A Kilwinning gran who flew in a plane for the first time after being diagnosed with terminal cancer has passed away.

Eighty one-year-old Elizabeth McNamee, also known as Betty, passed away in Crosshouse Hospital on Friday, November 30 after losing her battle with terminal lung cancer.

As reported last week, Elizabeth, who lived in Benslie with her family, had never been on a plane, but with the help of family and friends a flight was arranged to give her a 20 minutes in the air.

After the dream flight, Betty said: “It was quite enjoyable. I should have done it years ago.”

Son Andy McNamee told the Times: “It’s devastating, but she has now got her angel wings rather than her plane wings.

“She died on Friday night at 9.45pm. There was five tumours in total, one in each lung, one in the oesophagus, one in the pancreas and one in her neck. It wa s quite severe, but it was really quick.

“The Crosshouse staff were brilliant, they were really good and couldn’t have done any more for her, they were brilliant.

“Before she had mostly been cared for in the house with our own GP Dr Reid. I need to thank her for everything she’s done, she sat with my mum and talked to her and reassured her and she was so pleasant. Some doctors just give you what you need and away they go but she just couldn’t do enough. And the staff at Kilwinning Medical Practice, anytime we needed anything they were so good.

“Some of my best memories of her was when I would come home from the army and she always had a big plate of macaroni and soup ready for me.

“There’s hundreds of memories but I must admit the biggest one to date has to be that flight after myself and the kids helped her set up her wish list. It was absolutely brilliant.”