Final respects have been paid to a wartime pilot who died after crashing into the sea off Clacton.

American pilot Raymond King died in 1945 when he was forced to ditch his Mustang fighter into the sea.

He was brought ashore unconscious by lifeboatmen but was dead on arrival at hospital.

To mark the 55th anniversary of his death, East Essex Aviation Society, based at Point Clear, handed over a wreath to Clacton lifeboatmen to lay at sea at 3pm, the time he crashed.

At the same time as the plane crashed, flowers were laid on a memorial to the pilot in Albany Gardens, Clacton, by members of the society.

The society's current chairman Albert Scott was a teenager in 1945 and remembers watching the accident.

He said yesterday: "The funny thing was it was a day similar to today when the aircraft came down. It was quite a pleasant experience to have both the tributes from the lifeboat crew and ourselves at the same time.

"I am sure when the relations know the full story of what we did they're going to be very pleased."

Flight Officer King, 22, was based at Wattisham in Suffolk and had to turn back after a combat mission to accompany a stricken colleague when his own plane developed engine trouble.

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