Military

MAY 5 1941 proved to be a traumatic night for the residents of a Cardross farm as Nazi bombs rained down.

The first bombing raid on the village came on July 13 1940, when stick after stick of incendiary bombs fell mainly on the shore and around the railway station.

THE Marine Aircraft Experimental Establishment based at RAF Helensburgh at Rhu in World War Two was tasked with investigating the problems of a bomber which was nicknamed by aircrew as ‘the flying coffin’.

Blackburn Bothas were built at Dumbarton from 1939 to Government specifications for a four-seater, twin-engine reconnaissance bomber.

HELENSBURGH was home in later life to one of the first nurses to face the dangers of World War One in France.

Catherine Murray Roy was the daughter of the Rev John Roy, minister of Drymen Parish Church in the village Main Street for 41 years.

WHEN David Pike read an article on this Helensburgh Heritage Trust website about a Consolidated Catalina flying boat crash landing he was very surprised . . .

The description of the incident on Saturday January 31 1942 mentioned his late grandfather, Squadron Leader Phillip Pike, as the pilot.

THE TALES of courage and often the supreme sacrifice by Helensburgh and district men in World War One are many and moving . . .

But it is likely that the story of Lance Corporal John McDougall DCM is unique in that he was once declared a deserter — and later was awarded Britain’s second highest award for bravery.

FIVE Helensburgh men were able to return home after being forced to work as World War Two prisoners of war on the notorious ‘Railway of Death’ built in Burma and Thailand.

Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders Neilly McGinley, Ned Killen, Jim Jardine, Peter McKell, and Neil’s cousin Neil ’Scrapper’ Sharkey all survived a dreadful chapter in their young lives, imprisonment and torture at the hands of cruel Japanese guards.

AN internationally respected scientist who was one of the last surviving people who served at wartime RAF Helensburgh, Professor John Allen, died on October 25 2019 at the age of 98.

News of his death at Halesworth, Suffolk, came from Mrs Frances McLaren, nee Shedden, who served alongside John at the Marine Aircraft Experimental Establishment at Rhu and Helensburgh during World War Two.

THE B-20 was a revolutionary World War Two flying boat about to be put through its paces by RAF Helensburgh before it was granted the airworthy certificate to allow full production.

But tragically the Dumbarton-developed aircraft never arrived at the Gareloch base.

A LEADING Helensburgh businessman of the 1980s and 90s was lucky to survive on board a ship which was torpedoed during World War Two.

Footballer and athlete Jack Quinlan went on to run several local businesses in the district and was very well known for his charitable work.

A CARDROSS man won medals for gallantry in World War One and went on to become a highly respected figure in Scottish education.

Major Robert Kinloch, MC, Croix de Guerre, MA, FEIS, lived in the village for many years, and was for a decade head teacher of the village primary school.

EVERY picture tells a story. A faded family photograph taken at 128 West Princes Street, Helensburgh, during World War Two was a happy moment during an unfolding story of action, death and drama.

Retired Merseyside newspaper editor Robin Bird, who sourced this material during his ongoing search for the history of the Marine Aircraft Experimental Establishment, said that it is also a story of a secret army force within a secret air force at Helensburgh.

PHOTOGRAPHER Bob Bird hated doing Home Guard duties at RAF Helensburgh during World War Two. He was not alone.

As a secret establishment RAF Helensburgh provided its own security with RAF personnel supported by all trades.