Geoffrey Womersley

He was already an experienced member of Bomber Command when he volunteered for the Pathfinder Force on its formation in 1942, joining one of its' original four squadrons.

The Pathfinders used specialised target finding and marking techniques developed for all forms of weather conditions, including nights when it was completely overcast. Using a combination of personal skill and technical equipment, and often flying against overwhelming odds and in appalling conditions, crews transformed the performance of Bomber Command.

It was as one of those pilots that Group Captain Womersley, as he was later to become, attacked targets in Germany and in Italy dropping flares to illuminate the targets often during lengthy and exhausting missions.

In January 1943, whilst still a junior flight lieutenant, he was awarded a DSO the citation for which said: "He has displayed outstanding ability and pressed home his attacks with unusual courage in the face of enemy fighter and anti-aircraft opposition."

He went on to complete 25 operations during the Battle of the Ruhr, and a few months after receiving his DSO was awarded a DFC for "pressing home his attacks with grim determination".

In April 1943 he joined the air staff at Pathfinder headquarters, taking command of 139 Squadron 10 months later and seeing operations against Germany's most heavily defended cities, including Berlin, Munich and Frankfurt. Often acting as master bomber, he directed other bombers to aim at the many marked targets in operations that involved him staying over the target, under fire, for long periods until the attack was completed.

On the night of May 12, he led nine Mosquitos dropping flares to mark the route and illuminate the target in support of a squadron of low-flying bombers in a successful raid dropping mines in the Kiel Canal. On another occasion, he descended to low level over Mannheim, in the face of intense anti-aircraft fire, to give accurate instructions to the bombers above. For that he was awarded a Bar to an earlier DSO.

Group Captain Womersley was born in Bingley, the son of a mill owner who was a stuff manufacturer, and educated at Bradford Grammar School. His father wanted him to go into the family business, but he had his heart set on joining the RAF, which he did in 1936 training as a pilot at the RAF's flying school in Egypt.

His flying career began on biplane bombers and on the outbreak of war he dropped propaganda leaflets over German cities and bombed German seaplane bases. On the night of May 11, 1940, he flew on the RAF's first raid on a German town, when 37 aircraft bombed road and rail links at Monchengladbach. His squadron also supported the British Expeditionary Force.

He went on to complete 30 operations, mostly against German road and rail targets, before becoming a bombing instructor.

After attending the USAAF Staff College, he was promoted to group captain commanding the Pathfinder airfield at Gransden Lodge near Cambridge.

He left the RAF in November 1945 and a year later, along with fellow former Pathfinder crews, joined the newly established British South American Airways. When that merged with BOAC in 1954 he continued with the airline firstly flying Comets, the world's first commercial jet airliner to reach production. He retired in 1968 as one of its senior Boeing 707 captains.

A scratch golfer in his youth, he played to single figures until he was 91 when he broke a leg and was forced to retire from the game.

He married his childhood sweetheart, Dorothy Allsop, in Driffield, on September 8, 1939 whom he had met through one of his three sisters. They were planning to marry at Bolton Abbey but by then war had broken out and he was stationed at RAF Driffield. She died in 2002.

Although he settled in Surrey after the War he always retained his Yorkshire links, especially through his grandmother who lived in Bingley until she died about 20 years ago aged 101.

He is survived by his only daughter Pat.