Pensioner Andy Brown, of Dess, Aboyne, spent more than four years campagining to have the collection box erected in the Deeside village.

Last September, members of the Marr area committee threw out his application for the 1,000lb de-activated former RAF training device, which he hoped to put up at a public amenity area, opposite the Fife Arms Hotel.

It was the third time plans for the container - to collect money for the RAF Benevolent Fund - had been turned down and the second time Mr Brown had lodged an appeal against Aberdeenshire Council's decision.

Government reporter Philip Hutchinson visited the site in May and this week announced that Mr Brown's appeal would be allowed - to the disappointment of some Braemar residents who had campaigned against the container's imagery of a bomb.

Mr Hutchinson's report said: "The scale is so small, the siting is considerate, and in time the container should be no more remarkable than other street furniture".

He added: "The planning authority has over-reacted to the design" and "in common with the aircrew memorial (part of an aircraft engine) the design is dictated by the original function. The new function would be less effective in any other design - to the point where the project could well have become pointless".

Mr Brown's agent and spokesman Gerry Robb, from Aboyne architects Robb Keir Design, said: "Mr Brown was obviously delighted with the appeal decision.

"Because it had already had approval after the other appeal, he found it hard that it'd been turned down again and he had to go to appeal."

"The object he's always had in mind is that the RAF Benevolent Fund will be the ones who maintain it from now on. We are now looking at the container being put on site and handing the keys over to them within the next couple of weeks."

Mr Robb said the container itself was gifted by RAF Lossiemouth and he hoped their representatives could attend the unveiling, alongside Mr Brown, who had recently spent months in hospital recovering from an accident.

"When the air crew memorial was unveiled, Mr Brown always wanted to have some form of collection container beside it, which he felt was quite appropriate", said Mr Robb. "This container will stand within 20m of the other memorial."

"Mr Brown feels everything has turned out for the best. He's never been doing anything for any personal gain. He feels that two years down the line we've lost potential revenue ffor the RAF Benevolent Fund, so it's important to get it up now when there are the most tourists and visitors in the area over the summer, to get it raising some money.

"He has always been aware that everybody's got an opinion and there have been objections to the imagery, because it is a de-activated bomb, but the findings of the appeal reporter are that any other form of container would be less effective."

Braemar Community Council's members objected to the application on the grounds that the massive scale of the container and the imagery of a bomb were "entirely inappropriate".

Chairman John MacPherson said he was "flabbergasted" by the reporter's decision.

"Nobody objected to a container for the RAF Benevolent Fund, which is a respectable and extremely worthy cause", said Mr MacPherson. "But I am astonished that he (the reporter), feels an 8ft high bomb is not more remarkable than any other street furniture. You have to wonder how much the local opinion is taken into consideration.

"The reaction from Braemar Community Council at Monday night's meeting was clearly one of disappointment.

While they (members) do not agree with the findings of the report, it was conceded that this is once again the end of the road in the planning process which the council simply has to reluctantly accept."

"Whether the bomb is ever erected now depends entirely on the owners of the patch of ground, namely Hart Hotels, the owners of the Fife Arms Hotel in Braemar."