The Minister of Defence for the Czech Republic visited Loch Doon this week to see the site of planned WWII pilot memorial.
It was announced earlier this year that a memorial is to be created to honour a Second World War pilot who died after his aircraft crashed at Loch Doon.
This week, Councillor Drew Filson met with Jana Černochová, Czech Minister of Defence, at Loch Doon to view the site of the planned memorial.
The memorial will loo to pay tribute to Czech pilot, Frantisek Hekl, whose Spitfire plane crashed into the loch in October 1941.
Local sculptor Kevin Roberts, from Patna, has been commissioned to create the new piece.
Cllr Filson also revealed that the memorial is set to be erected next September, with help from East Ayrshire Council and Forestry and Land Scotland.
Born in 1915 in Nemojany, in the Moravian region of what was then Czechoslovakia, Hekl, whose story is told in full at the website of the Dumfries Aviation Museum, crossed the border into Poland when Nazi troops occupied his homeland in March 1939.
He joined the Polish Air Force and fought against a Luftwaffe air attack in September of that year, before being caught by the Russian army as he and a group of fellow Czech airmen headed for Romania.
He escaped on a train out of Russia in July 1940 and eventually reached Britain, via Turkey, Egypt and India, before enlisting with the RAF Volunteer Reserve in November of that year and joining the 312 (Czechoslovak) Squadron, based at RAF Ayr, next to Prestwick Airport, in 1941.
On the morning of October 25, 1941, aged just 26, Hekl took off from RAF Ayr and headed towards Loch Doon, where he flew fast and low over the water - but his wingtip struck the surface and the plane was instantly submerged, with eyewitnesses reporting that the only trace of what had happened once the water had settled being a light oil slick on the surface.
Hekl's plane was recovered and brought to the surface in 1982. However, his body was never found.
Cllr Filson said: "The Minister of Defence of the Czech Republic, Jana Černochová and Czech delegation visited to see the site for the Czech spitfire pilot Frantisek Hekl memorial.
"The memorial has been commissioned to monumental sculptor, Kevin Roberts.
"The unveiling will take place in September 2025 with hopefully a spitfire fly past.
"Thanks to Ben Zour and Martin Zour for organising today's visit. Also thanks to Brian Meechan and Roundhouse Café for a lovely buffet.
"The Minister and delegation ended their day at the Dumfries Air Museum to see the Loch Doon restored spitfire."
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