THREE-QUARTERS of a century after his tragic death, the son of an Alloa RAF airman hopes to remember the father he never met.

Sergeant Thomas McCallum, 22, was on the tailgun of a Handley Page Halifax heavy bomber when in the early hours of December 3, 1942, the entire eight-man crew were killed in action.

The aircraft, which took off from RAF Pocklington in Yorkshire, was shot down by a Luftwaffe night fighter piloted by Dieter Erichsen following a mission over Germany.

Son Dave, who now lives in Bradford, was just 11-months-old at the time and has no direct recollections of the war hero.

However, as the 75th anniversary of his dad’s passing approaches, he hopes to keep the memory of the “local lad” alive in the Wee County.

With Dave’s mother Doris Fraser, originally from Inverness, the newly-married couple were planning to grow old together after they met during Thomas’ training.

But it was never to be as the young family were torn apart by the horrors of the Second World War.

Dave told the Advertiser that Thomas’ death was quite hard on his mum, who took on any job she could get to support the youngster while grandparents looked after him.

He went on to say: “At school I was aware as I grew up I was the only lad who hasn’t got a dad, or [rather] whose dad died in the war and that was a bit unreal.”

Throughout his life, he researched his father’s past, learning more about his military career with RAF Bomber Command and the 102 (Ceylon) Squadron.

He also uncovered details about his civil life before the war broke out. For instance, Thomas’ family used to run a shop on Bowhouse Road, the street where he lived with four siblings and parents David and Julia.

Before enlisting, which he did the day after the war broke out, the young man was working as an apprentice engineer at Alloa Glass Works.

Thomas and Doris met at a dance when he was stationed in the Highlands, by all accounts he was an accomplished dancer and a fairly good boxer too.

Ultimately, Dave hopes the selfless sacrifice of people like his father will not be forgotten. Bomber Command crews suffered an extremely high casualty rate with close to half of personnel, more than 55,000 servicemen, killed in action during the war.

Dave added: “I think it’s worth remembering for children – looking at history and local history, you’ve got a point of reference of what happened at that time to a local lad who grew up in Alloa and joined up with the RAF.”