William Alexander (Sandy) Watson was the son of William and Christina Watson, "Isaville", Main Street, Bankfoot, Perthshire.

Sandy joined the RAF in 1934 as an apprentice at RAF Halton, near Wendover in Buckinghamshire. He trained as a fitter and by 1935 he was awarded the coveted Barrington-Kennett medal for his sporting achievements. 

By 1938, Sandy had been promoted to Aircraftman First Class and in 1941 he had been trained in air gunnery and was posted to RAF 15 Squadron. On 10 August 1941, he was promoted to Sergeant on his return to the squadron following flight engineering training at Short Brothers. 

On the night of 18 April 1944, Short Stirling EJ108 took off at 22.35 hours from RAF Grafton Underwood, east of Kettering, Northamptonshire, with a crew of nine onboard, most of whom were undergoing training. Watson was now a Warrant Officer and was now part of RAF 1657 HCU (Heavy Conversion Unit) which was based at RAF Stradishall, between Cambridge and Bury St Edmonds.  They were on a training exercise, practising night take-offs and landings (circuits and bumps). RAF Polebrook which was being used by the USAAC (United States Army Air Corp) was clear that day of any operational flying.  

During one practice landing, they hit and killed three USAAC personnel who were cycling on a runway. They were advised to land at the emergency landing strip at RAF Woodbridge, Suffolk. With damage to an engine and possibly the undercarriage of the aircraft they were in the position of being committed to take-off. There was an internal explosion and control of the aircraft was lost, the aircraft went into a steep nose up angle. Six of the crew bailed out successfully, two were killed in crash at 23.30 pm, Sergeant Atkins died as he had failed to attach his parachute harness correctly and subsequently fell to his death.  

A military funeral was accorded to Warrant Officer Sandy Watson. In attendance were contingents of the RAF, Home Guard and the Observer Corps along with a very large number of the general public. The coffin was draped in the Union Flag and was carried from the house to the churchyard by each of the services representatives. A salute of guns was fired at the graveside and a bugler sounded ‘The Last Post’.

Sandy Watson was awarded the Distinguished Flying Medal and is commemorated on the Auchtergaven War Memorial.

McROBERT'S REPLY

After the deaths of the three MacRobert brothers in RAF service, their mother, Lady Rachel Workman MacRobert, wanted to honour and commemorate them. She donated £25,000 to buy a Short Stirling bomber, which was named MacRobert's Reply. The plane had serial number N6086 and had the MacRobert coat of arms painted on its nose. The plane was handed over to her crew at RAF Wyton on October 10, 1941, with Lady MacRobert attending the naming ceremony.

Sandy Watson was a member of this initial crew.

The aircraft was assigned to RAF 15 Squadron and given the code, “LS-F” - “F for Freddie.”