Amazing History of Ayrshire's only Airport

[@moodyblue1964]

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

[@TVAyrshire]

Yeah it really is very handy!

[@PRCOM]

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

[@kylemacfarlane2]

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

[@TVAyrshire]

Thanks Kyle, appreciate your input and hopefully we'll be looking into the History of the Broadway soon!

[@kylemacfarlane2]

@@TVAyrshire we can't wait!

[@albulastrasse3118]

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.

[@BrokenBackMountains]

Used to by plunk off school along the old railway which has gone. 😅 In sixth year I did a project on the airport. Northwest Orient were still operating then and the Flying Tigers. There was also the airshow and the US had personnel there and a PX. My dad knew one of them so we could get burgers etc. It is also the only fog free airport. Then there was Heathfield...Before my time though.

[@TVAyrshire]

Wow, the space shuttle would have been something to see! They might make a return if the spaceport happens

[@christophermckenna1305]

Thanks

[@TVAyrshire]

Thanks for your support 😊 it’s really appreciated

[@mickyk73mjk]

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

[@TVAyrshire]

Thanks Micky, great memories, love plane watching ✈️

[@forbeswatson]

Thank you for your interesting history of the airport

[@TVAyrshire]

Thanks for watching 😊

[@williammccrorie982]

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

[@TVAyrshire]

That’s amazing, I didn’t know that!

[@gary0768]

I remember seeing concord flying around there

[@allanmack59]

Well done - nice overview of the airport's history

[@TVAyrshire]

Thanks Allan!

[@robertredmond8856]

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

[@TVAyrshire]

That would be very similar to the weather just Monday there! Great memories thanks for sharing

[@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 :-)

[@TVAyrshire]

Thanks Alan, it’s a great way to pass the time!

[@dmac4048]

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.

[@TVAyrshire]

Yeah it's a great resource for Ayrshire, thanks for supporting 👍

[@allysoncrawford2116]

Excellent info and history. Maybe some day soon!!

[@timupright3776]

My next holiday airport definitely 👍🏽

[@derekporter7658]

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!

[@TVAyrshire]

At 6 months old possibly the youngest ever bomber pilot? 🤣 Thanks for watching

[@derekporter7658]

@@TVAyrshire 😂😂👍 well, I was the kind of wee boy who'd be keen to have a go on any machinery! Only thing I can remember of it all, were the porthole windscreens and lots of equipment!

[@iantulloch2809]

I flew from Prestwick in 1988 to America with Northwest Orient

[@brentfairlie9159]

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

[@jagyman]

Used to watch the Concorde do its pilot training, and you could go on to the viewing gallery years ago and watch the planes, Who remembers the row of black plastic seats with a TV on the arm?

[@TVAyrshire]

I remember the viewing gallery. It's still closed but they're considering re-opening it!

[@lornecunningham326]

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.

[@TVAyrshire]

Wow, do you have it digitised? Would be great to see it

[@lornecunningham326]

@@TVAyrshire no I’ve always been meaning to do that. Never got round to it.

[@TVAyrshire]

@@lornecunningham326 We looked into offering VHS digitisation but haven't figured it out yet. If we do I'll come back here and let you know

[@iainjohnston788]

Flew twice to Toronto ( called Malton in those days) in the mid seventies , always remember the approach to Prestwick was the most beautiful scenery of the Scottish coastline . Long time ago now ,in those days people would go on top viewing area to wave goodbye to the plane !! 😂 .

[@TVAyrshire]

Wow, I wish we could still go to Toronto from Prestwick! Thanks for watching

[@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! 🙏🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🙏

[@BrokenBackMountains]

Just across from the school but a lot of the houses round the Pow and near the airport were built in the 90s.

[@TVAyrshire]

Wow, there's so much history of aircraft engineering in Prestwick

[@allanmack59]

Its been called Glasgow Prestwick by the international aviation community since 1946 and I can't see it being changed anytime soon. Most international airports are named after the biggest city they predominantly serve which in Prestwick's case is Glasgow, 30 miles away. Other examples are London Gatwick, London Stansted, Belfast Aldergrove. Ryanair have reinforced this convention albeit taken it to extremes in some cases!

