Air station lands on its feet with magnificent model plane donation

The latest addition to Montrose Air Station Heritage Centre has touched down at the Angus attraction.

Volunteers at the museum on the site of what was Britain’s first operational air station have been delighted to take delivery of a stunning scale model of a Tiger Moth biplane.

The aircraft has a wingspan of almost six feet.

It was scratch-built by aviation enthusiast Olly Mclaren from Dundee.

Olly died in 2011, leaving almost 20 complete model aircraft in the attic workshop of his home.

The Tiger Moth was used mainly as a training aircraft by the RAF, including at Montrose.

The model has now been donated to MASHC by Olly’s daughter, Fiona Dawson, from Arbroath.

She said her father built aero models at secondary school in Dundee in the late 1940s, along with his lifelong friend, Jim Ruxton.

The pals regularly cycled from Lochee to Barry Buddon on the Angus coast near Carnoustie to fly their models.

This friendship and love of aero modelling stayed with them for the rest of their lives, despite interruptions from National Service.

Following one of Olly’s last wishes, Jim kindly agreed to take the Tiger Moth model to refurbish and rig it for presentation to Montrose air museum.

Fiona and Jim made the handover to MASHC chairman Stuart Archibald.

Mr Archibald said: “We are honoured to receive Olly’s superbly detailed Tiger Moth model where it will be much appreciated by the many visitors to Montrose air museum.”

Another recent addition to the Broomfield site is a miniature runway, left, laid during lockdown.

The centre has reopened to visitors and is awaiting the arrival of another addition to its collection.

A rare T38 Grasshopper glider, the aircraft in which many post-war RAF pilots would had their first flight experience is bound for the museum later this year.

The air station was the recent setting for a film shoot based around the story of a young Second World War German pilot shot down in Scotland.

FLIGHT PATH: Montrose Air Station Heritage Centre chairman Stuart Archibald receives the Tiger Moth from Fiona Dawson, whose late dad built it.