There were emotional scenes in the Perthshire village of Ardler as tribute was paid to Afghan war hero Stephen Beattie.
Flight Sergeant Beattie, who was 42, was one of 14 servicemen who lost their lives when their Nimrod aircraft crashed in 2006.
Following a long campaign his name was last month added to Ardler’s war memorial and friends and former colleagues gathered on Sunday to pay their respects.
Flt Sgt Beattie attended Ardler Primary before going on to Blairgowrie High School. He then joined the Air Training Corps in Blairgowrie and got his pilot’s licence at Scone, later joining the RAF.
Among those attending the service were representatives of the ATC in Blairgowrie, along with colleagues from RAF Kinloss where Flt Sgt Beattie had been based.
Following his death in Afghanistan more than 600 mourners attended his funeral a clear indication of the huge respect he commanded.
And while Sunday’s service may have been more intimate, it was certainly no less poignant.
A doting father of two, Flt Sgt Beattie had been employed as a weapon systems operator and served with 120 Squadron at Kinloss.
When his aircraft exploded over Kandahar, it represented the largest single loss of military personnel since the Falklands War in 1982.
The reconnaissance craft crashed after a technical fault caused a fire to develop in-flight.
Mayday calls were made by the plane’s crew in the moments before impact, but nothing could be done and they perished along with two other armed forces personnel who were on board.
The incident led to questions over the safety of the entire Nimrod fleet, with many influential figures insisting it was not airworthy and should be grounded.