Sergeant Duncan MacKay, Wireless Operator, Royal Air Force was killed by enemy action on the night of the 10th/11th August 1940. He was 20 years old.
Son of Duncan MacKay and Jessie Jane née Wylie, Oldtown, his death is commemorated on the grave of his parents in Rogart’s new cemetery and on panel 17 of the Runnymede Memorial, Surrey, which lists 20,000 airmen for whom there is no known grave.
Duncan (serial No. 551045) served in 144 Squadron, flying Hadley Page Hampdens out of RAF Hemswell in Lincolnshire. On 10/11 August 1940 the Canadian pilot of P4368, Bill Tudhope of the Royal Air Force crashed over the IJsselmeer, Netherlands. His body was washed ashore two weeks later at the southern tip of Schokland. The three crew members, including Duncan MacKay, and the plane have never been found.
The Hampden was an older plane, totally outdated in relation to the German planes it faced. Casualties amongst the Hampden were huge.
