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Lunchtime Lecture (Midlands): The Impact of the RAF on a Highland Glen
Lunchtime Lecture (Midlands): The Impact of the RAF on a Highland Glen
03 October 2024
On Thursday 3rd October 2024 at 12pm, Cameron Paterson will share stories of friendship and tragedy relating to Glen Esk. This lecture will be hosted in-person at our Midlands site and live-streamed via Crowdcast.
Glen Esk is a picturesque and remote Highland Glen in the Northeast of Scotland, and with several nearby RAF bases, has seen much aerial activity since the earliest days of flight, but particularly during the Second World War and the Cold War. Several aircraft were sadly lost in this wild area with the loss of many young lives, primarily during training, and most of these stories have never properly been told. The Glen was also used by several RAF Fighter pilots for both sport and relaxation in the early stages of the Second World War, while they were undergoing the rigours of advanced training, and before they flew South to fight the Battle of Britain.
This lecture centres on 3 tragic events between 1942 & 1963, in which RAF Aircraft crashed in these hills with the loss of 11 lives. It focuses on the events leading up to and beyond these accidents and tells the stories of all the young men involved, including some of those who undertook the rescue and recovery efforts. It also focuses on the impact that all these events had on several of the local inhabitants, and centres on one particular sheep farmer, who developed a remarkable lifelong relationship with both the RAF and the US Marines, despite never having served himself.
The presentation features interview testimony and many photographs, some taken during hiking expeditions to the various sites, all undertaken by the Author.
Location
This hybrid lecture will be hosted in-person at the RAF Museum’s Midlands site in the Lecture Theatre. Attendance in-person is free but registration is required via Digitickets.
Livestream
About Cameron Paterson
Cameron is a retired Chartered Engineer, who spent his 36yr career in the world of vehicle design & development. He started as a Graduate Electrical Engineer with Ford in Essex in 1984 and finished in the North West as Chief Engineer for Bespoke Vehicles at Bentley Motors. During this time, he had many outstanding experiences, including vehicle testing in extreme conditions all round the world, and 2yrs on assignment in North America. However, while Vehicles and all things Automotive were his profession, his passion is, and always has been, Aviation.
Having taken an opportunity for early retirement from Bentley in 2020, Cameron has now reinvented himself as an Aviation Historian. He joined the volunteer staff at the RAF Museum soon thereafter and spends on average 2 days/wk in a variety of roles, but principally as a Tour Guide and STEM Ambassador. He also spends a good deal of time on his own research projects, most of which centre on the largely untold stories of the many airmen lost in training accidents in the high ground areas of the UK. A few of these stories, all centred in his Scottish homeland, are the basis of today’s lecture. His goal is for these, and others, to come together in a Documentary and/or book project.
Finally, Cameron is also building his aviation credentials, as well as fulfilling a lifetime’s ambition, by learning to fly, and he hopes to gain his PPL during 2024.
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