out the Loch and round the Rhins of Galloway to their positions in Luce Bay for bombing practice (operating out of West Freugh). The loch was used by Winston Churchill when he departed from Stranraer in a Boeing Flying boat on 25 June 1942 when making his second visit of the war to the USA. The comedian Tony Hancock had a connection with Air Sea Rescue during World War II. He enlisted with the Royal Air Force on 7 September 1942 and volunteered for aircrew but failed on his eye sight. He was then transferred to the RAF Regiment and after 2 months he was redirected to the transit office in Blackpool where he was given the opportunity to train as a wireless operator. He failed on a four words a minute test and was subsequently posted to Stranraer in Scotland. RAF Wig Bay is situated five miles north of Stranraer on the West shore of Loch Ryan and it is to here that Hancock was assigned to the Marine Craft Section. His principal duties appear to have been the custody of a heap of coal and a boiler house. So he made the decision to endow himself with the title of "fuel controller" and hung a sign stencilled by himself to that effect on the door of his hut. He was also responsible for the lighting of fires in the Nissen huts. There he did his comedy feeling that show business could provide the only escape from the icy hell of RAF Wig Bay in wintertime where it was so cold the men literally slept in their uniforms. Everyone shaved fully dressed he remembered, you stood in ablutions at seven thirty in the morning singing "the whiffenpoof Song" in the boots you had been wearing in bed. The summer of 1944 found him finally assigned to no. 9 gang show unit posted over seas. Ship breaking facility Following their withdrawal from service in 1972 and 1979 respectively, both HMS Eagle and HMS Ark Royal were taken to Cairnryan in order to be scrapped. HMS Eagle was taken under tow from Devonport in October 1978, and was followed by her sister HMS Ark Royal in September 1980. The ship breaking facility in Loch Ryan disposed of numerous former naval vessels; ranging from frigates and submarines to aircraft carriers. Today Today the loch serves as an important location for the ferry