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Richard Jephson and his wife were travelling through Rowsley at about 2.30pm last Monday when they saw the aircraft.

He said: “It was incredibly low – it appeared to be at the same height as the roofs and trees nearby – and it was almost wobbling from side to side.

“It was completely silent.

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“As it moved out of sight it banked to the left and dropped.

“We both waited for the sound of the plane crashing but this didn’t happen.”

When they got home, the couple looked online to see if anybody else had seen it.

Richard said: “When we got in and turned on the television, the news was on and they were saying that the last surviving Dambuster pilot had died.

“I said to Helen, ‘perhaps it was an enthusiast paying their respects’, and Helen said, ‘perhaps it was him’.