A Victoria Cross awarded to a Second World War hero from Dundee has gone on display at the Imperial War Museum.
Wing Commander Hugh Gordon Malcolm, of Broughty Ferry, died aged 25 while leading a raid on the Chougui airfield in Tunisia on December 4, 1942.
He was posthumously awarded the honour for his actions on a mission that he knew would lead to disaster.
His medal now belongs to Tory donor Lord Ashcroft who paid more than £250,000 for it at an auction last year. He has since loaned the medal to the London museum, which has put it on display in its new gallery paid for by a £5 milion donation from Lord Ashcroft.
It is the only RAF VC medal from the North African campaign in the Extraordinary Heroes exhibition, which has the world’s largest collection of VCs.
The 162 awards, which range from the Crimean to the Falklands wars, are on display for the first time alongside 48 VCs and 31 George Crosses already held by the museum.
Principal historian Nigel Steel, of the Ashcroft Gallery, said the Dundee pilot met all the criteria of a true leader.
He said: ”He was an inspirational leader and had a quality which all great leaders possess being able to fill everybody around them with confidence and a belief that things would work out even if that did not prove to be the case.”
Wing Cdr Malcolm was born in 1917 and educated at Trinity College Glenalmond (now Glenalmond College).
On the day of his death he and his colleagues from 326 Wing spent the morning bombing an airstrip used by the Germans. When they returned to refuel the crew received word that aerial support was needed in the area that had just been attacked.
The Dundee man instructed 10 Blenheim bombers to get into the air but they were spotted by the Germans, who despatched 50 aircraft.
The Allied planes were nearly all destroyed. Wing Cdr Malcolm’s was one of the last left flying before it too was shot down 15 miles from the target.
Only the body of the navigator James Robb was recovered from the wreckage. The heat and risk from detonating ammunition meant that the remains of the others were never removed.
Wing Cdr Malcolm was awarded the VC in 1943 for his decision to proceed with the attack despite knowing it would ”court almost certain disaster.”