Obituary: Jimmy McHardy

HAD it not been for the Second World War, Jimmy McHardy may never have hit the headlines. Firstly, he would not have lost his chauffeur's job, curtailed due to the wartime shortage of petrol. He then may not have become a fireman as a result of needing to find another job.

And thirdly, the chances of a German plane crashing in Aberdeen were otherwise ridiculously remote.

But on a summer's day in 1940, McHardy found himself one of the first on the scene and face to face with a blazing Luftwaffe bomber that had crash-landed on South Anderson Drive.

The Heinkel pilot, whose mission was to bomb RAF Leuchars, had been spotted by Spitfires over the North Sea. The German aircraft unleashed bombs on the Granite City as it tried to gain height, but was shot down in flames.

McHardy, who was on one of his first jobs with the fire service and was used to dealing with nothing more serious than a chimney fire, tackled the subsequent blaze – within easy shooting distance of the stricken plane – armed only with a hose.

As he approached the burning plane, he suddenly realised there was the possibility that the crew had survived and could try to avoid capture. He recalled: "I went to the back of the building and I stood there with a hose. The Germans could have picked me off with a pistol, as I was standing there in full view."

Fortunately for McHardy, the pilot and navigator were both dead.

Others in Aberdeen were not so lucky that July day. The bombs killed 34 people and injured another 72.

McHardy went on to live to 102 and was honoured by Grampian Fire Brigade with a surprise visit when he became a centenarian.

He was born at Fetternear Stables, Chapel of Garioch, near Inverurie, one of six children of Alexander and Maggie McHardy. His father was gamekeeper at Wardhouse Estate, Insch, and the children had to walk two miles to the local school.

McHardy left Oldtown Wardhouse School aged 14 and spent the first three years of his working life at an Insch sawmill.

From 1924 to 1929, he served his time as an apprentice mechanic/driver in Inverurie. He then spent ten years as a chauffeur to various people, including a minister and latterly a solicitor.

It was while working for the lawyer in Aberdeen's King's Gate that he met his wife, Nan, who was the family's housemaid. They married early in 1939, but at the outbreak of war, McHardy was paid off when it became difficult to obtain petrol.

A friend, who was a fireman, got McHardy an application form for the fire service in the hope that it would help him to avoid being out of work for too long. He was taken on that year and stayed for 30 years.

He initially worked as a firefighter and latterly as a mechanic, travelling all over the North-east servicing engines and fire pumps. As a result of that, and his excellent memory, he gained an encyclopaedic knowledge of local roads and hazards, often offering route warnings to his family about a particular bend obscured by a particular tree that could be deceptive.

He was as particular in his own life, breakfasting on brose or porridge each day and ensuring that he cleaned the coal fireplace every morning, before shining his shoes and placing them on the windowsill.

He and Nan had two daughters: Sheila, who survives him, and Teresa. The couple lived in Powis Terrace immediately after their marriage, before moving to Broomhill Road and then to a pre-fab in Foresterhill Road. When the prefabs were pulled down, they moved to Invercauld Gardens in Mastrick.

After he retired from the fire service, McHardy worked, until about 1974, as a handyman at the Scottish Co-operative Society in Berryden, repairing and servicing wheelchairs.

The couple also worked for a family in Anderson Drive, Jimmy as a gardener and Nan as a cleaner.

He was widowed 23 years ago and his daughter Teresa died soon after, but McHardy remained in the family home, where he kept himself busy and continued his love of gardening – even being captured on Google Earth raking the grass in his garden.

He celebrated his 100th birthday in 2007, when fire crew turned up at his home in a ten-tonne engine to give him a look around the modern vehicle.

McHardy remained at home in Aberdeen until just before Christmas the following year, when he went to visit his daughter Sheila in East Kilbride and was persuaded to stay.

Although he had some minor illnesses, he did not deteriorate until his final three weeks. As he stoically told the doctor: "I was OK until I was 100."