The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
Perthshire MP calling for memorial to nation’s wartime aerial photographers
Sandy Gunn was one of 50 POWs murdered
Calls have been made for a national memorial to airborne photographers who took vital pictures of sensitive wartime bombing targets.
The RAF Photographic Reconnaissance Unit (PRU) memorial would include Perthshire man Alastair “Sandy” Gunn, who was executed by the Nazis after “The Great Escape” from Stalag Luft III prisoner of war camp. The suggestion was made by MP Luke Graham, whose Ochil and South constituency includes Sandy’s home town of Auchterarder.
As well as marking the 75th anniversary of D-Day, this year also marks the same anniversary of The Great Escape, in which 76 allied POWs escaped. Fifty escapees were murdered by the Gestapo upon their recapture. Sandy, who had been placed in the camp after being shot down over Norway in 1942, was among the 50. Had he survived, he would have celebrated his 100th birthday in September.
The PRU performed clandestine photographic reconnaissance over Europe during the war. It was dangerous work as the Spitfires were only equipped with cameras, not guns or armour, and the rate of attrition was high for those who flew them, with a 30% chance of surviving for 14 weeks compared to the 44% loss rate in Bomber Command.
Of the 209 men lost from the PRU, 74 have no known grave. Despite this, there is no national memorial to the men who flew on these missions. Mr Graham said: “This year would mark the 100th birthday of Sandy Gunn, whose name will forever be inextricably linked with the tragic murder of 50 POWs.
“However, before that he was a pilot for the Photographic Reconnaissance Unit, performing highly dangerous work for the RAF. Thirty-five per cent of the men lost by Sandy’s unit have no known grave, yet there is no national memorial to the men who lost their lives.”