PICTURES: Wartime flying boat is welcomed to Wick on 80th anniversary VC tour

A wartime flying boat called in at Wick as part of an 80th anniversary tour honouring two pilots who each received the Victoria Cross.

The aircraft is taking part in Operation Shetland 2024, a five-day flight around former RAF Coastal Command stations.

Catalina G-PBYA landed at Wick John O’Groats Airport at around 4.45pm on Thursday after visiting World War II sites in Shetland.

It stayed overnight before leaving at 10am on Friday, bound for RAF Lossiemouth.

The tour is paying tribute to two World War II heroes, one of whom is still alive.

On July 17, 1944, Flt Lt John Cruickshank won his VC for action flying a Catalina of 210 Squadron RAF out of Sullom Voe in Shetland.

A few weeks earlier, on June 24 that year, Flt Lt David Hornell, from Toronto in Canada, had been awarded a posthumous VC for his action flying a Catalina of 162 (Bomber Reconnaissance) Squadron RCAF out of Wick.

These were the only Catalina VCs. To commemorate the 80th anniversary, a flight was planned from the Imperial War Museum at Duxford, in Cambridgeshire, to overfly several RAF Coastal Command bases.

It landed in Aberdeen – where 104-year-old John Cruickshank lives – before continuing to Shetland. The return journey to Duxford is via Wick, Invergordon, Alness, Inverness and Oban.

The aircraft is owned by Catalina Aircraft Limited (CAL), operated by Plane Sailing Air Displays Ltd (PSADL) and supported by the Catalina Society.

A group of 40 onlookers and well-wishers gathered at Wick to see the Catalina’s arrival, having arranged security passes that enabled them to go airside for a short time.

Jeff Boyling, CAL director and chief ground instructor at PSADL, was accompanied by fellow crew members David Legg, Humphrey Truswell, Jeff Boyling and John Harmsworth.

Speaking on Friday, Mr Boyling said they had been given an “extremely warm welcome” in Wick.

“We’ve been looked after fantastically by Far North Aviation and also by Ellie and Murray Lamont of Mackays Hotel,” he said. “We can’t thank them enough.”

Mr Boyling said Wednesday had been the “critical day” as it was exactly 80 years after John Cruickshank won his VC.

“It was very busy at Aberdeen and the management and air traffic control were absolutely fantastic,” Mr Boyling said. “They got all the commercial traffic out of the way so that we could take off, fly south and do a couple of orbits over John Cruickshank’s home.

“With us is Group Captain Bob Kemp, retired, of the RAF Volunteer Reserve, and of course that’s what Cruickshank was in. Bob was in one of the blisters and was able to look out and see John Cruickshank sitting on his bench outside his home, so it was fantastic to know that.”

In Wick on Thursday, the crew laid a wreath and looked at some of the panels on the Caithness At War heritage trail which was launched in April this year.

The previous day the crew had visited Lerwick New Cemetery, which contains the grave of Flying Officer John Dickson, the navigator on John Cruickshank’s flight, and is also the last resting place of David Hornell.

During their time in Shetland they met a 90-year-old local man who, as a 10-year-old boy, had witnessed the return of Cruickshank’s Catalina.

“He was able to show us where Cruickshank had brought his aircraft back and run it ashore,” Mr Boyling said. “It was so badly shot up that if they’d stayed on the water it would have sunk.”

After visiting RAF Lossiemouth on Friday morning, Mr Boyling and his fellow airmen planned to overfly the Tain Air Weapons Range and the Cromarty Firth before landing in Inverness.

Mr Boyling described the journey as “extremely emotional”.

G-PBYA was built in 1943 by Canadian Vickers at Cartierville, Quebec.

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Caithness At War: Attack on U-boat that earned VC for Canadian airman David Hornell

Flt Lt Hornell and his crew attacked and sank the German submarine U-1225. Despite the starboard engine and wing being on fire, they pressed home their attack and managed to sink the submarine with depth charges.

Through what were described by his crew as “superhuman efforts”, Hornell managed to bring the burning aircraft down safely on a heavy swell but he didn’t survive.

The story of what happened is told on one of the Caithness At War panels at Wick John O’Groats Airport.

Flt Lt Cruickshank and his crew attacked the German submarine U-361. Cruickshank was hit in 72 places, with two serious wounds to his lungs and 10 penetrating wounds to his lower limbs.

He refused morphine so that his judgement would not be affected, and he needed a blood transfusion before he could be taken to hospital.

Cruickshank was 24 at the time and turned 104 in May this year. He is said to be the last surviving World War II VC holder.

The Caithness At War heritage trail highlights 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 project. 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.

The project is being delivered jointly by Sinclair’s Bay Trust and Wick Development Trust with funding from the Caithness Beatrice Community Fund. The trusts are supported by Alistair Jack, Caithness Voluntary Group’s chief officer.

Mr Jack said on Friday: “We’re absolutely honoured that they’ve come to Wick because we’re very proud of Flt Lt David Hornell, VC, who was based here, and that they have come to commemorate his sacrifice.

“We are grateful to Wick John O’Groats Airport, Far North Aviation and Mackays Hotel for their support with the Wick leg of Operation Shetland.”

A GoFundMe page was set up to support the flight.

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