A BEAline to the Islands
By Iain Hutchison

Iain Hutchison’s previous books on Scottish aviation have covered the Scottish Air Ambulance Service, the flying career of the Scottish pioneer aviator, Captain Eric Starling, and the story of Loganair.

This latest volume, written in collaboration with Phil Lo Bao, bears the intriguing title BEAline to the Islands. This time, Mr Hutchison and his co-author have spread their wings (if you’ll excuse the pun). The islands of the title are not only Orkney, Shetland and the Western Isles but also the Isles of Scilly, the Isle of Man and the Channel Islands. The story the authors tell is most certainly not one of glamour and the jet set. Island services, as Orcadians know, demand sturdy planes, with crews who know they cannot always play it by the book, which means you will read some hair-raising stories in these pages.

The story begins in pre-BEA days, and relates how each of the island groups fared pre-1947, how they were served by BEA and tells of subsequent developments and services right up to the present day. It is a ‘warts and all’ narrative, detailing how on occasion island groups or individual pilots were unhappy at their treatment by different airlines. Indeed, the names of the airlines who have tried, and often failed, to provide services to the island groups prove an exercise in pure nostalgia. The authors even manage to explain, and make sense of, all the different name changes, or changes in ownership or whatever, that we have experienced in the Northern Isles, as did the other island groups, post BEA. Sometimes, this reviewer wondered if the staff behind the desks at Kirkwall airport always knew themselves who they were working for!

In this regard Tiree was a law unto itself. When Loganair took over the service from British Airways in 1975, the island station was being run by Archie MacArthur, who continued in the post. Ten years later, Scott Grier, Managing Director of Loganair, was rather put out to learn that the islanders still spoke of the service as BEA – until it was explained to him that it was ‘Big Erchie’s Airline’!

Obviously the chapters on the Northern Isles will be of particular interest to Orcadian readers, but I found it equally fascinating to learn of the problems experienced elsewhere. For example, before 1937, Jersey’s airport was a beach, with landing times determined by the tide. As the authors write – “At low tide, there would be a veritable invasion of aircraft, and as many as seven or eight could arrive at the same time . . . The public seemed oblivious to the dangers of low flying aircraft. On a number of occasions aircraft had to overshoot at the last minute to avoid someone in the wrong place on the beach. There were one or two accidents, when aircraft hit people and there was one fatality.”

One of the joys of this book, particularly in the Scottish chapters, is that meticulous historical research is mixed with countless personal recollections from passengers, air crew and airline employees. There are many folk who have contributed memories to this book, whose names will be familiar to Orkney readers. Passengers, in particular, were stoical about appalling journeys. One pilot recalls a flight in the days of the Dakota, from Glasgow to Edinburgh to Aberdeen, where they changed aircraft. Then, from there it was to be northwards to Wick and Orkney. In dreadful weather conditions they couldn’t land at Wick, or Kirkwall, or Wick again, or Inverness and ended up back at Renfrew. Poor passengers! The writer recalls that they had “only dry sandwiches and a cup of coffee to sustain them . . . not one complained. They understood our problems and knew we had done our best.” Would people be so phlegmatic nowadays? I doubt it.

To arouse further memories BEAline to the Islands is copiously illustrated with black & white and colour photographs of planes and people, and with maps of the island groups. For the enthusiast there are appendices giving full details of planes used, routes, services and dates.

Whether you have enjoyed, or endured, flying to and from the isles, you’ll find this a good read.

AGC