Pensioner James Patten’s life was spared as a child along with hundreds of other pupils when a wartime RAF pilot steered his Spitfire away from his school when it malfunctioned on take-off.

James, at 93, returned to his old school in Hornchurch for the 80th anniversary unveiling of a plaque to pilot Raimund Saunders Draper who stayed at the controls instead of bailing out and was killed by his sacrifice.

The old Suttons School which was close to the end of the runway at the RAF’s Hornchurch airbase is now named after Sanders Draper who crashed into the playing field instead.

The 29-year-old American serving with the RAF didn't survive — but the pupils who watched terrified from their classrooms were unharmed.

James promised himself that day in 1943, on March 24, that he would honour him and has visited his grave at least once a year since, for the past 80 years.

“I heard the noise and thought it was the Germans,” James recalled.

“The bombs had been falling out of the sky for years, so we were used to it.

“Me and my mate got under the desk for cover and feared we were goners, thinking the Germans were bombing the school.”

But James and the other pupils were spared, thanks to the pilot’s self-sacrifice.

“It’s hard putting into words how I feel about Raimund Sanders Draper,” James tells you. “He saved my life, pure and simple. If he hadn’t steered the plane away, there’s no question I would be dead and all my school friends too.

“I’ve had children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren children who wouldn’t be here today without Raimund Sanders Draper.”

James, who worked for Essex Ambulance Service for 35 years, recalls the children going back to finish their lessons after the crash.

“You just had to get on with it,” he said. “There was a war on, so you couldn’t stop just because a plane crashed in your school.”

The school was praised by Ofsted inspectors only last month for embracing local history. Its heroes include Joy Caldwell who was also stationed at RAF Hornchurch and former Sanders Draper pupil Ian Fisher who died serving in the Armed Forces in Afghanistan.

Guests at the unveiling were Joy Caldwell’s son John Nicolson, Havering’s mayor Trevor McKeever and Hornchurch Heritage centre trustee Julia Williams.

Having 93-year-old James unveil the memorial brought the story to life of heroism and sacrifice to today’s generation of schoolchildren. He was actually there on the day Sanders Draper was killed.