Scotland's last living RAF VC holder

Scotland’s last surviving RAF Victoria Cross winner, ex-Flight-Lieutenant John Cruickshank of Coastal Command now aged 83, and living in his adopted home of Aberdeen, he is campaigning to have a Scottish memorial to those of Coastal Command’s 11,000 dead set up in Caledonia to match the one scheduled for Westminster Abbey in March 2004.
Cruickshank was flying his Consolidated PBY Catalina in mid-Atlantic on July 17 1944 when he saw Nazi U-Boat U-347 on the surface.
Sweeping into attack his Catalina nicknamed ‘Killer Cat’was riddled by German flak. One shell killed his navigator and wounded several crew members.
Cruickshank recived no less than 72 wounds in the subsequent attack he pressed home where he finally killed the U-Boat with six depth charges.
Moving in and out of consciousness due to his multiple wounds he still managed to fly his ‘Cat’ back to the UK.
He is now campaigning to ahve the Scottish Coastal Command memorial placed in his home city of Edinburgh-the Scottish capital.