A spitfire pilot who crashed in Nazi-occupied Belgium towards the end of the Second World War escaped his captors by jumping from a moving train.

Brian ‘Titch’ Harris, who was born and brought up in Droitwich, was believed to have perished in the crash on May 22, 1944, and an epitaph was even placed in a newspaper. In fact, he was relatively unscathed and spent several weeks being fed and sheltered by villagers before being hunted down by the Gestapo on August 10.

Some time later, whilst being transported from Brussels to Germany, he made his daring bid for freedom with an American serviceman. He headed back to Brussels where he hid with help from the Resistance until British forces arrived several weeks later. It was not until he called home from London that his family realised he had survived the crash.

That wasn’t Brian’s only great escape. The previous year, while operating from North Africa, Brian suffered engine problems at 16,000 feet. Coming down to land, his engine caught fire and shortly after touching down his undercarriage collapsed.

He recalled: “When I was in my 20s I joined the RAF and was picked to fly one of the Spitfires. This was a marvellous experience but there were obviously scary moments, such as the time my plane went down in Belgium and I became a ‘guest’ of the Gestapo. 

“After a couple of months I was placed on a train and deployed to Germany. However, myself and an American soldier managed to open the train doors, and jumped off and travelled to Brussels. When things settled a bit, I returned to my regiment and was sent back to England.”  

On his return to Worcestershire he spent time in Ronkswood Hospital recovering, becoming one of the first patients to be given penicillin. 

Brian lived above his family’s chemist shop at 25 High Street. He became heavily involved in local life and was the third member of his family to serve as Mayor of Droitwich. He and his wife Pat, who married in 1949, ran Ravenstone Nursing Home in the town for many years.

He passed away at home in Tagwell Road, Droitwich, in 2013 at the age of 92.

You can hear Brian talking briefly about his African engine blow-out here