RAF and mountain rescue veteran David “Heavy” Whalley, who helped save hundreds of lives during his career, has died at the age of 72.
Over his career, he performed key roles working in search and rescue across Scotland.

Mr Whalley earned his nickname “Heavy” when he joined the RAF in 1971 at 5 feet 4 inches tall and weighing just seven stone.

He previously told WalkHighlands that despite his size, he “could handle himself” and the nickname stuck.

Mr Whalley was one of the UK’s most experienced mountain rescue experts.

He was the senior team leader at the Lockerbie disaster in December 1988 when 270 people were killed in the terrorist attack.

He was also involved in the hunt for survivors when a Chinook helicopter crashed on Mull of Kintyre in 1994 and the four RAF crew and 25 terrorism experts were killed.

He served with the RAF Mountain Rescue Service for almost 40 years, attending more than 1,000 mountain incidents, dozens of air accidents and helped save hundreds of lives.

Over his career, he performed key roles working in search and rescue across Scotland.

He spent the last four years of his RAF career working in the Aeronautical Rescue Co-ordination Centre at RAF Kinloss.