Catalina makes flyover before goodbye

The Catalina flying boat make a pass over Lerwick earlier today. Photo: Brian Gray

A flight crew said goodbye to the isles after making a flyover Lerwick and Sullom Voe.

Earlier today (Thursday), a crew of five people on board a Second World War Catalina flying boat began their journey home to Cambridgeshire.

Pilot Jeff Boyling along with four other people carried out Operation Shetland to mark 80 years since flight officer John Cruickshank was awarded the Victoria Cross.

The Catalina crew took off from Sumburgh Airport and made a pass over Lerwick and Sullom Voe, while passing over crash sites of other Catalina planes before heading south.

Yesterday the group had laid wreaths at New Cemetery, Lerwick at the graves of Mr Cruickshank’s navigator John Dickson, who was killed in action, and of David Ernest Hornell a pilot in the Royal Canadian Airforce.

The crew were expected to take off around 10am this morning but because of poor weather a flight was delayed.

Eventually, the crew took off around 1.15pm this afternoon.

To read more about the visit, pick up a copy of tomorrow’s Shetland Times.