in Ayr Cemetery. Remains of the aircraft, including its Rolls-Royce Merlin engine, are still at the crash site. Loch Doon Spitfire On 25 October 1941 F/O František Hekl of No. 312 (Czechoslovak) Squadron RAF crashed a Spitfire Mk IIA into the loch on a solo training flight from RAF Heathfield. The Spitfire was serial number P7540, carrying the marking DU-W. An eyewitness saw the Spitfire flying low over the surface of the loch when Hekl banked the aircraft to starboard and its starboard wingtip caught the water surface. Hekl lost control and the aircraft broke up and sank, leaving only a patch of oil on the water. An RAF salvage crew brought a boat and spent several days trawling parts of the bed of the loch, but failed to find either the aircraft or Hekl's body. In 1977 the Dumfries branch of the Scottish Sub Aqua Club began a systematic search of the bed of the loch in the area where an eyewitness thought the aircraft had crashed. In 1979 several clubs from the Northern Federation of British Sub-Aqua Clubs joined the search, and Blackpool Sub-Aqua Club took over organisation of the project. The search was unsuccessful so in 1982 it was moved to a different area of the loch, where divers quickly found the Spitfire's tail and rear part of the fuselage. In subsequent dives other parts of the aircraft were found, scattered over a distance of 200 metres. Both wings were badly damaged, magnesium parts such as the undercarriage wheels had corroded away, but the Merlin Mk XII engine was recovered in good condition. Hekl's body was not found. The wreckage was moved to Dumfries and Galloway Aviation Museum, where the aircraft was slowly restored and a pair of replica wings fitted. Restoration to non-flying condition was completed in 2017. See also List of reservoirs and dams in the United Kingdom References External links Pictures of Loch Doon – Video footage of Loch Doon or Balliol Castle. Lochs of South Ayrshire Sites of Special Scientific Interest in Wigtown and Stewartry Sites of Special Scientific Interest in Cumnock and Kyle Protected areas of South Ayrshire Freshwater lochs of Scotland Lakes of South Ayrshire