Flying Officer Alfred Thompson MCKAY (138480)
12 Squadron Royal Air Force

Date of birth: 20th February 1923
Date of death: 27th April 1944

Killed in action aged 21
Buried at Jonkerbosch War Cemetery Netherlands Plot 24 Grave F Grave 3
Alfred Thompson McKay was born at Knockando on the 20th of February 1923 the son of Alfred McKay and Margaret (nee Thompson) McKay of Borlum, Knockando.

He was educated at Keith Grammar School and, on leaving school in 1941, he joined the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve and proceeded straight from school to a cadet course at a university. He was posted to Canada for training. He rose to the rank of Sergeant before being commissioned as a Pilot Officer on the 30th of December 1942. He was later promoted to Flying Officer and acted as an instructor for a time before beginning operational service with 12 Squadron.

On the night of the 26th/27th of April 1944 Bomber Command despatched 342 Lancasters, 133 Halifaxes and 18 Mosquitoes for an operation on Essen. It is recorded that the bombing was accurate due to the successful marking of the target by the Pathfinders but damage on the ground is not known. The city's authorities recorded that 313 people were killed and a further I,224 were injured during the raid

Alfred McKay and his crew took off from RAF Wickenby at 10.54pm on the 26th of April 1944 in Lancaster Mk III ND873 PH-N for the raid for what would be his twenty second operation. The aircraft was attacked by a night fighter and crashed near the town of Asten (Noord-Brabant), 10 kilometres south east of Helmond in Holland, with the loss of the entire crew.

The crew was: -

Pilot Officer George Edwin Nicholls (Pilot)
Sergeant Roy William Laybourne (Flight Engineer)
Flying Officer Alfred Thompson McKay (Navigator)
Flying Officer Lawrence Lindsay Smith RCAF (Air Bomber)
Sergeant Alexander Strathern McJannett (Wireless Operator/Front Gunner)
Sergeant Alexander Kelso Shiels (Mid Upper Gunner)
Sergeant Harold Edward Dyerson (Rear Gunner)

The night fighter is believed to have been a Messerschmitt Bf110G-4 flown by Oberfeldwebel Rudolf Frank of 3./NJG3. The Lancaster was his forty fifth victory. As he pulled away from the attack his aircraft was struck by debris from his victim which so damaged his aircraft that it crashed, killing Frank and his two crewmen, Oberfeldwebels Schierholz and Schneider.

Theirs was one of seven aircraft lost in the raid.

The crew were initially buried at Venlo but were later reinterred together at their present location.

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