Retired neurosurgeon John Firth’s chance encounter with John Britten and Desmond Norman resulted in their meeting Willie Logan, whose company in Muir of Ord were building the Tay Road Bridge and needed to fly welders from the Highlands to Dundee. That meeting led to the commercial breakthrough for the Britten-Norman Islander aircraft and the formation of Loganair, Scotland’s airline. Andy Alsop spent many years flying Islander aircraft in Orkney and later in the Falkland Islands. He went on to fly for the British Antarctic Survey. They’re joined by Britten-Norman’s managing director, William Hynett, and by aviation historian, author and publisher Dr Iain Hutchison. He’s written extensively about air ambulances and Loganair and also about Eric Starling, chief pilot for Aberdeen Airways in the early days of commercial flying in the north.
You can watch this free event from here, or if you’d like to join questions and discussion, you can also go direct to it in the Science Festival’s YouTube channel