A BOLTON Second World War veteran was transported back in time 60 years when he got a surprise birthday tour of the plane he flew during daring bombing missions.

Bertie Lewis celebrated his 84th birthday with a visit to the Yorkshire Air Museum in York, where he once again climbed aboard a Halifax bomber.

Yet since the war ended, Mr Lewis has become a member of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament and is now a pacifist and he campaigned against the war in Iraq. He places a white wreath at the foot of the memorial in Victoria Square each year to symbolise peace and represent the CND.

Mr Lewis, known as "Butch" to his friends, was part of a crew which flew a Halifax bomber in 40 daring raids in the industrial heartland of Germany in 1943.

As he took up his former position as wireless operator and air gunner in the aircraft, Mr Lewis recalled missions in Berlin, Mannheim, Leverkusen, Hamburg and Frankfurt.

He remembers that the flak on one raid to Frankfurt was so heavy, and combined with attacks from enemy fighters, that he simply does "not know how they got through it and survived."

Other missions saw bombing of the railway marshalling yards in northern France and mine laying operations on the Normandy coast in support of the allied invasions on D-Day.

Mr Lewis had a dual role on the plane -- as the wireless operator had to be able to take the place of an injured gunner to defend the aircraft in battle.

The visit was arranged by Mr Lewis' son Roger, who lives in Devon, as a surprise for his father.

It was a special moment for the pair as Mr Lewis was able to show his son the inside of the aircraft in which he went to war.

Mr Lewis, who lives in Farnworth on Taunton Drive, first entered the Royal Air Force at Pocklington in July 1943, before his departure five days after D-Day in June 1944.

Following his service at Pocklington, he was transferred to RAF Kinloss, where he took up a position as an instructor for bomber command training with the Flying Control School until he left in 1946.

Museum Director, Ian Reed, said: "The Yorkshire Air Museum remains the only place where ex-Halifax veterans can once more experience what it was like to be inside this legendary aircraft. We are immensely proud of the work done by our volunteers over many years to restore this unique example of the Halifax and it is our pleasure, wherever possible, to afford Halifax veterans the opportunity to be taken inside for a pre-arranged viewing."