RAF Prestwick

55.5078, -4.5903 — view on OpenStreetMap ↗

About

RAF Prestwick, on the Ayrshire coast, opened in the mid-1930s and became famous in the war as the eastern terminus of the North Atlantic ferry route. Tens of thousands of aircraft built in North America were flown across the ocean and received here under Ferry Command, while flying-training and navigation schools also used the field, prized for its fog-free weather. It went on to become a major civil airport and continues today as Glasgow Prestwick.

Sources: This page was compiled from publicly available historical sources, including Prestwick — Airfields of Britain Conservation Trust and RAF Prestwick — Wikipedia. The text is original and has been written from factual source material; no source text has been copied unless specifically quoted and attributed.

Photographs

date = 1941
ⓘ licence & creditGermany. Luftwaffe / Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Target_Dossier_for_Prestwick,_Ayrshire,_Scotland_-_DPLA_-_952ee8310e7c9e3c8ef18c27118dd185_(page_3).jpgView source & full licence →
date = 1941
ⓘ licence & creditGermany. Luftwaffe / Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Target_Dossier_for_Prestwick,_Ayrshire,_Scotland_-_DPLA_-_952ee8310e7c9e3c8ef18c27118dd185_(page_2).jpgView source & full licence →
date = 1941
ⓘ licence & creditGermany. Luftwaffe / Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Target_Dossier_for_Prestwick,_Ayrshire,_Scotland_-_DPLA_-_952ee8310e7c9e3c8ef18c27118dd185_(page_1).jpgView source & full licence →
Pilots of No. 1 Squadron RCAF with one of their Hawker Hurricanes at Prestwick, Scotland, 30 October 1940. A group of pilots of No 1 Squadron RCAF, gather round one of their Hawker Hurricane Mark Is at Prestwick, Scotland. The Squadron Commanding Officer, Squadron Leader E A McNab, stands fifth from the right, wearing a forage cap.
ⓘ licence & creditStanley Devon / Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Pilots_of_No._1_Squadron_RCAF_with_one_of_their_Hawker_Hurricanes_at_Prestwick,_Scotland,_30_October_1940._CH1733.jpgView source & full licence →
British Overseas Airways Corporation and Qantas, 1940-1945. One of the Corporation's senior captains, Captain O P Jones, who had a long and distinguished career with Imperial Airways and BOAC, before, during and after the Second World War, seen here at Prestwick, Ayrshire. Among his many achievements he pioneered the North Atlantic Return Ferry service with the Consolidated Liberator in 1941, flew the first civil Transatlantic flights after the war, and captained the first post-war Royal flights undertaken by BOAC.
ⓘ licence & creditClark N S (Flt Lt), Royal Air Force official photographer / Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:British_Overseas_Airways_Corporation_and_Qantas,_1940-1945._CH13985.jpgView source & full licence →

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