After 70 years, SAS widow may learn truth of death
THEY were married for only six months before he was sent on a secret mission to occupied France – and was never seen again.
But 97-year-old Irene young could be close to learning exactly what happened to her young husband, whom she last saw at a hurried wartime farewell in a Glasgow hotel.
An archeologist believes he has found the wreckage of the RAF plane in which SAS Lieutenant Leslie Cairns was flying to France to resupply Resistance fighters.
For 70 years the whereabouts of the yorkshire Rose and the 23 servicemen who were on board have remained unknown.
The official conclusion was that the converted Stirling bomber had crashed into the Channel, killing all the men, but no wreckage or remains were ever found.
Now aviation archeologist Tony Graves is challenging this version of events after finding what he is certain are the plane’s remains.
Mr Graves said the wreckage he found in a farmer’ s field behi nd Omaha Beach in Normandy is the Stirling LJ850 aircraft that went missing shortly before midnight on June 17, 1944.
However, confirmation of the men’s final resting place is proving difficult because French officials have refused to grant a permit for further excavation.
Mrs young met Mr Cairns at edinburgh University in 1937, three years before he was called up. Tragically, they only spent a few weekends together after he joined the SAS.
Her son from a second marriage, Iain Gordon Brown, from edinburgh, said he believes Lt Cairns was ‘very much’ the love of his mother’s life.
He added: ‘ This is something my mother was never able to get over.
‘They met for the last time in Glasgow, he absented himself for one night and they saw each other then for the last time.
‘When I was told about the findings I was able to tell her that the most amazing thing had hap- pened. She has dementia but she seemed to understand.’
Mr Graves claimed he has spoken to three witnesses who on the night of the aircraft’s disappearance saw a burning plane fall from the sky.
He added: ‘The problem is that the RAF are fully aware but we have no jurisdiction as it is on French territory.
‘The ironic thing is Ian Brown
‘Crashed or shot down’
and his mother were actually in Normandy in 1994 for the 50th commemoration of D-Day and little did they know that ten miles away were these remains.’
Mr Graves said he is convinced following his examination of the wreckage discovered i n the French field that it belongs to the Stirling LJ850.
He added: ‘We have managed to track its journey after it left england until it lost radio message.
‘All three Stirlings from the same squadron went out but because there was fog and low mist two turned back. Our Stirling was last recorded at St Valery-en-Caux, near Fecamp, which is probably a good 50 to 70 miles away. But when you are going a couple of hundred miles, that’s not far.’
Mr Brown is urging French and British governments to grant permits to analysts so his mother and the other 22 families can get closure over the tragic events.
He said: ‘The plane took off for a mission to central France that night and were going to arm and fight with the local Resistance.
‘The mission was aborted but only two made it back. Whether the plane crashed or shot down on the way out or on the way back, nobody knows.
‘We could be quite near to solving this mystery but we won’t be near if someone doesn’t kick the Government to do something about this.
‘We have an unidentified wreck. This is 22 lives, 22 families, 22 lots of relatives who need some sort of closure.’
A spokesman for the Ministry of Defence said it does not proactively search for individuals listed as missing from past conflicts.