Angus airman shot down and killed by Red Baron

Centenary of day Lt Angus Hughes Mearns was caught in feared pilot’s sights

It was the day an Angus airman was shot down and killed by the First World War’s most famous fighter pilot.

Lieutenant Angus Hughes Mearns, 22, from Montrose, was flying as observer to his Captain Norman George McNaughton, 27, from London, when they became the Red Baron’s 55th kill – 100 years ago tomorrow.

After scoring his first kill on September 17 1916, the German pilot spent the next 19 months prowling the skies, winning one battle after another.

No name struck more fear into the hearts of Allied airmen than that of Manfred von Richthofen, the Red Baron.

At the outbreak of war, Mearns was a student of medicine at St Andrews University.

He had joined the university Officer Training Corps in 1913 and as soon as his examinations allowed he volunteered for active service.

He was commissioned into the 11th Battalion of The Black Watch and then posted to the 9th (Service) Battalion in March 1916, where he remained until he was transferred to the Royal Flying Corps in March 1917.

Mearns often flew as observer to the commanding officer of 57 Squadron, Major LA Pattinson, before flying with McNaughton.

Mearns and McNaughton were shot down by the Red Baron while on a reconnaissance mission between Keibergmolen in Beselare, Belgium, and Lichtensteinlager.

Richthofen’s combat report said: “0910 hrs, between Keibergmolen and Lichtensteinlager, this side of the lines. De Havilland DD.

“With six machines of my Staffel, I attacked enemy squad consisting of two reconnaissance planes and 10 fighters.

“Unimpeded by the enemy fighters, I managed to break one of the reconnaissance planes with my fire.

“The fuselage fell with inmates into a hangar between Keibergmolen and Lichtensteinlager, this side of our lines.

“The plane exploded when crashing on the ground and destroyed the hangar. “Baron von Richthofen.” Neither casualty has a grave and both are listed on the Arras Memorial to the Missing.

They are also listed on the Commonwealth War Graves Commission and the Scottish National War Memorial at Edinburgh Castle.

Lieutenant Mearns’s name also features on the St Andrews University Roll of Honour and the Montrose War Memorial and the Montrose Academy War Memorial.

Local historian Patrick Anderson said: “The brother of Lt Mearns was a major in the Royal Army Medical Corps and survived the war.

“The lifespan of an airman during the First World War was short – Lt Mearns qualified as an observer with the RFC on June 8 1917 and was dead by June 24.

“My own namesake uncle, Lieutenant Patrick Wright Anderson, was a corporal in the St Andrews University Officer Training Corps at the same time as Lt Mearns.

“He was seriously wounded in action on June 27 1918 and died back home in Arbroath of his wounds at the end of the war.”

Red Baron Manfred von Richthofen, sitting in the cockpit of his aircraft, and his squadron pose for a photograph during the First World War.

Lt Angus Mearns died 100 years ago tomorrow after his plane was shot down.