[@murraymitchell22]

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.

[@TVAyrshire]

That must have been something to see!! Wish we had included that now

[@murraymitchell22]

@@TVAyrshire We flew into Prestwick in 1968 aboard a BOAC Super VC10 from New York's JFK airport also an iconic aircraft, as a 12 year old I was impressed with the take off angle of the VC10, seemed near vertical.

[@toxicninjauk]

The A380 left today, with a partial rebranding, changing it to GLOBAL, it is off to Germany for the remainder of it's refurbishment as well as a completely new paint job with the hopes of it returning back to Prestwick once complete as I have heard that Prestwick Airport is GLOBALS new base of operations. Exciting times coming to the airport to add to it's already very rich history.

[@TVAyrshire]

That is very exciting, hopefully a sign of a promising future for Prestwick ✈️

[@markcaldwell486]

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.

[@TVAyrshire]

There's certainly a lot of potential at Prestwick but the current focus seems to be as a commercial/cargo/military airport rather than a passenger one.

[@mykweb]

Would be ideal for a high speed line direct to Glasgow. Get it as a new uk hub to rival Heathrow.

[@TVAyrshire]

That would be interesting! I wonder how fast it could go from Prestwick to Glasgow?

[@iainmcclung156]

44minutes isn't bad at the moment. Given the traffic on the line, you might get 35mins at best. It's not a dedicated track and it's 46miles by train I guess What would be good is for the X77 express to pull in, in from of the terminal building, not a bus stop across a carpark and a main road

[@TVAyrshire]

@@iainmcclung156 Yeah that's true actually, I asked ChatGPT and it estimated a realistic 10-15 minute journey time with a HS2 style line which isn't a lot to gain for what would be a huge cost/disruption. I wonder why the bus doesn't come to the terminal? You think that would be an easy option?

[@jamiesworld1690]

Love Prestwick now it used as a major cargo hub for cargo presence and only airport fir Ryan air only plus big cargo sbd military transport too

[@jamesstewart760]

great airport and long runway sadly underused would be great to transatlantic flights again

[@TVAyrshire]

Yes definitely, what destination would you choose though?

[@GEODUCK9]

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.

[@TVAyrshire]

Yes I think you’re right, I think people look at the passenger side and think it’s struggling but the truth is it’s very well placed as a commercial airport with loads of aerospace companies around it. Thanks for watching & commenting 👍

[@jimmcintosh9045]

Main road used to cross the runway and road closed by barriers during flight movements but road moved to go round the end of runway.

[@mhenderson7673]

That's interesting!

[@TVAyrshire]

I can imagine some impatient drivers in a hurry causing some problems with that 🤣

[@forbeswatson]

I remember that

[@Tina-d8f]

Very interesting.

[@TVAyrshire]

I think so too! Thanks for watching

[@mindyourlanguage77]

Robert Burns International Airport is an excellent idea. And respect to Ryanair for providing passenger services. Prestwick also handles cargo flights from the U.S. Its a pity this was not documented also.

[@TVAyrshire]

Yeah there’s a lot more we could have included, always good to have the opportunity to go back!

[@Karadauk]

i flew to America in my student days from Prestwick in 1964. I arrived at the airport to find that the plane hadn't arrived so after a couple of hours wait the flight organisers bussed us to the Royal Golf Hotel in Troon for the night. We were called at 6am to return to the airport as the plane had arrived. The plane turned out to be a Flying Tiger Lines Lockheed Super Constellation Freighter with metal framed canvas seats that slotted into the cargo floor. A real bare bones charter flight. No flight attendants or in flight service or even toilets. I had been booked to fly to Toronto but due to lack of numbers they consolidated the flight with a New York flight to Idlewild airport and gave us a Greyhound bus ticket tNYC to Toronto. We also had to have a refueling stop at Gander in Newfoundland.

