Church bells will toll in memory of an RAF pilot who completed more than 100 bombing missions during the Second World War.

Squadron Leader Robert Anthony Maurice Palmer – a recipient of the Victoria Cross – is to be remembered at a peal ringing service at St George's Church, Gravesend, this Saturday.

Bells will chime for three hours from 10am to mark the 75th anniversary of his death.

The airman was born in July 1920 in Gillingham but spent nearly all his childhood and the remainder of his life in Gravesend.

After leaving school, he joined the Gravesend Corporation Engineers' Department.

But it wasn't long before he found his true calling, enlisting in the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve aged just 19.

The Lancaster Bomber pilot went on to lead many successful operations over Germany during the Second World War.

He successfully completed 110 bombing missions and was one of the first to drop a 4,000-pound munition on the Reich.

Mr Palmer died just before Christmas Day in December 1944, aged 24, while leading his pathfinder squadron in operations over Cologne.

He was later awarded the VC posthumously.

Paintings of the decorated war hero are on display at Gravesend Grammar School, which he attended, and the council offices.

A plaque dedicated to his memory was also unveiled in 2006 at his family home at 52 Bellman Avenue, Denton, by then Mayor Raymond Parker.

Bell ringer Terry Barnard, who has organised this special peal, placed a poppy next to his name on the memorial wall at the International Bomber Command Centre in Lincoln earlier this year.

He will lead the band of eight ringers on Saturday with each having their own distinct musical chime.

A service of remembrance for Sq Ldr Palmer, who was also awarded a Distinguished Flying Cross and Bar, is planned for Sunday and will take place at St Peter and St Paul Church Milton-next-Gravesend at 6.30pm.

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