One died tragically young, aged just 19, when his bomber crashed.

The other, slightly younger, fought for the International Brigades in the Spanish Civil War.

He lived on for a long time, but has since died.

The two Glaswegians – William Fordyce Cairns and Phil (Jock) Gillan – are now being sought, through their surviving families, for different reasons.

In William’s case, it is for a special Service of Dedication that is being held in May, near where he died in January 1945.

In Phil’s, it is for a television screenplay telling the story of one of his comrades, a nephew of Winston Churchill.

William, a sergeant, was the mid-upper gunner in the Lancaster that crashed on the village of Hoveringham, in Nottinghamshire, near RAF Syerston. Two Lancasters, in fact, crashed on to local fields that month. The 14 airmen on board all perished.

A book being written about the men has almost been completed, and all their families have been traced – except for William’s.

Author Helen Nall said: “I was given a metal detector one Christmas and went into one of our fields with my brother, Douglas.

“We found a bit of metal. I thought it was just rubbish but my brother, who had been an RAF pilot said it was aircraft alloy, and that confused us.

“We didn’t know anything at that time about Lancaster crashes, but my husband said he thought he’d heard something about a crash.

“We gradually found out more from people in the village who remembered a crash.

“One farmer said a lady had come to the village 10 years looking for a memorial to her uncle, who had died in the crash. He still had her phone number, so I rang her and asked if she’d like me to find out what had happened.

“The family hadn’t been told anything other than in an initial telegram saying ‘killed on war-time operations’.

“I found out more and when I read the accident report it bore no relation to what the eye-witnesses had seen, and that’s when we realised that two Lancasters had crashed here.”

Helen obtained the details of the 14 airmen and spoke to their surviving relatives.

“It has snowballed. We’ve put up a memorial, though it is still awaiting its stone plaques, one for each Lancaster.

“Each family has given me a resume of the men, and I have been able to write a couple of paragraphs about each man in my book, The Courage of the Small Hours. But the only airman whose family we have not found is that of Sgt Cairns.

“We would very much like to find them and let them know about the memorial. It seems a shame not to be able to include him in the book.”

The service of dedication, on Sunday, May 30, is expected to be attended by relatives of the airmen, some from abroad, plus former Bomber Command crew, villagers and RAF and British Legion representatives.

William’s parents were Hector MacDonald Cairns and Elizabeth Smith Fordyce Cairns, of Mosspark, Glasgow. After the crash in 1945, William was buried in Cardonald Cemetery.

His Lancaster was JB125 and the pilot and two other crew were from New Zealand; the others were all British.

A decade before Sgt Cairns, another Glaswegian, Phil (Jock) Gillan, was fighting in Spain for the International Brigades against fascism.

In December 1936 he was at the battle of Boadilla, near Madrid. Few survived it but he, Babs Ovenden, and Esmond Romilly, the nephew of Winston Churchill, all lived to see another day.

Romilly went on to write a book on his experiences at Boadilla. He married Jessica Mitford but died in 1941, a volunteer with the Royal Canadian Air Force, shot down over the North Sea.

Terry Hodgkinson, a TV scriptwriter whose CV includes Lovejoy, The Bill, All Creatures Great and Small and Midsomer Murders, has put together a film script on Romilly, and acknowledges that Phil is a major part of it.

“He was an incredible guy, a really nice guy,” he said. After the war, Phil met up with Romilly and, through him, met Churchill.

Terry, who lived in Barcelona for five years in the sixties, came to know Phil well. Phil, who had suffered a throat wound in Spain, visited Terry’s family in London, bringing them kilts and chocolates from Glasgow.

Terry said: “Phil at one point gave me a pamphlet he had written, called The Defence of Madrid. It takes the form of an interview with him and was published by the Young Communist League in 1937. I photocopied it and gave him it back. He was a wonderful, very genuine guy, and a big part of the story.

“I’m sending the screenplay to Channel 4 and some producers. I’d like Phil’s family to know.”

A few years ago, Terry tried to contact Phil. “I phoned him up to see how he was, but the phone went dead. A few months later, I was told the ‘old gentleman had died’, and that was it.”

He has been trying – to no avail, so far – to contact the Scot’s family up here. He has also contacted the TGWU in Glasgow, where he understands Phil may have worked.

“Phil once told me that his son worked at Glasgow Airport as a runway technician,” Terry added.

In December 1989, Phil, then 77, of Springboig, attended the unveiling of a plaque at Baillieston Library in memory of William Keegan, a miner who had fought in the International Brigades.

In November 1991 Phil and another veteran, George Drever, attended the opening of an exhibition at the People’s Palace in Glasgow.

• Anyone who knows of Sgt Cairns’ family should contact Helen Nall, Hoveringham Hall, Hoveringham, Notts., NG14 7JR. Tel: 0115-966-3634, email fergusson.art@btopenworld.com
• If you know the whereabouts of Phil Gillan’s family, please email russell.leadbetter@eveningtimes.co.uk or phone 0141-302 6511.