Auchterarder flypast in honour of Great Escape hero cancelled at 11th hour

A flypast in honour of Auchterarder Spitfire pilot and Great Escape hero Sandy Gunn will not go ahead tonight.

Locals had been promised an appearance by the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight on Friday evening.

But the tribute was pulled at the 11th hour.

The flypast had been planned to coincide with the opening of a new memorial garden in Auchterarder in memory of Sandy Gunn.

The 24-year-old was shot dead in 1944 after tunnelling out of the infamous Stalag Luft III prisoner-of-war camp.

Organiser, Dr James Grant, said the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight had informed him this week that it would not be able to take part.

He had been hoping he might be able to persuade a private Spitfire owner to do the honours.

Discussions were still taking place right up to Friday afternoon.

However, it wasn’t possible to arrange it at such short notice.

“The garden opening is still going ahead,” said Dr Grant.

And he’s hopeful that the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight will be able to come back on another date.

Auchterarder legend’s heroism inspired much-loved movie

Sandy Gunn was the son of an Auchterarder doctor.

He joined the RAF in 1940, and was selected for the Photo Reconnaissance Unit, where he learned to fly Spitfires.

His plane was shot down over Norway on March 5 1942.

Sandy was imprisoned in Stalag Luft III, a notorious Luftwaffe-run camp in Poland.

It was the scene of two break-outs, most notably the now famous Great Escape in March 1944.

The episode inspired the classic war movie, starring Steve McQueen.

Sandy helped to dig the tunnels through which he and 75 other prisoners fled in the dead of night.

However, he was re-captured after 36 hours on the run and handed over to the Gestapo.

And on April 6 1944, he was taken from his prison cell and executed.

No flypast, but Sandy Gunn now has permanent memorial in Auchterarder

Sandy’s name had been largely overlooked in Auchterarder until now.

The memorial garden is designed to rectify that.

It has been two years in the making in a project led by Auchterarder Rotary Club.

Organisers have raised around £60,000 in donations.

The garden features trees, shrubs and a bench on a plot across from the town’s police station, very close to Sandy’s childhood home.

The opening of the garden tonight will be followed by a screening of The Great Escape in the Aytoun Hall, Auchterarder, at 7.30pm.