A flyover by three Auster aircraft to mark VE Day in Teignmouth held a special meaning for one family in Teignmouth.

One of the planes had been flown in the Second World War by the father of Teignmouth town councillor Jackie Jackson.

Clutching a photo of her beloved father, Jackie was moved to tears as the three planes flew down the River Teign past Bitton House towards the estuary at 3pm on VE Day.

Even more poignant was the fact that the flight path passed the cemetery at St Nicholas church in Shaldon, where Jackie’s father was laid to rest after he died in 2005.

Jackie’s father, Anthony John Beer, was born in 1920 and served in 659 Squadron in the Army Air Corp flying an Auster on reconnaissance missions during the Second World War.

Jackie still has his log books detailing all his missions.

When a friend of Jackie’s went on holiday to North Devon and joined a pub quiz, she got chatting to a chap called Martin Baldock and discovered he was restoring a couple of Austers. She told Martin that Jackie’s father had flown an Auster during the war and that she still had the log books.

Martin was incredibly excited to learn more about the history of the planes he was restoring and met up with Jackie to look through the logbooks and hear about her father. Through the detailed records Jackie had kept, he was able to match numbers on one of the Austers he was restoring and discovered it was in fact the plane Jackie’s father had flown.

After the Austers were restored, Baldock and two other pilots, flew the planes to France as part of the 80th anniversary of D-Day celebrations.