Footnotes

'MESSERSCHMIDT 110, TWIN ENGINE MONOPLANE FIGHTER, AIRCRAFT PARTLY DESTROYED BY FIRE... THE PILOT DEPUTY FUERHRER, RUDOLPH HESS, WHO WAS THE SOLE OCCUPANT OF THE MACHINE... DETAINED PENDING THE ARRIVAL OF A DETACHMENT OF THE HOME GUARD' – Rudolf Hess crash-lands in Scotland, twelve miles from Dungavel House, where he hoped to broker peace with the Duke of Hamilton.

The Duke was a renowned aviator and sportsman, who before inheriting the title had served as MP for East Renfrewshire. In this capacity he had been part of a parliamentary delegation attending the Berlin Olympics, where he had met Hess's personal advisor, Professor Albrecht Haushofer. On the outbreak of war, he became a full-time officer in the RAF, being promoted group captain in 1941. Notwithstanding which: 'Unbeknown to the new duke, in the autumn of 1940 Haushofer had told Hess that Hamilton "had access, at all times, to all important persons in London, even to Churchill and the King". Hess, who had conceived of the idea of negotiating a peace settlement between Britain and Germany, asked Haushofer to write to Hamilton, a letter which received no reply. On 10 May 1941, the same evening that the House of Commons was bombed, Hess parachuted into Scotland, gave a false name, and asked to see the duke of Hamilton, whom he had never met before. On 11 May Hess admitted to Hamilton that he was on a "personal unauthorised mission", but claimed that he knew what Hitler's peace terms would be. Hamilton at once flew south to report to the prime minister, who was then at Ditchley Park. Churchill found Hamilton's report hard to believe, saying, "Well, Hess or no Hess, I am going to see the Marx Brothers". However, later that night he had a long interview with Hamilton, and Hess was identified and treated as a prisoner of war (Selkirk of Douglas, ODNB). Tried at Nuremburg, Hess was to spend the rest of his life in Spandau Prison.

The present volume was rescued from destruction by the owner's father, while serving as a fireman at Darnley Station in 1963. Old logbooks were being burned to clear space and, noticing that it covered the war years, he was granted permission by the station commander to keep it; only noticing afterwards that it covered the Hess flight. It is discussed in an article printed in Strathclyde Fireman, No.4 January 1979, p.4 (see the graemekirkwood.co.uk website); where it is stated that 'Both Mr Taylor and another ex-Darnley fireman, Mr George Buchanan of Barrhead, said that the Fire Record Book was filled in by the station's watchroom attendant, Mr James Whitelaw, who died about five years ago'; and that 'It seems unlikely that the book was actually written up at the time the appliance returned to the station, because it was the Firemaster's personal chronological record of the incidents the Darnley firemen attended' (the Firemaster in question being Charles Angus). Although written up by the watchroom attendant, it clearly represents Firemaster Charles Angus's own record, as the following passage demonstrates: "From experience I have had from Thursday night's 'Blitz' tenement roofs especially valley gutters are very liable to be hit by incendiary bombs without being noticed until they have done their job. Tackling an incendiary bomb with a stirrup pump on the sloping roofs of large and lofty tenements is a job for a trained fireman"; the entry concluding: "I have to record my very sincere thanks to the Officers and Men of the Auxiliary Fire Brigade for the splendid effort and indefatigable service rendered, in coping with the various outbreaks of fires in the Burgh of Renfrew & Eastern Area" (pp.61-61).