CAN Looking Back readers help an East Lancashire airman killed in 1940 to be commemorated in an official history of the air war over Belgium?

It was in the darkest days of World War Two that 20-year-old RAF sergeant John Harrison, of Blackburn, lost his life.

He was the observer aboard a four-man Handley Page Hampden bomber which took off from 49 Squadron's base at Scampton in Lincolnshire to attack railway installations between Krefeld and Aachen in Germany on May 25, 1940, just as Holland, Belgium and France reeled under the Nazi blitzkrieg.

The twin-engined "Flying Panhandle" plane, like the one pictured, was hit by flak and crashed into the sea off the Belgian coast.

The bodies of its pilot and wireless operator were recovered and buried in the public cemetery at the coastal town of Zeebrugge before being transferred to a military cemetery at nearby Adegem after the war.

But those of Sgt Harrison and the bomber's second pilot were never recovered and their names are recorded on the Runnymede Memorial in Surrey to more than 20,000 airmen killed in the war who have no known graves.

Sgt Harrison, who joined the Air Force on his 19th birthday in February, 1939, was the only son of Harold and Margaret Harrison, of Longshaw Lane, Blackburn.

Previously, he had worked for a tailor in King Street in the town.

But hoping to add to this scant information so that Sgt Harrison's contribution to his country's eventual freedom is Warrant Officer Frank Raeman, of the Belgian Army, who, working for its archives department, compiling a history of the aerial conflict over Belgium for the country's official service records.

He wrote to the Mayor of Blackburn with Darwen seeking help in finding any still-living relatives or extra details of the airman.

His quest was taken up by Mr Pat Browne, of the Royal British Legion's Blackburn branch and organiser of its annual Poppy Appeal.

So far Pat, of Sandy Lane, Lower Darwen, has only managed to uncover a brief mention in the old Northern Daily Telegraph of May 31, 1940, of Sgt Harrison being reported missing and says that his former home in Blackburn has been demolished. But can readers tell Pat and, in turn, Warrant Officer Raeman, more of the young man who gave his life in the war against fascism more than 60 years ago?

If so, call Pat on 01254-580917.