WAR hero Wing Commander Clive Beadon, who won the Distinguished Flying Cross and the Burma Star,has died at 77.

He lived with his Aberdeen-born wife, Jane, stepmother of Margaret, Duchess of Argyll, for around 15 years at Aboyne on Deeside until 1994.

Mr Beadon, who was born in India, was celebrated for his exploits as a Royal Air Force bomber pilot during the Burma campaign in the Second World War.

In 1944, he displayed great courage when he piloted his burning and badly-damaged Liberator bomber 1000 miles back to base in India after the tail-gunner had been killed and the tailplane destroyed by anti-aircraft fire during a raid on a Burmese railway.

In 1953, Mr Beadon was sent on a secret mission to Africa, effectively kidnapping King Freddie of Buganda, who was considered to be in danger from a political crisis in his country.

After the death of his first wife from cancer, he married Jane Whigham, in a much-publicised 1965 wedding.

He retired from the RAF in 1966 and became one of the world's leading authorities on dowsing.

He claimed to be able to pinpoint large deposits of oil with the aid of only a map, a pendulum, and a small container of crude oil.

Mr Beadon, who is survived by his wife and stepson, died after a long illness in a hospital in Berkshire, where the couple lived latterly.