A DECORATED war hero who served his country as an RAF gunner during the Second World War has passed away at the age of 93.

Stan Bradford, of Abingdon, finished the war as an air ace, a title given to airmen who shot down more than five enemy aircraft.

After the war, he was given the Distinguished Flying Medal, which was presented to him by King George VI in a ceremony at Buckingham Palace.

When his military service ended, Mr Bradford became landlord of the The Spread Eagle pub in Abingdon and worked for 35 years at Abingdon’s MG car plant.

More recently, the duty he felt to support ex-servicemen led him to spend a lot of time with the Royal British Legion, and he became president of the Abingdon branch, a position he retained until he died from stomach cancer on June 22.

Born in Manchester, Mr Bradford was working as a panel beater with a bus company at the break out of the Second World War.

The job he held meant he was exempt from conscription, but he decided to sign up after a fall out with his boss.

In 1944, at the age of 19, the RAF accepted him on the condition he became air crew, and he served in Bomber Command with 57 Squadron.

He flew Lancaster bombers, serving as a mid-upper gunner on missions over Germany, France and the Netherlands.

He was one of very few to finish the war as an ace.

Mr Bradford shot down six planes, including one on his very first operation in France.

His Distinguished Flying Medal marks ‘an act or acts of valour, courage or devotion to duty whilst flying in active operations against the enemy’.

At the end of the war he was posted to Abingdon to help prisoners of war.

It was there, outside The Spread Eagle pub, that he met his future wife, with whom he had one daughter, three grandsons and five great-grandchildren.

Mr Bradford would go on to become landlord of the pub, taking over from his wife’s parents.

He also worked for 35 years at Abingdon’s MG car plant, mainly in the special projects division.

He then set up his own driving school in the town.

More recently he was president of the Abingdon Royal British Legion.

He appeared in the Oxford Mail several times – most memorably in 2013, when Loose Cannon brewery named Gunners Gold ale after him.

A post on the Abingdon brewery’s Facebook page described Mr Bradford as ‘our friend and local hero’.

Loved ones gathered in St Michael and All Angels’ Church in Abingdon for Mr Bradford's funeral earlier this month.