Salmond enlists his dad at aircraft carrier naming

FIRST Minister Alex Salmond will be accompanied by a 92-year-old Royal Navy veteran to the naming of the new aircraft carrier at Rosyth today, his father Robert.

First Minister Alex Salmonds father was in the Royal Navy

Mr Salmond snr was a petty officer who served on two aircraft carriers during the war and was responsible for repairing the radios on the planes. He was on HMS Indomitable when she was torpedoed supporting the invasion of Sicily in 1943. Prince Philip, who will also be at the ceremony in Rosyth, was in command of the destroyer HMS Wallace in the same action.

On his 90th birthday, Mr Salmond snr climbed to the gantry of the big crane at Rosyth as work began on the new carrier.