Amazing History of Ayrshire's only Airport

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Chapters:

00:00 - 00:12 Intro
00:12 - 00:28 Title Sequence
00:28 - 01:08 Setting the Scene
01:08 - 02:59 Early History
02:59 - 05:25 WW2
05:25 - 06:44 Developing the Airport
06:44 - 08:13 Elvis
08:13 - 08:28 Midbreak
08:28 - 10:37 90's to modern day
10:37 - 12:46 Today
12:46 - 13:48 Future
13:48 - 14:48 Conclusion
14:48 - 15:10 Thanks
15:10 - 15:20 Credits

[kylemacfarlane]

Excellent documentary, congratulations to all of you and thank you for the invitation! 👏

[moodyblue]

I regularly landed here from Stansted. Straight onto the train and off to Glasgow.
Great little airport that holds many nice memories.

[albulastrasse]

I grew up in Prestwick - there was a Northwest Orient flight every day, constant Sea Kings flying over (and occasional Chinook training), and training flights doing circuits and bumps including Concorde. US military brought in a Starlifter or Galaxy every day. The annual airshow was always a highlight of the year. There was also (I believe) one occasion where the space shuttle came through on the back of a jumbo jet. That was the talk of Prestwick Academy - some bunked off to go and see it.

[mickykmjk]

Interesting mini documentary. I have fond memories of me as youngsters from Glasgow on the sand dunes at Prestwick beach watching, The northwest orient 747 and DC10s leaving for Boston and New York along with Air Canada DC8s.
Would love to see this brilliant airport grow.
Thank you.
Micky

[PRCOM]

Spent many yrs there as aircraft engineer for Ryanair and polar air cargo, its one of the longest runways in Europe

[AlanWatson]

Really enjoyed the video. Many years ago I was in the Air Training Corps (Irvine) and used to go to Prestwick in the early 70's to watch aircraft come and go. They had an open balcony you could just go up to and sit all day if you wanted too. Thank you for the memories, I will be subscribing :-)

[allanmack]

Well done - nice overview of the airport's history

[williammccrorie]

I can remember Prestwick Airport being used in the Summer of the mid 80's are training for Concorde pilots.

[robertredmond]

Flew in and out of Prestwick many times as a pilot with Ryanair. My very first flight as a trainee was into PIK on a cold wet Monday morning back in November 1999 aboard an old 737-200 series in the HERTZ colour scheme

[forbeswatson]

Thank you for your interesting history of the airport

[dmac]

Lived In Monkton for years and I must admit it was quite cool living next door to it. I remember watching the red arrows coming in from the comfort of my back garden. Would like to see it have more commercial flights as I'm still around the area tho no longer in Monkton and it's super handy for flights. It's also good for the local economy.

[allysoncrawford]

Excellent info and history. Maybe some day soon!!

[derekporter]

Prestwick airshow 1971, at 6 months old, I attended my first airshow, sat in the cockpit of a Vulcan bomber. That was it for me, hooked ever since. I grew up in Kilwinning so it was my local airport. Names I remember from there were British Caledonian, Northwest Orient and SAS. Loved going there for wee days out at the weekend. Now I travel from Calderwood in West Lothian to the airshow at Prestwick. The girl presenting the video looks a lot like an ex girlfriend of mine when I lived in Edinburgh!

[HectorBrocklebankHBFash]

I cant see prestwick closing anytime soon, way too important for cargo and military refuelling. As well as it being one of the UKs 2 airports for emergencies like terrorism along with Stansted.
Its a very popular stop off for US airforce and navy aircraft along with other less frequent visiitors to refuel. And, no other Scottish airport has the combination of runway length, available slots and infrastructure for cargo so that will keep it going for many years. Theres not a huge number of cargo flights there but mostly 747s on that front.

[TheSpexxyboy]

It's IN Prestwick! About 300 metres from houses! It's Prestwick airport glasgowd 40 miles away! My nan and papa met on aerodrome 1 a nurse other engineer! My papa was involved in construction of pioneer! 🙏🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🙏

[lornecunningham]

My local airport and enjoy a trip along the road to watch some aircraft taking off and landing. I have an old VHS video of Prestwick during the war full of Spitfires, , C-47's an Liberators.

[markcaldwell]

Given its runway length, its weather characteristics, its potential for expansion and being located away from densely populated cities if Scotland was forward thinking and cash rich Prestwick couldve served as a single hub for the central belt with very high speed trains as seen in the far east such as Japan linking it with Edinburgh and Glasgow with short journey times and given an upgraded motorway network. Sadly we aren’t and we’ll continue with what is, an under-utilised asset with Edinburgh and Glasgow airports hemmed in surrounded by highly populated residential areas.

[brentfairlie]

My 2 connections to Prestwick. Im a new Zealander and my family's name and heritage are of Ayrshire.

[andrewwmacfadyen]

Not Scotland's longest runway, that is Campbelltown Airport the former RAF Machrihanish top secret US Navy base

[murraymitchell]

You forgot Concord! I remember the day well to watch from the mezzanine of Digital Equipment Corp factory which has a great view over Prestwick as the Concord made circuits of the field when it came to Prestwick for maintenance. Wish I had a camera on the day.