Dambusters couple's funeral: Hundreds pay respects

A helicopter flypast was held as hundreds attended the funeral of a Dambusters engineer and his wife, who died within 10 days of each other.

Victor and Edna Barnett, from Telford, were both in the Royal Air Force (RAF) and had been married for 68 years.

They had no children and no other living relatives, prompting the RAF to appeal for people to attend their service at Telford Crematorium.

Serving personnel carried their coffins into the chapel.

Rev Lee Plummer, who conducted the service, said: "It was absolutely fabulous to see so many people travelling from so far who didn't know them, wanting to pay their respects to a couple who did so much for one another and for our country."

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Mr Barnett, known as VJ, was 101 and died on 21 December, while 91-year-old Mrs Barnett died on New Year's Eve.

Mr Barnett joined the air force in 1937 as a radar engineer, before being seconded to 617 squadron as part of an engineering team preparing Lancaster bombers for the mission.

Mrs Barnett served between 1944 and 1950, working in air traffic control in the Women's Auxillary Air Force.

They first met in 1944, before the war separated them, and met again in 1949 before they married a year later.

A friend of the couple, Steve Payne, from Hadley, informed the RAF when they died.

He said: "I just thought we have got many, many old war veterans sitting in nursing homes, and on their own, who never get to tell their story and never get honoured in the way they should do for the sacrifices they made for their country.

"I thought, no, in this case, it needs something special."

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