RAF Wick Gate Guardian memorial appeal now garners international support – funds sought to commemorate pilots and crew who defended the country during WWII
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The campaign launched to help fund a Spitfire "Gate Guardian" memorial at Wick John O’ Groats Airport has pushed forward with international agencies now lending support.
Wick Development Trust (WDT) hopes to raise the money for a memorial at the entrance to the airport which was a former RAF Coastal Command sector station during the Second World War.
Of the 379 aircrews that died on operations flown out of RAF Wick between 1939 and 1945, 24 were from the Royal New Zealand Air Force (RNZAF) and 60 were from the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF).
Alistair Jack the Development Trust officer for Caithness Voluntary Group who works with WDT to help deliver their projects, reached out to both the RNZAF Association and the RCAF Association to see if they would be willing to support the memorial project.
"The RNZAF Association has confirmed that they will support this very worthwhile project and will help promote the Wick Development Trust's JustGiving campaign in New Zealand," said Mr Jack.
The RCAF Association, however, has gone one step further and has created a standalone campaign within the RCAF Association Trust to help raise funds for the memorial which was emailed out to thousands of the association’s members.
Mr Jack added: “We are very excited about this development in our project and would like to thank the Royal New Zealand Air Force Association and the Royal Canadian Air Force Association for their great support.”
“Whilst the main focus of the memorial has been around the story of Flight Lieutenant Alasdair Gunn and Spitfire AA810, there are many other events from RAF Wick that are just as amazing, and none more so than the story of David Hornell.”
In June 1944 David Hornell from Toronto in Canada was a Flight Lieutenant with No.162 Squadron RCAF and was flying Consolidated Canso amphibian aircraft from RAF Wick on anti-submarine patrols over the North Atlantic.
On the 24th of that month whilst on patrol near the Faroes, Flt Lt Hornell's aircraft was attacked and badly damaged by the German submarine U-1225.
Despite the fact that the starboard engine and wing was on fire and the petrol tanks were at risk of exploding, he and his crew pressed home their attack and managed to sink the submarine with depth charges.
The situation suddenly got worse when the starboard engine fell off and Flt Lt Hornell had to fight with all his might to keep the aircraft under control. Through what was described by has crew as "superhuman efforts" he managed to bring the burning aircraft down safely on the heavy swell.
The crew quickly abandoned the Canso before the entire aircraft was engulfed in flames, however only one small four man dinghy had survived which was not large enough to hold the eight man crew.
The crew had to take turns in the frigid waters of the North Atlantic, which claimed the lives of Sergeant Scott and Sergeant St. Laurent who had died during the night from hypothermia and were committed to the deep.
By the time the survivors were rescued 21 hours later, Flt Lt Hornell was blind and weak from exposure and hypothermia and would tragically die five hours after being picked up. He is buried in Lerwick cemetery on the Shetland Islands.
For his bravery Flt Lt Hornell was posthumously awarded the Victoria Cross (VC), Britain’s highest award for gallantry, making him the first member of the RCAF to be awarded the VC and one of only two RCAF members to earn this highest decoration for valour during the Second World War.
Flt Lt Hornell VC is a national hero of Canada and as a legacy, the Toronto Island Airport ferry, the junior school in Mimico, and a squadron of the Royal Canadian Air Cadets in Toronto are all named after him. As well as this, a Consolidated Canso in the collection of the Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum was restored in the colours and marking of 162 Squadron and dedicated to the memory of Flt Lt David Hornell VC.
An international crowdfunding campaign has been launched to raise the £60,000 required to purchase and erect the Spitfire memorial at Wick airport dedicated to the memory of Flt Lt Hornell and the many other pilots and crew who were stationed at the RAF base during WWII. The JustGiving page for donations can be found at: www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/raf-wick-gate-guardian
Related article:
Caithness at War – historical Wick trail to include replica Spitfire
