The family of a Russian who served at a Perthshire air base during the Second World War has made an emotional journey following in his footsteps.
Relatives of flight mechanic Peter Petrovichev, including his son Valery Petrovichev, were among the dignitaries who gathered at Errol Airfield on Tuesday to commemorate the role of 60 Russian pilots, navigators and engineers who were based in the Carse of Gowrie.
Local people have helped keep the memory of the group who came to the small village in 1942/43 alive, and there is a memorial to them at the airfield.
“It is a big honour for me to be here today,” said Valery Petrovichev.
“My father was lucky to survive the war, I was born one year after it had come to an end.
“My father barely told of his deeds at the front. Like his fellow airmen he believed that he was simply doing his job.
“He never spoke about his top secret mission in Britain but he always, with great respect and warmth, spoke about our British allies and their contribution to our common victory.
“I followed in my father’s footsteps and became an airman. Today my dream of many years has come true. I am standing here, where my father was during the Second World War.
“Next to me is my younger son Peter, whom we had named after my father and who is an airman in the third generation, my daughter Maria and my little granddaughter Amberly.
“On behalf of the descendants, on behalf of all Russian airmen, I would like to express to you our enormous gratitude for keeping the memory alive.”
Anna Belorusova, who is a regular visitor to Perthshire and whose grandfather pilot Peter Kolesnikov served at Errol, brought the perils they faced before arriving in Scotland vividly to life.
“Like my grandfather, Peter Petrovichev joined the Moscow Special Assignment Air Group from the first days of the war,” she said.
“He delivered food and evacuated starving people during the Leningrad siege, dropped airborne troops and supplies to the armies fighting the German encirclement in the vicinity of Moscow, landed on improvised partisan air strips hidden in the dense woods and many more.”
A flypast of the ceremony was made by the Scottish Aero Club who are based at Scone.
