William Ballantine (b. 1905) was due to stand in the 1932 council elections in Perth for the Independent Labour Party (ILP), which had split from the Labour Party a short time earlier. He stood outside ILP policy in doing this and received criticism for his actions. Born into a rural […]
Corporal McKillop was killed two months after VE Day on 29 July 1945. The lorry he was travelling on collided with a tree at Northleach, Gloucestershire, 29 July 1945. Angus Harry McKillop was aged 37 and was the son of Dugald and Jane Ann McKillop and the husband of Jane […]
The RAF opened an airfield by the village of Errol, within the Carse of Gowrie, midway between Dundee and Perth, on 1 August 1942. Operations at RAF Errol commenced with the transfer of No. 9 (P)AFU from RAF Hullavington in Wiltshire and No. 21 AFU, which was posted there on […]
Lieutenant Herrick Peter Gladstone Leyden was the son of Patrick Peter and Margaret Florence Gladstone Leyden, of Beechwood, 9 Pitcullen Terrace, Perth. Herrick was born on 24 March 1898 at Pontardawe in the Swansea Valley. His father was a Customs and Excise and Old Age Pensions Officer in Tay Street. […]
Kenneth Bruce, author of Where Sky and Summit Meet: Flight over Perthshire – A History: Tales of Pilots, Airfields, Aeronautical Feats, & War (2019) has researched the stories of many of those from Perthshire who served in the airforce during theFirst and Second World Wars. The list below is a STREET/TOWN index […]
William (Bill) Simpson Fraser (sometimes spelt Frazer) was born on 5 June 1908 to the Alexander family of 12 Pitcullen Crescent, Perth. The family business was Messrs Frazer & Sons, Clothiers (merchant tailors and complete outfitters) which was located at 55-59 High Street, Perth, with branches in Pitlochry, Kingussie and […]
When Bill Knaggs retired at the age of 60, he moved to Stanley to spend the last 23 years of his life. Bill was shot down over Northern France in 1944, only one of two crew members of his Avro Lancaster bomber to survive; Knaggs not only survived the crash, […]
Both Ian and David were born 1920 Georgetown British Guiana and both attended Morrisons Academy, Crieff. Pilots who had not completed their courses at RAF Cranwell were enlisted in the regular RAF as airmen under training pilots. Ian MacDougall passed out on 21 October 1939 with a permanent commission and […]
On the night of 20/21 May 1940, Vickers Wellington Mk.Ic R3152 (KO-J) of RAF 115 squadron was lost, on a combat tactical operation in support of the Allied armies in France, during an attack on the Meusse River Crossing at Dinant, Belguim, and German troop concentrations and transport about 100/150 […]
William Reid was born in Baillieston in Glasgow on 21 December 1921, the son of a blacksmith. He attended Swinton Primary and Coatbridge Secondary School. After training with the RAF in Canada, Reid gained his wings and was commissioned on 19 June 1942 as a pilot officer on probation in […]
