Catalina flying boat pilot Flight Lieutenant Robert Keddie and his crew went missing in action off the coast of Norway on 16th May 1942. They were on a reconnaissance patrol for the protection of the Arctic Convoys carrying vital supplies to the Russians.

Wallace Arthur Robert Keddie learnt to fly before the war and signed up for the RAF Volunteer Reserve. As well as flying, he loved sport and speed – he owned a Frazer Nash sports car and in January 1939 he had performed spectacularly on the Cresta Run, the ice toboggan track in St Moritz. He was training to be an accountant and could have joined the family firm but he also read voraciously, enjoying avant-garde writers, and he talked about becoming a writer himself.

It was eight months after war was declared when Bob, as he was called in the RAF, was eventually called to start his RAF training. He had just met the 19 year old Diana Ladner who was an aspiring actress and whom he went on to marry. Diana kept his correspondence which, as well as charting beautifully their love story, today gives us a unique glimpse into training and service in the RAF and an historically fascinating picture of everyday life during the war.

Bob’s training took him round England – to Padgate, Hastings, Torquay and South Cerney, and to Prestwick in Scotland and to South Africa. He qualified as an ‘exceptional’ pilot and was able to fulfil his wish of being selected for a flying boat squadron where his skills as a sailor as well as a pilot were vital.

He went into action with 210 Squadron in September 1941. He was based in Scotland, first in Oban, then he moved further north with the squadron to Sullom Voe in March 1942. This was more convenient to reach the Norwegian coast although a routine patrol would still mean about 20 hours in the air.

On 16th May, Bob and his crew set off from Sullom Voe at 4.55am. At 1739 hours one of the crew asked Sullom Voe for a landing forecast; nothing was seen or heard of their Catalina after that. No. 210 Squadron recorded that a German report had been intercepted stating that ‘one of her recce aircraft had attacked and destroyed a Catalina 200 miles west of Trondheim’. As Bob and his crew were flying the only British aircraft in the region at the time, the RAF assumed that it was their plane which had been destroyed.

Bob was 25 years old. Bob’s commanding officer RAF Wing Commander Walter Hutton wrote to his father saying that he had an excellent, devoted crew and that, if they had had the slightest chance, they would have given a good account of themselves. He went on to say that he had implicit faith in all that Bob did, that he had been largely responsible for building the excellent esprit-de-corps in the squadron and that his loss was a severe blow to the RAF.

Bob was one of three brothers who all died in the armed forces during the war. The youngest, John (Sergeant John Maitland Keddie), was a bomber pilot with 99 Squadron when he died on a training flight near Newmarket on 4 January 1941 aged just 19.

Dick (Lieutenant Richard George Damyon Keddie) was killed in August 1944. He was 26 years old and captain of HMS Cattistock when it was hit by German vessels while patrolling off the coast of Normandy. His short career had been a stellar one and he had been awarded the Distinguished Service Cross and mentioned in despatches. His commanding officer had described him as being ‘by a wide margin the most impressive and outstanding young officer he had met during the whole of his service career’.

Bob, Dick and John made the ultimate sacrifice and the book of Bob’s letters to his wife highlights a generation that never gave up hope. It is called We’ve All Life Before Us: A Love Story of the Second World War, edited by Caroline Cecil Bose and published by Fonthill.