Heritage trail launch is ‘just the first step’ for Caithness At War project
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The launch of a World War II heritage trail in Caithness has been described as “just the first step” in commemorating the county’s role in the fight against Nazi Germany.
The trail, featuring 46 information panels located around Wick and the Sinclair’s Bay area, is phase one of the Caithness At War project. Its official opening took place at the weekend at Wick John O’Groats Airport, attended by invited guests and other members of the public.
Phase two will centre on the creation of a Caithness Allied Air Forces Memorial at the airport entrance along with a life-size replica of a Spitfire as a “gate guardian”. The memorial will be a place of remembrance for 544 aircrew and service personnel who lost their lives operating from the county’s three RAF stations at Wick, Castletown and Skitten.
Dougie Cook, north airports general manager at Highlands and Islands Airports Limited, said: “RAF Wick played a huge part during the war and it’s a large part of the the history of the area, the connection with the RAF – and, unfortunately, the amount of lives lost in the war effort between the three RAF bases, of which Wick was the biggest.
“We’re delighted to be involved with the Caithness At War project and hopefully we’ll get a memorial wall going forward and the ‘gate guardian’ Spitfire. Fundraising has already started for that.
“It’s going to develop. The World War II trail is going to get a lot bigger.
“There’s a lot of people really interested in helping out and becoming part of it. This really is just the first step.”
Hundreds gathered near the airport entrance in bright weather on Saturday afternoon as Lord Thurso, the Lord-Lieutenant of Caithness, performed the ribbon-cutting to officially launch the Caithness At War trail.
Flight Lieutenant Calum Falconer, of 6 Squadron at RAF Lossiemouth, was among those who laid wreaths, and a minute’s silence was observed. The local Legion Scotland branch and members of Wick RBLS Pipe band took part, as did primary school pupils from Keiss, Newton Park and Noss.
In the airport terminal Mr Cook joined historian Onor Crummay, from the Spitfire AA810 restoration project, in unveiling a limited-edition print of Spitfire AA810, entitled Unarmed Warrior, by aviation artist Ben Holmes.
Spitfire AA810 flew out of RAF Wick but was shot down over Norway in May 1942 while on a reconnaissance mission to find the sister ship to the Bismarck, the Tirpitz. The pilot, Flight Lieutenant Alastair Gunn (known as Sandy), bailed out but was captured and sent to Stalag Luft III prisoner-of-war camp, the scene of the famous Great Escape.
Gunn was involved in the digging of the Tom, Dick and Harry tunnels and was one of the 76 prisoners who escaped on the evening of March 24, 1944.
Gunn was recaptured a few days later, and on April 6, 1944, was executed by the Gestapo along with six of his fellow officers. Fifty officers in total were executed on the orders of Adolf Hitler.
In 2018 the wreckage of Spitfire AA810 was found and recovered from a peat bog in Norway, and shipped back to Britain. It is undergoing restoration to flying condition.
The Spitfire AA810 project dedicated to the memory of those who served in the RAF’s Photographic Reconnaissance Unit (PRU).
Miss Crummay said those involved are looking forward to seeing the fully restored aircraft taking to the skies again.
“Having that roar overhead with the Merlin engine, with the monument on the ground, will I think be a really poignant and poetic way to show that the legacy of the war touched all four corners of the United Kingdom but particularly Wick,” she said.
“It’s really special to have representation from the Royal Air Force. It’s great to be here as a young historian.
“There were many reconnaissance flights that took off from Wick and they really did help turn the tide of the war. I think particularly in this 80th anniversary year of the D-Day landings we need to pay tribute to the role of the Royal Air Force because much of the tasking and the selection of the landing beaches came from aerial reconnaissance images that were taken by PRU Spitfire pilots, many of whom flew from here.
“And of course in the battle to secure the Arctic convoys, a lot of that role was carried out by pilots here tasked with carrying out these very dangerous, clandestine and solitary intelligence missions.”
MORE TO FOLLOW ON THE CAITHNESS AT WAR LAUNCH
