MAC’ MCCAIRNS LIVED LIFE TO THE FULL AND HIS MEDALS ARE TREASURED BY THE TANGMERE MILITARY AVIATION MUSEUM. DAVID COXON AND HUGH TREVOR PAY TRIBUTE TO AN EXCEPTIONAL PILOT


Mac McCairns (standing, second from right) and his 616 Squadron colleagues awaiting a call to action in their ready room, 1941.
During the early 1980s Tangmere Military Aviation Museum’s Chairman, Gp Capt David Baron, was the officer commanding 14 Squadron, operating SEPECAT Jaguar GR.1s in the strike/attack role from Brüggen, West Germany. One of David’s flight commanders was Sqn Ldr Chris McCairns.