Seventy years on, islanders honour airmail pioneer

BATTLING atrocious weather, including winds frequently of 80mph or more, the small plane and its pioneering pilot secured their place in aviation history.

Captain Ernest Edmund "Ted" Fresson flew the De Havilland DH 84 Dragon aircraft from Inverness to Wick and Kirkwall and into the record books on Saturday, 29 May, 1934, on the first official internal airmail service in Britain.

Today, Capt Fresson’s son, Richard Fresson, will be among those in Orkney to mark the 70th anniversary of the historic flight.

Members of the Fresson Trust will recreate the journey from Inverness to Kirkwall with BenAir, the company that currently operates mail flights to Orkney.

The original pennant presented to Capt Fresson by Royal Air Mail on the day of the first flight will also be flown to Orkney and put on display in the airport terminal by Kirkwall Museum.

John Morrison, the Royal Mail’s islands manager, will make a presentation to Mr Fresson to recognise the anniversary of his father’s achievement.

Capt Fresson, who died in 1963, was the pioneer of civil air services in the Highlands and Islands. He set up his airline, Highland Airways, in April 1933 and operated its first scheduled passenger and cargo service from Inverness to Kirkwall a month later.

He went on to start an Aberdeen-Wick-Kirkwall link in May 1934 and then launched the air-mail service, at normal postage rates, between Inverness and Kirkwall. Before the end of the year he was also running inter-island services in Orkney and the first official air ambulance services, again in Orkney.

His vision and determination saw the airline establish commercial and mail flights to and from Orkney, Wick, Shetland, Inverness, Aberdeen, Perth and Glasgow. Another first attributed to Capt Fresson was the tarmac runway at Stornoway, which is acknowledged as the first of its kind in Britain.

Between 1933 and 1948 he established a network of air services and aerodromes in the region and he continued to fly charters until 1958.

Capt Fresson later sold a controlling interest in his company to United Airways - later Scottish Airways - and when all domestic air services were nationalised in 1947, the network was incorporated into British European Airways.

By this time he had established airports at Aberdeen, Wick, Kirkwall, Stornoway and Sumburgh, among others. He also advised the Air Ministry on the location of air fields in the Second World War, including Dalcross in Inverness - the site of the present Inverness Airport - despite living in a farmhouse there at the time.

The Fresson Trust, set up in his honour, continues to further knowledge of aviation throughout the Highlands and Islands. This includes providing financial assistance to those aspiring to careers in aviation, particularly prospective pilots, engineers and air traffic controllers. The trust also organises events to commemorate anniversaries of Capt Fresson’s achievements.

Bob Macleod, the managing director of Highlands and Islands Airports Limited (HIAL) and secretary of the Fresson Trust, said: "Captain Fresson was a visionary who led the way in connecting the islands with the mainland.

"His dedication and skilled flying paved the way for aviation as the main mode of transport to the remoter parts of Scotland."

Mr Morrison said: "Seventy years on from Capt Fresson’s first airmail flight, air services continue to play a vital role in mail delivery both to the islands and across the UK."

The anniversary is being marked with support from the Royal Mail, Orkney Islands Council, Kirkwall Museum, HIAL and BenAir.