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BNPS.co.uk (01202 558833)
Pic: PhilYeomans/BNPS<br />
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Living History - RAF hero reveals an unlikely friendship with the U-Boat captian he sunk!<br />
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Former RAF Navigator Des Curtis(94) from Poole in Dorset - Won his DFC after sinking a German U-Boat off St Nazaire in March 1944, but later became a lifelong friend of its Captain Raimond Teisler.<br />
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An RAF hero has told of how he memorably sunk a German U-Boat 75 years ago - then years later became unlikely friends with its commander.<br />
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Flight Lieutenant Des Curtis was just 20 years old when he took part in the daring attack on U-976 south west of St Nazaire on the Atlantic coast of France on March 25, 1944.<br />
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He was the navigator in a Mosquito armed with a 6-pounder gun which took out the submarine while evading anti-aircraft fire from minesweepers and shelling from the shore batteries.<br />
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Four of the U-Boat's 53 man crew were killed in the attack which was later immortalised on the front page of the boy's own adventure magazine 'Victor'. <br />
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Yet, remarkably, almost 50 years later, Flt Lt Curtis became pen pals with the U-976's Kommandant Raimond Teisler.<br />
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They eventually met up in Germany, with Raimond also visiting Flt Lt Curtis in England before his death five years ago.