Two sisters have placed a plaque on Cairnsmore of Fleet summit – 81 years to the day their father almost died in a wartime plane crash.
Jennifer Crompton and Susan Haddock laid the little memento at the granite memorial commemorating all the airmen who died on the mountain.
Their dad Ted Hirst was radio operator on an Avro Anson when it hit the eastern face of the hill on April 17, 1942.
Pilot John Allen and passenger William Paterson perished in the flaming wreckage but Ted escaped, although terribly burned.
The sisters’ trip to the top was organised by Douglas McDavid from Gatehouse and his Creetown pal Kerr Fisher.
Susan, 78, from Wigan, got a ride up the hill in Kerr’s ATV while Jennifer, 78, from Lynn near Manchester, made the trip on foot.
Gatehouse and District Walking Group members witnessed the simple ceremony after coming up from the Clints of Dromore.
She told the News: “It was quite emotional – I think Jennifer and I both shed a little tear.
“My father is not mentioned on the memorial because he survived.
“I was born after he left hospital – he lived until 1985 and had a long and happy life.
“We were very lucky – the Gatehouse and District Walking Group came up to meet us.
“From above the crash site it was explained how he made his way down.
“You could see the stream he followed and the little cottage away in the distance. Our thanks go to Douglas and Kerr who arranged everything between them.”
Following the terrible crash, Huddersfield man Ted bathed his head and hands in a burn on the way down.
He eventually reached Cullendoch cottage, where shepherd William Johnstone and wife Agnes took the airman in.
They sent 11-year-old twins Billy and Robin to Gatehouse Station to phone for help.
Ted wrote down his story and sent it to a friend in August 1942 as he lay in a specialist burns unit at Ballochmyle Hospital in Ayrshire.
It detailed his miraculous escape from the fireball which killed his comrades and his subsequent painful recovery.
Billy Johnstone’s wife, Annie-Margaret, still lives in Gatehouse – and has kept a copy of the letter.
The sisters called in to see her – the first time they had met face to face in decades.
Susan said afterwards: “We went to see Annie-Margaret and it was lovely meeting her.
“Every year as a child I used to come up here with my father to see the Johnstones – but the last time for me was around 65 years ago.
“The people are lovely and so kind and I have really enjoyed meeting everybody. This trip has been wonderful.”
Annie-Margaret said: “We have always kept in touch and it was very nice to see them again.
“I knew they were coming and was awful pleased they managed to get up Cairnsmore. It was lovely and clear weather for them.”
“She was the landowner at the time of the crash and Mr Johnstone was her shepherd.”
