on many occasions had put others before himself, was to die of exposure in the Pyrenees, aged just 21.

He now rests in the Ardennes American Cemetery in Belgium.

The 70-minute film is due to be screened at Halstead’s Empire Theatre in June, and members of the Owens family are expected to make the journey from the United States to be present.

The documentary is set to be screened on June 24, at 5pm.

Tickets will be released shortly through the Empire Theatre.