VETERANS, active personnel and families of fallen service members all gathered for the opening of the British Army Flying Memorial at the Museum of Army Flying in Middle Wallop today.

The unveiling of the memorial, which commemorates 5,127 Army Air Corps (AAC) members who lost their lives since 1912, comes on the 60th anniversary of the unit.

Chaplains of the AAC Middle Wallop led the opening ceremony, and the service ended with the last post and a fly over from the army’s Historic Aircraft Flight.

AAC sergeant major, WO1 Benjamin Rieper said: “For me personally this represents Army Flying and brings together the whole flying community, it is a lasting memorial for all those who have fallen - not just in active service but people we have lost in other tragic ways.

“I have a lot of my own personal friends on the wall and I think it is really reverent for us, as it is also at our headquarters where we come training, so we can come to see where our friends are and be alongside them.

“We also have our veterans here, representing the Royal Flying Corps (active 1912-18), and as time goes on there are fewer and fewer of them so moments like these are really treasured.”

Jenny Pope was among the family members present to honour fallen loved ones at the memorial, as her grandson, Daniel Pope, 21, died from rare liver cancer after returning from active service in Germany last year.

Ms Pope said: “The army was his life, I think he was going to go far.

“I was with him every step of the way that he took the Queen’s shilling, I used to buy him something from Dad’s Army when I saw him and called him a stupid boy, but when he became ill I said I wouldn’t call him that until he got better.

“He was a great chum.”

See next week's paper for full coverage of the event.