A VALENTINE'S Day act of love for the brave father she never knew is bringing a Canadian woman on a pilgrimage to the North-East today.

For nearly 60 years, faded photographs and scrapbook clippings have been all that Lynn Scott had to remember pilot Clifford Scott, who died in one of the saddest accidents of Britain's war in the air.

The Canadian air force flyer was in one of two RAF Hurricanes which collided during training above Spennymoor, County Durham, on February 14, 1942.

People on the ground watched as Sergeant Scott and the other pilot, 22-year-old Sergeant John Porter, from Brandon, avoided potential catastrophe after the collision.

They guided their stricken planes away from homes and schools in Spennymoor, before crashing in fields.

Now thanks to witness Harry Spence, the pilots' heroism will be commemorated tomorrow in a ceremony attended by Lynn, and Sgt Porter's brother Eric, from Durham, when a plaque will be dedicated in their memory.

Ms Scott is making the eleventh hour dash thanks to The Northern Echo and Canadian newspaper the Toronto Star, which managed to find her just in time.

She will spend six days in the region, as a guest of Walworth Castle Hotel, near Darlington.

Ms Scott said: "It is something I need to do. I'm only sorry my mother passed away and wasn't here to go with me."

l Read the full incredible story in The Northern Echo tomorrow.