A WAR hero who survived a mission to stop Nazis building V2 rockets only to be killed in a raid days later will be remembered next month.

Pilot Officer Arthur Fitzgerald, 20, took part in the daring RAF bombing raid to destroy a secret research facility in Peenemünde in northern Germany on August 17, 1943.

Forty Allied bombers were shot down and 215 British aircrew members died in the raid, but two German scientists were killed and the operation delayed V2 test launches for around seven weeks.

The low-flying raid marked the start of Operation Crossbow, a strategic bombing campaign against Germany’s V weapon program.

Mr Fitzgerald, of Cyril Street, Newport, continued operations but sadly died when his Lancaster bomber was shot down over Bavaria during a mission over Nuremberg on August 27.

Next month, war veterans will mark the 70th anniversary of the Peenemünde raid with a walk and a memorial service in London.

His cousin Shaun McGuire, 66, of Mole Close, Newport, said: “On the night of 17 and 18 August 1943 RAF Bomber Command carried out one of the most important bombing raids of the war, attacking the German secret weapon research station at Peenemünde.

“It was a very famous raid during World War II as the Dam Busters raids. The important thing was the bravery and courage they displayed going to the low levels they did. He was lucky to have come back.”

Bombers normally flew at 19,000ft but had to drop to 8,000ft during a full moon on the night of August 17.

The mission, code named Operation Hydra, was not seen as an outright success as the facilities were not completely destroyed, but Hitler’s propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels acknowledged the raid inflicted sufficient damage to caused operational delays of six to eight weeks.

Mr Fitzgerald attended St Julian’s High School, which features a war memorial including his name.

He worked as a taxi driver and railway clerk before joining the RAF in 1941 and has a grave at Durnbach War Cemetery in Germany.

The commemorative service will take place in Green Park, London, on August 17.

More information on Pilot Officer Fitzgerald or at fightinghigh.com