Medal presentation ceremony honours local hero Captain Ian McKechnie

A ceremony was held in County Buildings today to formally hand over the late Captain Ian McKechnie's medals which include his Turkish Distinguished Service Medal for safe keeping and display at the Royal Navy Fleet Air Arm Museum. South Ayrshire Provost Iain Campbell handed over the medals for onward passage to the museum in Yeovilton.  

Captain McKechnie was awarded the Turkish Distinguished Service Medal for his ship-to-ship transfer by helicopter of 72 survivors from a Turkish destroyer, sunk by friendly fire during the Cyprus war in 1974. Ian was the only foreign recipient of the Turkish Distinguished Service Medal in the history of the Turkish Republic.

This was not the only heroic action in Captain McKechnie's distinguished Naval aviation career. The first was his 1967 napalm bombing of the stricken oil tanker Torrey Canyon, which helped contain the disastrous torrent of oil and save our habitat.

Provost Campbell is pictured with Shonah McKechnie, wife of the late Captain McKechnie,  Alistair McLaren Director of Flight Ops, Navy Wings and Acting Consul General of Turkey in Edinburgh, Demet Kayaoğlu.