“Rusty” Waughman, who has died aged 100, completed a tour of operations as aLancaster pilot on a squadron that suffered some of the worst casualties in the war. The squadron’s aircraft were equipped with a special apparatus that searched out and jammed enemy radio transmissions. To operate this equipment, and then transmit spurious messages to German night fighter crews, a specially trained German-speaking operator accompanied the crew. Waughman and his crew flew on the ill-fated operation to bomb Nuremberg on the night of March 30/31, 1944 when Bomber Command suffered its worst losses. On another occasion, after a collision over Hasselt, Waughman brought his badly damaged aircraft back o base. He and his crew were the first in six months to survive a tour of 30 operations. He was awarded the DFC. Post war, he joined Transport Command, became an examiner and flew many sorties during the Berlin Airlift. For his work in the Command, he was awarded the AFC.

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