LAST week I drove across to Lochailort to meet a remarkable man called Jimmy MacDonald, who was putting the finishing touches to a very special cairn commemorating 13 men who died when their plane struck a nearby hill on December 21, 1967.
Jimmy, who now lives on Skye, has spent most of his working life as a shepherd, stalker, ghillie and ace drystone dyker at Lochailort, Achnacarry, Morar and Meoble, and remembers vividly when the RAF Shackleton of 206 Squadron, RAF Kinloss, crashed on the lower slopes of Creag Bhan between Lochailort and Loch Morar, killing everyone aboard.
The plane was taking part in an anti-submarine training exercise off Tiree, flying by instruments co-ordinated through the Moray radar control centre. The captain, Squadron Leader Michael McCallum, and first navigator, Flight Lieutenant Bruce Mackie, had been warned of a weak cold front with low temperatures above 8,000 feet and of the onboard, untested stall-warning system.