London  - A former bomber pilot in Nazi Germany's Luftwaffe who survived being shot down nine times during World War II has crashed in a light aircraft he co-piloted on a pleasure flight to Britain, the Daily Telegraph reported Friday.

Willi Schludecker, 88, made headlines earlier this year when he visited the historic city of Bath, in western Britain, to offer a personal and public apology for his role in bombing missions in 1942.

Bath, a city famous for its Roman foundations, was targeted in Germany's so-called Baedecker raids reputedly chosen by the Luftwaffe from the tourist guides of the same name.

Schludecker took part in a memorial service to commemorate the 400 victims of the Bath raids earlier this year.

Last week, he planned to return to the city to show its landmarks to a relative of one of the victims.

Schludecker, now too frail to fly alone, was in the co-pilot's seat when the four-seater Mooney M20T aircraft came down in a field just outside Bath, the paper said. (dpa)