Aberdeenshire rally driver killed in plane crash
Donald Milne was a former Scottish Rally Championship winner
A rally champion from Aberdeenshire has been killed after his plane crashed with a helicopter in Spain.
Donald Milne from Banchory had been an oil boss back in the 80s - but he was also a rally driver, who won the Scottish Championship back in 1991.
In recent years he'd been living in Spain where his new passion was flying.
The 64 year old died at the weekend when his biplane hit the tail rotor of an emergency helicopter which had been putting out forest fires near Alicante - nobody else was hurt.
Donald had been mentor to Scottish rallying legend Colin Macrae, who also died in an air accident ten years ago.
Motoring journalist John Fife paid tribute to him in an online blog post, quoting one of Donald's sons.
He wrote: "When he was being told that he should be taking things more easily at his age, to which his response was, "I'd rather go in my beloved aeroplane than having you spoon-feed me later on."
"Even when he had 'retired' from rallying he still retained an interest and there were times here at home when the phone would ring late at night or in the early hours, and it was Donald looking for the latest gossip and who was doing what.
"Invariably he was sitting kicking his heels in some exotic airport waiting for connecting business flights.
"I'm sure we'd all like to express our sincere condolences to his wife Fiona, the boys Quintin and Freddie, and their relatives and wide circle of friends. He'll be sorely missed."