Lake District: Last RAF member who flew Windermere Children dies

Flight Sergeant Norman Shepherd was the last surviving member of the 196 RAF squadron. He joined the RAF at the age of 18 and was just 20 when his squadron received the orders to fly Holocaust survivors in August 1945 to England.

Many of the children were just a few years younger than himself and had survived Nazi concentration camps.

Mr Shepherd assumed a pivotal role in flying 300 boys and girls from Prague to Windermere aboard his RAF Stirling bomber.

The children lived in the ‘lost’ wartime village of Calgarth Estate, located at Troutbeck Bridge near Windermere.

READ MORE: 'The Windermere Boys' and relatives gather to recreate poignant photo in Prague

Trevor Avery, founder of the Lake District Holocaust Project, said he was 'very lucky to find him'. 

Travis Avery and Norman Shepherd when he visited Windermere. (Image: Submitted)It took Mr Avery ten years to track him down.

"I have always dreamed of discovering one of the crew who saved the children but I thought it was too late," he said.

"We looked around everywhere and one day I got a phone call on a Sunday morning saying 'My name is Norman Shepherd I think you have been looking for me. I was the last member of the crew who flew the children over'. It was an amazing moment."

"He had a big heart. 

"I am very sad because he is the last one. Time passes but there are some people you meet and you think: 'He was a big character full of stories."

In 2019 Tom Gardner was filming and producing the documentary Route to Paradise. The film follows a team of forensic archaeologists as they attempt to uncover the former Calgarth Estate, where 300 Jewish children were relocated.

As part of the documentary, Mr Gardner travelled to his home town in Nottingham with Mr Avery where they met Mr Shepherd for an interview.

"He was such a lovely bloke. He was more than happy to answer any questions that we had. He was willing to show us things as well and tell us all his stories," said Mr Avery.

"For someone of his age at the time his memory was pretty sharp. He told us quite a few things that had happened on the flight. It was a really pleasant experience I did not really expect to interview anyone who was actually on the flight."