Manufacturers like de Havilland, Supermarine, Bristol, Hawker-Siddeley, Britten-Norman, and BAC are familiar names, even though many are now defunct; absorbed into larger conglomerates after mergers and industry rationalisation. Nearly all of those familiar names are English: the notable exception is Shorts of Northern Ireland, most famous for their giant flying boats. Wales, one of the other nations that make up the United Kingdom, has only produced components for foreign or English manufacturers. Scotland has a slightly different story to tell.
Prestwick, a city on the western coast of Scotland, is about 50 km from Glasgow. It happens to be on the Great Circle air route between New York and western European cities such as Berlin and Amsterdam. The airport started hosting international passengers in 1938. During World War II trans-Atlantic flights were controlled by the Prestwick Air Traffic Centre. Canadian and American built aircraft, such as the Mosquito and the B-17 Flying Fortress, were ferried to the UK through Prestwick by the Atlantic Ferry Organisation (ATFERO) and RAF Transport Command.
The airfield, originally called Monkton, was privately owned by pioneering Scottish aviators, David McIntyre and Douglas Douglas-Hamilton, the first people to fly over Mt Everest in 1933 in two modified Westland biplanes. Most of the flight, from Purnia in India, was in formation. Douglas-Hamilton was an MP, a peer (14th Duke of Hamilton, Lord Clydesdale), an industrialist and member of the Royal Auxiliary Air Force.
After the Everest flight, McIntyre, backed by the money of Douglas-Hamilton, founded thethere. Their company was called Scottish Aviation. The stories of Prestwick and Scottish Aviation are thus intertwined. As the RAF operations at Prestwick increased, so did the need for Scottish Aviation’s services. By the end of the war 37,000 aircraft had passed through Prestwick, and the airfield was massive, with two concrete runways (2000m and 1400m) and enormous hardstand areas.
