Flight Lieutenant William Swan

Flight Lieutenant William Allan Laidlaw Swan, Royal Air Force. He was a member of 13 Squadron R.A.F. and was lost on a anti submarine patrol, aged 27, on 27th November 1943. He is commemorated on the Malta Memorial. 13 Squadron at that time flew the Lockheed Venture light bomber from Bilda, in Algeria on Operations in the Mediterranean Area. He had been born in Whitsome and was the son of Agnes and the late Thomas Swan of Lanark Lodge, Duns. He was educated at the Berwickshire High School, Duns and is also commemorated on the Memorial Tablet placed in the new High School, Duns. He had been commissioned into the Territorial Royal Engineers in October 1937 but later transferred to the Royal Air Force as a Pilot Officer in February 1942. He joined his squadron in North Africa in March 1943 and was promoted Flight Lieutenant in November 1943.