WARTIME enemies became peactime friends when a veteran sailor met the Luftwaffe pilot who torpedoed his ship and just missed!

One night in 1944, Peter Lyon, of Winchester Avenue, Warrington, was on board the Russian Convoy ship, Escort Carrier Nairana, when German pilot Hans Werner Grosse attacked the vessel in his Junkers 88. Luckily, Hans missed, and Peter lived to tell the tale.

When Peter wrote about the fateful night in the Russian Convoy Club newsletter, a copy found its way to Hans in Germany, and he decided to join the club's annual reunion.

Said Peter: "Hans saw the story and realised he was the one who torpedoed the convoy. After the attack he reported a direct hit, and a German radio broadcast said that we had been sunk.

"Hans said he would like to come over, but he was worried he might get thumped! I said I didn't think so, not after 55 years."

Peter, aged 73, vividly remembers his narrow escape.

"It was a stormy night. I was up on deck and I watched the torpedo coming towards me - it went just under the front prow and narrowly missed us, which is why I'm here still here today," he said.

But at the club reunion in Blackpool, the two men met on much better terms, and both have vowed to stay in touch.

Peter, who speaks fluent German, said: "Hans is a really nice chap. Times have moved on, and the war is all forgiven and forgotten. Second World War veterans are dying off. We used to have a thousand in the club and now there's only 230, so we all gave Hans a warm welcome."

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