[@TVAyrshire]

A bit of a diversion then! Did you get a round of golf in before you left Troon? Great memories, thanks for sharing

[@BigBlueRabbit]

Nicely researched

[@TVAyrshire]

Thanks 😊

[@andrewwmacfadyen6958]

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

[@williamrae9954]

Wouldn't happen to haul logs and windmills, would you?

[@richpea2]

Prestwick is Scotland's longest active runway, since only 2/3 of the Campbelltown runway is used for the current airport.

[@lornecunningham326]

She says it's the "Longest Commercial Runway" not military

[@williamrae9954]

@@lornecunningham326 Campbeltown is commercial...Loganair, twice a day!

[@TVAyrshire]

Yes apologies, this is an outdated fact it seems!

[@peterfeeney721]

Let's hope that the airport and runway have a long future - governments these days would never commit to such useful runways

[@TVAyrshire]

Yes hopefully, the outlook seems positive now at least!

[@alanbrown5593]

It would have been nice to recognise HMS Gannet, the busiest Search and Rescue unit in the UK, and was home to 819 NAS.

[@TVAyrshire]

Yes that's something that really should be in it, it could be a video all on its own though so maybe we'll look at that in the future

[@alanbrown5593]

@@TVAyrshire I thank you most kindly. One of my colleagues was boss of 819 NAS, and it took part in several tv documentaries.

[@TVAyrshire]

@@alanbrown5593 Great, we've a few other Ayrshire History docs pencilled in for this year but I'll add it to the list of ideas for 2025

[@dustymillar7026]

As a boy it was a thrill to travel from Saltcoats to Ayr on the top deck of the bus hoping a flight would be taking off/landing as the barrier would stop the traffic and we would have a close up view. Also, when I worked in London some of the American flights would drop in at Prestwick and I could easily get a "standby" ticket for £5.00! Happy days.

[@TVAyrshire]

Wow, air fare for £5, can't beat that!!

[@kennymaclaurin3683]

Have Campbeltowns runway which was used by the Americans and even has rumours of ‘top secret’ aircraft using it

[@TVAyrshire]

Yeah that’s another interesting one, bit outside our remit though

[@alcatel4539]

Where can we access a full reproduction of the "Pure Dead brilliant" log referred to?

[@ianstewartorr8455]

We used to collect my great aunt Mary who flew direct from Winnipeg Canada in the 1970,S I myself flew direct to Calgary with wardair in 1982 when I was seventeen the second time I flew to Calgary in 1993 from Glasgow airport no direct flights outside Scotland it turned into twelve hours flight time I new it could be done in eight hours if they flew direct from prestwick I was a bit disgruntled to say the least that they don’t fly internationally from prestwick anymore who made that stupid decision anyway greetings from south Lanarkshire

[@TVAyrshire]

Yeah it's a shame we don't have transatlantic from Prestwick anymore (at least in Passenger aircraft!) Thanks for watching 👍

[@phillipecook3227]

I'm pretty sure we can see the hand of Ryainair in the bizarre name " Glasgow Prestwick Airport ". It's a complete misnomer and I'm surprised it hasn't caused more confusion. You might as well call it " Glasgow Edinburgh Airport". Around 10 years ago I had guests from Poland who told me they'd arrived into and were also leaving from " Glasgow Airport". Hours before their return flight one of them mentioned casually that they'd taken a train from the airport to Paisley ! It was only then I realised they'd actually arrived into Prestwick and Id been planning to drop them off and abandon all 3 of them at Glasgow so they would probably have missed their flight.

[@pboperations]

Can you please put some subtitles up for when the locals are speaking in their own dialect?

[@JRS-z3o]

It's always been called Glasgow Prestwick in exactly the same way as London Heathrow or London Gatwick.

[@BrokenBackMountains]

I grew up in Prestwick and it was just Prestwick airport then. Even it's signage didn't mention Glasgow. That was the 80s.

[@hillmangt1]

No it hasn’t.

[@johnquayle8308]

It was just Prestwick when I was growing up.

