10.  SPITFIRE MEMORIAL

Kings Seat

From left-to-right: Sgt Gordon Duda; Sgt Vincent Daly; Flying Officer Hugh  Reynolds.

On Saturday 16th January 1943 three Spitfires flying in formation on an exercise from RAF Grangemouth were diverted due to bad weather. They were ordered to land at Balado but because of an accident there they made for Perth. Their radios went silent and no one knew where they were. In dense mist they had crashed near the top of King’s Seat.

Flying Officer Hugh “Bud” Reynolds and Sgt Gordon “Gordie” Duda, both of the Royal Canadian Air Force, died during the impact. The third pilot, Sgt Vincent “Vin” Daly of the Royal Australian Air Force saw the hill with just enough time to raise the nose of his plane to soften the blow. Though his swift actions ultimately saved his life, his true struggle to survive had only just begun. With a broken leg, supported by a self-made splint, he dragged himself down the hill towards Dollar Glen, eventually being rescued at around 8am on the Monday by Ian Cullens of Dollarbank Farm. Though he suffered pneumonia and frost bite he lived until 1969.

Sgts Reynolds and Duda are both buried at Grangemouth.

The cairn has been built as a lasting tribute on the site, unveiled in 2009 during a ceremony of dedication, marked by a fly past of Spitfire and Hurricane fighters and a Lancaster Bomber.