Only one man from Leeds was awarded Britain's highest military honour during the Second World War.
Arthur Louis Aaron was just 21-years-old when he died after suffering horrific injuries during a bombing raid in Italy on August 12 in 1943.
The former Roundhay School pupil, who was born in Gledhow, gave up on studying architecture at the University of Leeds to join the RAF as a pilot after war broke out.
After extensive training in Texas, Arthur graduated as a sergeant pilot in June 1942 and was then assigned to fly Short Stirling heavy bombers from British airfields.
The following year, he was promoted to flight sergeant and completed 20 sorties over Europe, bombing targets in Germany and other areas occupied by the Nazis.
These missions were notoriously dangerous and a bomber command aircrew only had a 50 per cent chance of survival.
During one raid, Arthur's Short Stirling heavy bomber was damaged when it came under heavy fire but he completed the mission and brought the aircraft home. His heroics earned him the Distinguished Flying Medal.
But on his 20th sortie Arthur's luck ran out when machine gun fire raked the bomber that he was flying.
It killed several crew members, damaged three engines, shattered the windscreen, destroyed the turrets and disabled the elevator control, which made the aircraft very difficult to control.
Arthur suffered a broken jaw and part of his face was torn away. He was also hit in the chest by shrapnel and left without the use of his right arm.
He collapsed and the aircraft dived several thousand feet before the another member of the crew managed to level it out at around 3,000 ft.
Despite being unable to speak, Arthur instructed another man to take control of the aircraft.
'In appalling conditions he showed the greatest qualities of courage'
He helped surviving crew members set a course for the nearest Allied airfield in Algeria and was moved to the back of the plane so he could be given morphine and get some rest.
He scrawled instructions with his left hand and made several unsuccessful attempts get back to the cockpit and fly the plane, before helping one member of the crew land the bullet-riddled plane in Algeria five hours later.
Nine hours after the landing, the courageous young captain died of exhaustion.
Sadly, it was later revealed that the aircraft may have been severely damaged by friendly fire.
An Air Ministry report states: "In appalling conditions he showed the greatest qualities of courage, determination and leadership and, though wounded and dying, he set an example of devotion to duty which has seldom been equalled and never surpassed."
In a letter to Aaron’s parents, air chief marshal Sir Arthur Harris wrote: "In my opinion never, even in the annals of the Royal Air Force, has the Victoria Cross been awarded for skill, determination and courage in the face of the enemy of a higher order than that displayed by your son on his last flight."
He was buried with full military honours in Bone War Cemetery in Algeria and posthumously awarded the Victoria Cross. A 17ft memorial statue of him was unveiled on Eastgate roundabout in 2001.