[@BrokenBackMountains]

@@JRS-z3o A little bit of digging found this in Companies house. Until 1992 it was registered as PIK, it's airport code name under BAA. Then it was registered as Prestwick International Airport from 1992 until 1997. It was only referred to as a company and branded as Glasgow Prestwick International from 1997. Considering the airport has existed as a passenger airport since 1938, I would say that it has NOT always been called Glasgow Prestwick. Maybe listen to the locals commenting here.

[@lornecunningham326]

No it hasnt

[@stevocoyle]

great video

[@TVAyrshire]

Glad you enjoyed it

[@KentandHanni]

Machrihanish is the longest runway.

[@TVAyrshire]

It was when it was military, now it’s a civilian airport they’ve shut half the runway so Prestwick still is longest (commercial)

[@stu176mmm]

Not the longest runway in Scotland. The runway at Macrihanish, Campbeltown Airport is the longest at 10003 feet.

[@BigBlueRabbit]

I think she said longest “commercial” runway

[@stu176mmm]

@@BigBlueRabbit as is Campeltown Airport

[@stu176mmm]

@@BigBlueRabbit no American 'funny planes' landing there now. Not RAF Macrihanish anymore.

[@BigBlueRabbit]

@@stu176mmm Ah, ok - I’ll take your word for it 👍🏻

[@richpea2]

@@stu176mmm only 2/3 of it is active for the current commercial airport at Campbeltown, so no longer the longest.

[@robertmacdonaldx]

I passed my pilot licence at prestwick

[@TVAyrshire]

Brilliant, what a place to do it!

[@scottirvine121]

Hate how ryanair have had a hand in naming this Glasgow prestwick Loved video though thanks

[@GEODUCK9]

To be fair its closer to Glasgow than most ryanair city name airports by a long way 😂

[@BrokenBackMountains]

@@scottirvine121 I think it was Stagecoach that changed the name when they owned it.

[@scottirvine121]

@@BrokenBackMountains if so I stand corrected BUT prob still got the idea or paid by Ryanair given their previous all over Europe of renaming airports no where near the place. My worst two flown into are Milan Bergamo Oslo torp Near on 2 hours on a bus 🤣

[@scottirvine121]

@@GEODUCK9 oh yes! I've been to both Oslo Torp and Milan Bergamo....

[@BrokenBackMountains]

​@@scottirvine121Yeah they are awful for that. To be fair to Prestwick, it is easier to get by train to Glasgow from Prestwick than from Glasgow airport. The station at Prestwick is connected to the airport. The station for Glasgow is in Gilmour St Paisley😂 That is why I get the bus.

[@iainguild3565]

Campbelltown airport runway is 10 000 feet, hen

[@TVAyrshire]

Not anymore it’s not! This has been a good discussion point but effectively they’ve closed half the runway now it’s no longer a military airport, meaning Prestwick is still the official (commercial) title holder

[@johnmorris7815]

Oh yes and in the UK and Europe we refer to runway length in metres not feet.

[@buckfaststradler4629]

Bollocks - the UK still uses feet etc as well as the metric system.

[@johnmorris7815]

@@buckfaststradler4629 not for runway length.

[@loyalpiper]

Also by far the easiest to fly from.

[@TVAyrshire]

Very true! Don’t have to worry about massive queues at security

[@expathaggis]

How do we repost this ???

[@TVAyrshire]

You can copy and paste the link or there’s a share button underneath to many platforms 👍 thanks for watching

[@scottirvine121]

Yeah copy link and share, it’s not social media

[@BobSmith-rf3ph]

Hate to say it, but the lack of facilities & intelligence has hamstrung the place for years, the train station was a smart move but that wasn't backed up properly and ultimately makes it very easy for airlines to ignore Prestwick.

[@TVAyrshire]

It seems to be on the up now though, back into profit and plenty of jobs in the aerospace industry around it. Ultimately not a busy passenger airport but certainly busy for commercial and cargo flights

[@Canigetanawwwwyyyyeeeah]

Also Elvis never left the runway because his manager was banned from Britain. And the land which an airport is on is by law is ‘international’ hence why you need a passport to cross into certain parts before international departure. Before you board the plane… so Elvis never visited Britain at all. Technically.

