The Courier & Advertiser (Angus and Dundee)
RAF veteran pays tribute to tragic aircrew in charity Glen Clova sleep-out
An Angus RAF veteran has made a poignant trek to the glens site of a crashed Second World War bomber to pay his respects in a fundraiser for modern-day comrades.
Davy Brown from Arbroath climbed the hills above Glen Clova to reach the remote landscape where the Vickers Wellington came down in August 1942.
L7845 was on a training flight from RAF Lossiemouth when it suffered engine failure in the skies between Ben Tirran and Muckle Cairn.
The bomber crashed with the loss of four crew but, remarkably, the plane’s tail gunner survived.
Its skeletal frame remains an incongruous and tragic monument in the natural splendour of the glen.
For Mr Brown, a veteran of the 1990-91 Gulf War, it was a chance to honour personnel from the station where he spent much of his own 24-year RAF career.
The Great Tommy Sleep Out is organised by Royal British Legion Industries.
It challenges people to sleep out under the stars to raise money to support homeless veterans in the UK.
Mr Brown, 58, said: “I took part for the first time last year.
“I was truly privileged to sleep under the wing of the Red Lichtie Spitfire at Montrose Air Station Heritage Centre.
“I’m a keen hillwalker but although I was aware of the story of L7845 I had never been to the wreck.”
With his faithful Samoyed dog Ness at his side, he enjoyed spectacular conditions in the glen.
“It was a wonderful but very poignant adventure,” he said.
“The weather gave us the glen at its best walking up there.
“And then you encounter this stark reminder of sacrifice,” said the offshore installations worker.
“Having spent so much of my own RAF career between Lossiemouth and Leuchars, it was a humbling thing to sleep in the shadow of the Wellington’s tail.
“I wanted to try to come up with an unusual location again this year. Hopefully it might raise awareness of the Great Tommy Sleep Out and the thousands of veterans we have in the UK.
“The sight of the sun setting and then rising in the morning with the reminder of that bomber crew’s bravery all around you will certainly stay with me.”