Pilot Officer Robert Watson

Pilot Officer Robert Watson, 50 Squadron, Royal Air Force. He was lost on operations on 27th December 1941 aged 22. He had been born in Lauder and was the son of Duncan and Kate Watson of 42 West High Street, Lauder and is commemorated on the Runnymede Memorial. At the time of loss 50 Squadron were still flying Handley Page Hampdens from R.A.F. Skellingthorpe, Lincolnshire. ( The Hampden was known as the “Flying Suitcase ” ).  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 joined the R.A.F. in 1938 and had been commissioned in December 1941.  His aircraft had flown from R.A.F. Wick in support of a Commando raid on the Norwegian islands of Vaagso and Maaloy.  The aircraft was shot down and crashed off the Norwegian coast. His body was picked up by one of the support naval vessels and buried at sea. (This was now the swansong of the twin engined bombers that the R.A.F had started the War with. Aeroplanes such as the Hampden, the Blenheim the Whitley and the Wellington were in the process of being replaced by the four engined “heavies” such as Stirling, the Halifax and the Lancaster all of which could fly further and with a much greater bomb load).