[@DarranRobertson]

Prestwick is NOT Glasgow no matter how much Ryan Air try to convince you. It’s Ayrshire! A bit fickle I know, but it just grinds ma gears when I hear this.

[@williamrae9954]

Machrihanish is the longest runway in Europe, not just Scotland!

[@cdogensis6392]

Machrihanish is the 11th longest runway in the UK. But it is longer than Prestwick.

[@lornecunningham326]

It says commercial, not military

[@williamrae9954]

@@cdogensis6392 Sorry...was the longest in Europe, at the time of the SR71 Blackbird...others have surpassed it since!

[@TVAyrshire]

Good point, seems like this is one fact that is out of date!

[@williamrae9954]

@@TVAyrshire Why I remembered that fact,the SR71 had to slow down mid Atlantic, or it would overshoot us! I've personally seen the TR3-B(doesn't officially exist), you'll know when you see it,it defies everything aeronautically ,can u-turn at 4 figure speeds...the then G/F's jaw was on the floor,she couldn't believe what she's just seen! That brought down the Chinook on the Mull of Kintyre 30yrs ago...shush ;)

[@billyb8]

Prestwick is not even in the same county as Glasgow

[@stewartoutandabout]

Glasgow Airport is not even in the same county as Glasgow...

[@flange06joj]

The music playing while people are talking makes this unwatchable.

[@jimf671]

Cargo is the answer. An independent Scotland is going to need its own full range of air cargo routes unfettered by the economic troubles of its steadily degrading neighbour. Heathrow does 70% of UK air cargo but I don't know why anyone would want to send their cargo through such an incompetent disaster of a place. We can do better.

[@KillieGuy1]

Shush, you nationalist diddy.

[@jimf671]

@@KillieGuy1 Gonna happen. The demographics are irrefutable.

[@buckfaststradler4629]

@@jimf671 Did you not see what happened to the pro independent Scotland parties at the recent election -? The deranged nightmare of an independent Scotland is over.

[@jimf671]

@@buckfaststradler4629 You're just not getting it! Lots of people turned back to stupid Labour at one Westmonster election for the sole purpose of making doubly sure the Tory trash was put out. Meanwhile multiple polls show that support for independence did not change at all. We are still basically 50-50 while we wait for the No vote to literally die out! It's coming. The demographics say so.

[@justinhamilton497]

Ayrshire hasn't existed since 1996. The airport is in South Ayrshire.

[@TVAyrshire]

Ayrshire is an idea and ideas cannot die 😂

[@ryanstewart3640]

Shame it's such a miserable place when you go there

[@TVAyrshire]

I like that it's quiet compared to Glasgow & Edinburgh airports! Makes for a nice relaxing start to the holiday

[@ryanstewart3640]

@@TVAyrshire That's true I suppose

[@Canigetanawwwwyyyyeeeah]

PURE DEAD BRILLIANT. 😂 remember that shite? The saddest airport in Britain…Also has miles of tunnels underneath for popping up on the runway and dealing with…things. And it goes deeper too. But I shouldn’t. Few ways you can get in too. 😂 better tighten that security lol 😜you can’t close this runway down because of its strategic placement and its length. Plus what’s underneath😂

[@shiznit76]

Would like to hear more about these tunnels

[@BrokenBackMountains]

There are tunnels under the parking area. I know that. There is probably mine workings as well as Prestwick Academy had a problem with subsidence in the 80s due to the old Auchincruive mine workings which started in Glenburn.

[@TVAyrshire]

Wow, who knew?

[@FromAlba432]

It ALSO plays a big part in the Spraying of Scottish skies these days. Scandalous

[@KillieGuy1]

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA You loon!

[@Rdott82]

I heard this too.. that apparently they take off from this airport.

[@timupright3776]

Which aircraft?

[@Rdott82]

@@timupright3776 aircraft which is adapted for spraying

[@BigBlueRabbit]

Spraying what?