THE story of the first air raid of World War Two, which happened in the skies above the Forth Bridge 80 years ago today, will be re-told in Dunfermline.

Just six weeks after war was announced in 1939, 12 German bombers flew to Fife with orders to sink HMS Hood, the flagship of the British Navy.

Up against the professional pilots of the Luftwaffe were a solicitor, a decorator and a farmer, as well as other part-time flyers of the Auxiliary Air Force.

It's not a well known tale and Dunfermline artist and writer Colin Maxwell has produced a new comic book commemorating this significant wartime event and he'll be discussing it in the Dunfermline Carnegie Library & Galleries tomorrow at 5.30pm.

He told the Press: "A lot of local people haven’t heard about the raid, or at least have only heard part of the story.

“Many people believed the Forth Bridge was the target, but it was actually avoided by the bombers as they did not want to inflict civilian casualties."

The Nazi war planes crossed the North Sea to Scotland on October 16, 1939 in search of HMS Hood and were surprised to find resistance from two squadrons of Spitfires which had only arrived in Scotland days earlier.

He added: “Also of interest is that both the RAF squadrons were made up of auxiliaries.

"These pilots were part timers and they went up against very experienced Luftwaffe pilots who had flown in the Spanish Civil War."

Two enemy aircraft were brought down in the Forth by the Spitfire pilots, however not before three British ships had been targeted.

HMS Edinburgh, HMS Southampton and HMS Mohawk all suffered casualties that day.

Colin, 48, a lecturer who teaches animation and computer games at Fife College, first began making comic books six years ago.

He recalled: “I was doing a project with the students about Robert the Bruce for the 700th anniversary of Bannockburn and I thought I would turn the animation into a comic book.

“It just seemed to go from there and I had people suggesting other stories I could do!

“My latest book came about after I was at a parents evening for my son at the air cadets in Rosyth.

“I noticed they had a poster about the raid and it just took my interest."

He added: “So many people got in touch to share their stories of the event on the Forth; like how a dog in Inverkeithing got shot down by a spitfire bullet, so I had to add a few short stories at the end of the book.

"It’s been fascinating.”

Tomorrow evening's talk costs £3 and will cover the events of the raid, retell some of the local stories handed down through the generations and feature Colin's artwork.

Copies of the comic book will also be available to purchase.